Tag Archives: oceania

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Pope approves predecessor's 'miracle' healing on path to sainthood

Pope Francis approved the crediting of what was described as the miraculous healing of a child to the intercession of John Paul I, advancing the cause for sainthood for one of his predecessors who died 33 days after being elected pontiff in 1978.

His signing off on the 2011 recovery in Argentina of a child makes possible John Paul I's beatification, whose date will be later established by Francis.

Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected on August 26, 1978 and was found dead in his bed in his Vatican City apartment on September 28 of that year.

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The Vatican said that the healing, of an 11-year-old girl, took place in Buenos Aires, the birthplace of the current pope, Francis.

She had been afflicted with acute brain inflammation, septic shock and other grave medical problems and was deemed on the verge of death by doctors.

A pastor of the parish associated with the hospital caring for her took "the initiative to invoke Pope Luciani," the Vatican said.

The unexpected death of the 65-year-old John Paul I, so early into his papacy, set off speculation that he had been murdered.

In 2017, Pope Francis approved an earlier step in the church's sainthood process, a declaration that John Paul I had led a life of "heroic virtue."

After beatification take place, a second miracle must take place that will pass the Vatican's muster if John Paul I is to be declared a saint.

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Just before the attribution of "heroic virtue" to John Paul I, a journalist involved in the beatification cause and who had access to the late pope's medical files, concluded in a book that he had died of a heart attack.

Dubbed the "smiling pope" for his cheerful demeanour in public, John Paul I was succeeded by the first non-Italian pontiff in centuries — Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who called himself John Paul II and went on to lead one of the church's longest papacies.

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An alleged family dispute, cash and body in an Adelaide river

When a man's body washed up in South Australian waters almost 80 years ago, four small details alerted local police he had met a sinister end.

It was early October 1944 and Lee Pao Sung's lifeless remains surfaced in Adelaide's Port River. He was wrapped in blankets and weighed down by ship spanners. Four nails were driven into his head.

Documents released by the National Archives of Australia (NAA) tell a grisly, yet puzzling tale, of Lee's death. Despite two men standing accused of his murder, no such charges were ever laid.

Lee's heavily creased paper identification card, issued in February 1943, lists him as a Chinese national aged just 44 at the time of his death. He was employed as fitter, an engineer, with the British cargo vessel SS Helga Moller.

Lee Pao Sung (left) and Lui Yung Fui (right).

The black and white photo glued to the card hides his 160cm height but shows him calm faced in suit and tie, his hair neatly combed.

Before his death, Lee and three other male crew members were thought to have deserted the SS Helga Moller when they were allowed ashore when it docked in Adelaide.

Documents show the trio listed as missing in September 1945 ahead of the ship's departure for Fremantle in Western Australia.

By 4 October, 1944, Australian customs had been alerted and an official report was released by the Secretary, Department of the Interior, in Canberra.

The two other men alongside Lee were Lui Lung Fui and Wu Su Ling.

Lui's identification card listed him as a 'Captain Boy', which reportedly meant he waited on the officers on the ship and ran errands for the captain.

Wu, like Lee, was employed as a ships engineer.

The NAA say both Lui and Wu blamed each other for Lee's murder, giving sworn evidence in court the other was guilty of the crime.

It is alleged Wu was motivated by a family dispute as well as 100 pounds the victim had in his possession.

Lui claimed his involvement in the crime was only helping to dispose of Lee's body because his friend Wu had threatened his life.

The seriousness of the case led the Adelaide Supreme Court to open on a Saturday – a first at the time for the court in 20 years.

Deportation order for Lui Yung Fui.

"The court found that both men had participated in disposing of the body, but the jury could not definitively say that either man was solely responsible for the murder itself," the NNA said.

"The court finally ruled that both men were guilty of the lesser charge of 'conspiracy to defeat the course of justice'".

Lui served two years and nine months of his sentence of hard labour at Yatala Labour Prison in Adelaide. He was given early release for deportation.

A deportation order issued by the Commonwealth of Australia and addressed to "the Gaoler" said Lui arrived in Australia by the SS Helga Moller on 6 September 1944 and has been convicted of a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment "for one year or longer".

"The National Archives does not hold a deportation order for Wu Su Ling, and we do not know how long he remained in prison," the NNA said.