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October 7, 2011 at 9:31 am 
Ed Brayton Catholics in Poland have become convinced that a black spot on a communion wafer is actually the heart of Jesus.
Roman Catholics in Poland gathered Sunday for a special Mass celebrating what they see as a miracle: the appearance on a communion wafer of a dark spot that they are convinced is part of the heart of Jesus.
The communion wafer in question developed a brown spot in 2008 after falling on the floor during a Mass in the eastern Polish town of Sokolka. Two medical doctors determined that the spot was heart muscle tissue, church officials have said.
Right. It couldn’t just be a stain or anything.
Bialystok Archbishop Edward Ozorowski said during the Mass that in history, the “substance of Christ’s body or blood has become available to the human senses, and this also happened in Sokolka.”
“For God, nothing is impossible,” Ozorowski said.
The dark-spotted wafer was carried aloft in a reliquary by a golden-robed priest in a procession and was put on display in the town’s church of St. Anthony as about 1,000 faithful looked on.
Though some believers consider the object miraculous, the Vatican is still examining the matter and has not yet officially decided whether to declare it a miracle, church spokesman Andrzej Debski said.
Yeah, this takes serious study. You wouldn’t want to rush to judgment about a thing like this. Oh hell, yes you would. It’s nonsense. If you can’t see that, you’re hopelessly deluded.
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Hmm, 3 things spring to mind here
The first is obviously: “Ha! Bullshit”
The second is: “So jesus was a blackhearted scoundrel after all”
The third is: “We need independant verification from somoene outside the church, let PZ have a look”
Frankly, I’d worry about mold. I was an alter server once upon a time, and those little tubes of crackers get abandoned in crappy old fridges all the time. Nobody eat that, ok?
4) tourism dollars
Bet PZ couldn’t put a nail through that mofo! Heart of Jesus is impenetrable!!!
Is this revivalism of a sort? Are they concerned that Polish jokes have gone out of style?
“after falling on the floor during a Mass”…”medical doctors determined that the spot was heart muscle tissue”
So someone has a black mass involving ripping still-beating hearts out and the like. AND THEY DON’T CLEAN UP AFTER THEMSELVES!!!!
Absolutely Shocking
Why is it that when I read the word “Bialystok” I think “con game”?
he Vatican is still examining the matter and has not yet officially decided whether to declare it a miracle, church spokesman Andrzej Debski said.
Yeah, this takes serious study. You wouldn’t want to rush to judgment about a thing like this. Oh hell, yes you would. It’s nonsense. If you can’t see that, you’re hopelessly deluded.
I don’t know how to break this to you, Ed, but the Vatican is hopelessly deluded.
Their final decision will come only after they’ve figured out how much money they can make from it, long- and short-term.
Arrrrrr, ’tis the black spot! Church officials better watch out for the Kraken
Wow, that’s 2 medical doctors that should lose their licenses.
Is the wafer made from rye flour? And this stain on the wafer, it’s not purple-black by any chance?
Any bets on whether the priests have been licking the stain? – Dingo
I dunno, somebody claims there is heart tissue on a cracker, you might as well investigate. It’s not like it’s difficult to do.
If someone claimed there was finely minced liver of a fatted goose* on a cracker I would be happy to do the investigation for them! – Dingo
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* Or perhaps some salmon muscle with a little sweet chilli sauce and parsley
I want to know why the wafer was not immediately consumed by the priest after it had fallen on the floor, because that’s what is supposed to happen. Since it didn’t…something’s rotten in Poland. Also, I would not want either of those doctors taking care of me or anyone about whom I cared.
Anyone want to bet on the religion of the doctors (if they exist)? I get Catholic.
What’s more; what is the actual field of practice for these “medical doctors”, do they really have the professional ablity to determine the spot is heart muscle tissue and, if so, what tests did they use to make the determination? That last is especially important given the Catholic church’s past diffidence towards allowing satisfactory and helpful scientific tests be made on their miracles and relics.
@Jeremy Shaffer
What tests you ask? Well, tests of faith of course!
Microscopes and reagents are for the skeptics.
I hope the docs kept a teeny sample of this heart tissue in their lab freezer: just enough to allow DNA sequencing and a little more to enable cloning when the technology is ready.
That might occur in about a decade: Polish moms, sequester your daughters now to be sure they’ll qualify as incubators!
This is my first comment to FTB (I have actually associated the acronym with an excellent Canon camera so far), and in fact the first comment to any atheist blog. I realized I am an atheist only recently. So, first: hi Ed, hi everyone!
I am Polish, and from the comments and from the original post I gather you are not familiar with the social phenomenon we have here which goes by the name of mohair berets. This is the group that supports the “Sokółka miracle” and which is the strongest driving force behind it.
It would all be funny if not for a strong political support they have — PiS, a party which can (but hopefully won’t) get the majority of votes in the coming parliamentary elections (which is the day after tomorrow my time).
All the best to you all!
Adam
Welcome to the dark side, podstawek!
Once I left a banana in my school lunchbox, and when I took it out a week later it was covered in black spots. I thought it was mould, but now I realise it was probably Lord Christos trying to contact me. I guess I must be a saint!
I wonder if you had 10,000,000 communion wafers lined up, and you inspected each one carefully, if you could find the image of Hitler in one.
It must be Jesus. After all, if you consume a
crackercommunion wafer on Friday, jesus is resurrected as a pile of shit on Sunday.