Healing of Juan José Barragán Silva

Fell ten meters headfirst from an apartment balcony onto cement. His mother, who witnessed the fall, immediately invoked Juan Diego. He lapsed into a coma and emerged from it on May 6 — the same day John Paul II celebrated Juan Diego's beatification in Mexico City. He was discharged approximately one week later.

Juan José Barragán Silva was a twenty-year-old man from Querétaro, Mexico, who had been struggling with drug addiction. On May 3, 1990, he fell from an apartment balcony, dropping ten meters — approximately thirty-three feet — headfirst onto a cement surface below. His mother witnessed the fall and immediately invoked the intercession of Juan Diego, whose beatification Pope John Paul II was then preparing to celebrate in Mexico.

The injuries were severe: fractures to the spinal column, neck, and cranium, with intracranial haemorrhage. He was hospitalized in critical condition and lapsed into a coma.

On May 6, 1990 — the same day that Pope John Paul II celebrated Juan Diego's beatification at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City — Juan José emerged from the coma. The recovery was sudden and unexpected. Within approximately a week, he had recovered sufficiently to be discharged from the hospital. His physicians could not account for the speed or completeness of his recovery given the nature of his injuries.

The case was submitted to the Holy See as part of the investigation into Juan Diego's canonization. In 1998, five medical consultors for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints reviewed the documentation and declared unanimously that the cure was medically inexplicable. The theological board reviewed the case in May 2001 and was also unanimous. Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the miracle on December 20, 2001.

Juan Diego was canonized on July 31, 2002, in Mexico City.