{"id":6733,"date":"2015-09-29T18:31:29","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T23:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?p=6733"},"modified":"2015-09-29T18:31:29","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T23:31:29","slug":"girl-in-wheelchair-blessed-by-pope-francis-believes-shes-on-the-road-to-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2015\/09\/girl-in-wheelchair-blessed-by-pope-francis-believes-shes-on-the-road-to-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Girl in Wheelchair Blessed by Pope Francis Believes She&#8217;s On the Road to Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/121\/2015\/09\/JuliaBruzzese-e1443569068652.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/121\/2015\/09\/JuliaBruzzese-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"JuliaBruzzese\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-6735\"><\/a>(<em>Photo property of <a href=\"http:\/\/newyork.cbslocal.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">WCBS TV<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>When Pope Francis arrived at Kennedy Airport last week, 12-year-old Julia Bruzzese of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, waited on the tarmac with many other spectators, hoping to get a blessing from the beloved pontiff. Actually, Julie was hoping for a miracle because doctors couldn\u2019t determine the cause of her paralysis and therefore couldn\u2019t provide any treatment. They suspected it might be Lyme disease, but there was no actual evidence to confirm their suspicion.<\/p>\n<p>As I said in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2015\/09\/four-new-nicknames-for-pope-francis-in-the-aftermath-of-his-u-s-visit\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">my post the other day<\/a>, Pope Francis is drawn to people who are in wheelchairs. So when he saw Julia, he went over to her and gave her the blessing she was looking for. <\/p>\n<p>Five days later, Julia believes she\u2019s on her way to a miracle. Not the kind where she suddenly gets up out of her wheelchair and walks. Rather, as she told WCBS TV\u2019s Dick Brennan, \u201cThe miracle has begun. Yesterday, I went to the doctor and for the first time they saw Lyme disease activity in my blood and that just shows a miracle can happen if you believe, just like I did. If you believe and pray everything can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Julia still has a long road ahead, but for the first time in months she\u2019s got real hope. And sometimes hope itself can lead to miracles.<\/p>\n<p>You can watch Brennan\u2019s report below or <a href=\"http:\/\/newyork.cbslocal.com\/2015\/09\/29\/wheelchair-bound-girl-finds-new-hope-after-encounter-with-pope-francis\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">read the full story<\/a> at the link.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen src=\"http:\/\/up.anv.bz\/latest\/anvload.html?key=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\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Photo property of WCBS TV) When Pope Francis arrived at Kennedy Airport last week, 12-year-old Julia Bruzzese of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, waited on the tarmac with many other spectators, hoping to get a blessing from the beloved pontiff. Actually, Julie was hoping for a miracle because doctors couldn\u2019t determine the cause of her paralysis and therefore [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":6735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,77,40,56,78,32,19],"tags":[113,111,122,106,97],"class_list":["post-6733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic","category-current-events-2","category-inspiration","category-medical","category-pope-francis","category-prayer","category-youth","tag-catholic","tag-inspiration","tag-medical","tag-prayer","tag-youth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Girl in Wheelchair Blessed by Pope Francis Believes She&#039;s On the Road to Healing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(Photo property of 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