Pope Benedict XVI wafts incense around the altar during the canonization Mass of Antonio Galvao on Friday in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Friar Galvao began a tradition among Brazilian Catholics of handing out tiny rice-paper pills, inscribed with a Latin prayer, to people seeking cures for all manner of ailments. Although he died in 1822, Brazilian nuns still toil in the Sao Paulo monastery where Galvao is buried, preparing thousands of the tiny pills for free daily distribution. Each one carries these words: "After birth, the Virgin remained intact. Mother of God, intercede on our behalf."
After canonizing Friar Galvao, the pope embraced Sandra Grossi de Almeida, 37, and her son Enzo, 7. She is one of two Brazilian women certifed by the Vatican as divinely inspired miracles justifying the sainthood. She had a uterine malformation that should have made it impossible for her to carry a child for more than four months, but after taking the pills, she gave birth to Enzo.
"I have faith," Grossi recently told The Associated Press. "I believe in God, and the proof is right here."
So if we could get Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline or Bristol-Myers Squibb to hire those nuns to stuff rice paper pills with verses, who knows what they could cure?
I can just see the television ads now. The possibilities are endless . . . .
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