Why the Roman Catholic Church 3 of 5

Only God can perform miracles.
A number of God’s miracles have been aimed specifically
at bringing people to the Roman Catholic Church.

Want to read about one in particular? OK!
How about one you can verify for yourself?

In the year 1521 the capital city of the Aztec empire
in modern day Mexico fell to the Spanish forces.

The Spaniards did not treat Native Americans well.
Thus few Native Americans had interest in
the Roman Catholic Church of their conquerors.
The Native Americans naturally preferred
their own centuries old, polytheistic, human sacrificing religion.

Yet, by the year 1541
9 million Native Americans
converted to joining the Roman Catholic Church.

What happened? Well, let me tell you.

In the year 1531 Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to
a Native American named Juan Diego.
She sent Juan Diego to a Roman Catholic bishop with
instructions to build a Roman Catholic chapel.

When the bishop demanded proof,
her image miraculously appeared on Juan Diego’s tilma, his cloak.
You can go see this tilma yourself today in Mexico City.
On Juan Diego’s tilma is a perfect, lifelike image of a woman
perfectly preserved for over 400 years
while European masters’ paintings are deteriorating with time.

Please understand, tilmas are cloaks
made from the fibers of cactus plants.
Tilmas routinely dissolve within 40 years of being made.
Juan Diego’s tilma is in perfect condition
over 400 years after it was made.

There are only two possible explanations.
1) it is a fake or
2) it is a miracle.
Which explanation is more rational?

For the tilma to be a fake, then the following would all have to be true.
1) An anonymous artist painted the tilma in exquisite detail and perfect color.
Yet this artist never did any other, similar work and never revealed his/her identity.
2) Anonymous weavers have reproduced the tilma perfectly for centuries and
never taken credit for doing so.
3) Anonymous artists have reproduced the art work perfectly for hundreds of years and
never taken credit for doing so.
If someone believes all that, with no evidence whatsoever,
you have to doubt that they are taking a rational approach to the question.

The clear, rational explanation is that
the miraculous image on Juan Diego’s tilma is a miracle.
Now, we know that only God can work miracles.
Therefore, only God could have created this image and
only God could have kept it in perfect condition this long.
The rational conclusion, then is that
the miraculous image on Juan Diego’s tilma
must have come from God.

Since God is smart enough to know that sending Juan Diego to a
Roman Catholic bishop and building a Roman Catholic chapel
would have to lead to conversion to Catholicism,
I can only conclude that God chose the Roman Catholic Church
as the church to bring His children to through this miracle.

I am a Roman Catholic in part because
God has actively endorsed the Roman Catholic Church.

Next       Start of Why the Catholic Church       Home