Eucharistic Miracle of Vilakkannur, Kerala, India, November 15, 2013

On May 10, 2025, the Vatican officially recognized and confirmed this Eucharistic miracle in Kerala, India, where the face of Jesus miraculously appeared on a consecrated Host during a Catholic Mass offered by a priest named Fr. Thomas Patikkal in the Archdiocese of Thalassery, on November 13, 2013. The announcement of the Vatican’s approval by the Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplani at Vilakkannur Church — the site of the 2013 miracle, follows a comprehensive 12-year investigation, which included both scientific and medical examinations of the phenomenon.

The miraculous Host had been sent to the archdiocese for observation and safekeeping. CatholicVote org reported on May 12, 2025 that from “September 2018 to January 2020, the archdiocese sent the Host back to Vilakkannur Church for public veneration. The Syro-Malabar Church’s Theological Commission, which investigated the event, found strong theological grounds supporting that it was a Eucharistic miracle. In January 2020, the Host was taken to the Syro-Malabar headquarters in Kakkanad and presented to then-apostolic nuncio Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro. Archbishop Pamplani told the congregation that the Holy See found that the miracle deepens faith in the Real Presence of the Eucharist, and thus permitted the faithful to [adore] honor the miraculous [consecrated] Host in the same way the faithful [adore] honor the Blessed Sacrament. The archbishop added that the reality of the True Presence is a doctrine of the Catholic faith and does not depend on miraculous appearances. The official proclamation will take place May 31, 2025 at Vilakkannur Church, and Pope Leo XIV’s representative in India, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, will preside over the Mass.”

On November 15, 2013, a face resembling that of Jesus appeared on the host during Mass at the Christ the King Church, Vilakkannur, a parish under the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Tellicherry in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

The “Miracle” Host was sent to Rome for scientific study on January 10, 2020, through Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro who had come to the Syro-Malabar headquarters in Kochi, some 330 km south of Vilakkannur.

A statement on the alleged miracle’s official website said, “The Theological Commission of Syro-Malabar Church made a detailed study of the miraculous incident as per the guidelines of the Holy See and declared that the Eucharist is a Relic of Divinity.

“On Sept. 21, 2018, Mar George Njaralakatt ceremoniously placed it on the side alter of Christ the King Church, Vilakkannur, for prayers and reverence. Many people received miraculous blessings by praying before the relic.”

When the “miracle” occurred in 2013 thousands of people flocked to the Vilakkannur church, approximately 50 km east of Kannur town. The district administration had to intervene as the crowds blocked the road to Paithalmala, a major tourist place in northern Kerala. The archdiocese took the Host away three days later saying it needed scientific study.

“Girideepam” (Light of the Mountain), the archdiocesan magazine, published in its September 2018 issue a note from Archbishop George Njaralakatt of Tellicherry announcing the Church’s decision to return the Host.  “Giving the Sacred Host to the Vilakkannur church does not mean that it has been officially accepted as a Eucharistic miracle,” the archbishop clarified. He had forbidden the parish to keep the host on the main altar or to use it for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. “It should be kept on specially arranged place on a side altar along with other relics in the church,” he decreed. The archbishop also asked the parish to record signs and supernatural happenings and to preserve them in a scientific way and make them available for inspection and study by the Church authorities. The archdiocesan magazine said the host had undergone extensive studies by the Church’s theological commission that indicated the phenomenon could be considered a Eucharistic miracle.

As mentioned above, the “Miracle” Host was sent to Rome for scientific study on January 10, 2020, through Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro.

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