The Archbishop further announced that the Pope called for a Consortium on Friday 23rd February, where Cardinals will dispense their advice on a number of possible canonizations, including that of the late Maltese priest.

Archbishop revealed the news during a meeting at the MUSEUM central headquarters in Blata l-Bajda. In January members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, attributed the miraculous healing of an infant to the priest.

In the recent weeks the Congregation prepared a document regarding the miracle and presented it to Pope Benedict XVI for approval.

The miracle attributed to Dun Ġorġ Preca occurred around two months after he was declared Blessed, during Pope John Paul II’s visit to Malta in May 2001. The case involved an infant who developed liver complications mere days after birth. The child was examined at St. Luke’s Hospital in Malta and eventually transferred to London’s King College Hospital, for further treatment.

On the 14th of July doctors decided that the child would only survive if given a liver transplant. Although a date for the transplant was established, it was later discovered that the donor was not a compatible match.  

At this point the child’s family turned to God through prayer, with the intercession of Dun Ġorġ Preca. A glove used during the exhumation of the priest a few months earlier was also placed upon the infant’s body.

On the 20th of July, the child’s liver started to function normally and within another four days doctors decided that the baby no longer required a liver transplant. Today the child is a healthy five-year-old.

In July 2002, one year after the child’s miraculous healing, the Ecclesiastical Tribunal under the leadership of Mons. Arthur Said Pullicino, commenced the Diocesan Process to study the case.

The Tribunal heard 38 Maltese witnesses including medical experts Dr. Alfred Caruana Galizia and Dr. Simon A ttard Montalto. The Tribunal also heard Profs. Dr. Anil Dhawan from King’s College Hospital, who confirmed that there was no scientific explanation for the sudden improvement in the child’s health.

The Diocesan Process came to an end on the 19th June 2004, with Mons. Joseph Mecieca signing the case documents during a mass celebrated ay St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

The documents were sent to Rome, where the Congregation for the Causes of Saints agreed that the Maltese process analyzing the case was a valid one on 17th December 2004.

Doctors and Theologists of the Congregation also discussed the case in 2006, both submitting positive verdicts .

The cause for Dun Gorg's beatification was initiated in 1975. He was declared venerable in June 2000 and Blessed in May 2001. In another unexplainable miracle, Charles Zammit Endrich's detached retina healed after he placed a relic of Dun Ġorġ under his pillow. The case took place over 40 years ago on the 3rd February 1964.

See also MaltaMedia's special feature on Pope John Paul II's visit to Malta.