A Former Stanford Professor’s Faith Story

We hear nonstop about how Science and Faith are incompatible, but Emergency Physician Dr. Scott French says the truth is just the opposite!

Excerpts from Shalom World correspondent Donna Villa’s conversation with this eminent former Stanford professor…

The age-old conflict between faith and science continues to rise. As a man of science, what is your vision to reconcile this conflict?

In reality, there is no conflict between faith and science. It is a false narrative promoted by our current culture, which has extreme difficulty professing truth, particularly in medicine. The real conflict is a spiritual battle over truth. Truth is critical to the well-being of each individual, the family, the culture, and the nation, but somehow our culture encourages Relativism and Gnosticism which confuses our children.

The Shroud of Turin is a great example of how faith and science are synergistic. You couldn’t have science without a loving creator—God who created a life permitting universe and natural biological and physical laws. The Shroud is the most intensively studied historical artifact, and 21st-century science provides evidence that it is indeed the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, dating back to the first century. Another example of this synergy of science and faith is that the Biblical account of the crucifixion exactly matches the Shroud’s findings.

Speaking of the Shroud of Turin, didn’t you have a profound experience with the Shroud that turned your faith life around?

I have always been interested in discovering scientific truth, and so the Shroud of Turin was always of great interest to me. Despite being relatively clueless about the Catholic faith, I jumped at the chance to go see the Shroud that was open for viewing in 2015. Materials were sent from the Catholic pilgrimage suggesting that the science was not settled on whether the Shroud of Turin was the burial cloth of Jesus Christ or a forgery. However, as an ER doctor with significant trauma experience, standing within ten feet of the Shroud, I knew there was more to this story. What immediately struck me was an anatomically correct image of every square inch of a male who has long hair and a beard, consistent with a Jewish Rabbi as described in the Bible. In addition, the image on the Shroud has the marks of the gruesome scourging, the lance mark on the right side of the chest, the crown of thorns, the scourging marks and other details of the crucifixion, also as depicted in the Gospel of John.

In the extensive research that ensued, I discovered that compelling scientific evidence that the Shroud is indeed the burial cloth of Jesus Christ—Jesus really did undergo horrific torture during the crucifixion. Further, the image on the Shroud is also scientific evidence of the Resurrection of the body.

Unfortunately, these compelling scientific studies will most probably not be found on a simple Google search or highlighted in the mass media. Therefore, we all need to go deeper in our search for truth.

You are considered an expert in Eucharistic miracles. Do they add to the efforts at reconciling this supposed conflict between faith and science?

The more scientific evidence I found about 21st-century Eucharistic Miracles, the more I realized that divine revelation of the origin of the universe and life on planet Earth is increasingly being affirmed by science. Science is based on observation, but we can’t observe something supernatural or spiritual. Instead, we can observe the effects of a supernatural event, such as the Shroud of Turin and the Eucharistic miracles.

John 6 gives us divine revelation that Jesus is the Eucharist, and 21st century Eucharistic miracles are prefigured by the Eucharistic miracle in Lanciano, Italy (750 AD). A priest at Lanciano had doubts that the Blessed Sacrament is really Jesus Christ. Incredibly, the wine and host turned into type AB blood and living flesh in front of the entire congregation! Type AB blood is also found on the Shroud of Turin, and is the rarest type of blood, but is not uncommon in people of Jewish descent.

As in the Lanciano miracle, in EVERY 21st-century Eucharistic miracle, the Consecrated Host turns into type AB blood, as well heart tissue. Amazingly, in every single one of these 21st Century Eucharistic miracles, the heart tissue is still alive, with living white blood cells. White blood cells can’t survive outside the body for more than about 30 minutes, yet in samples that are years old, scientists continue to affirm finding living white blood cells!

Do you think these Eucharistic miracles can really impact people’s faith today?

The Catholic Church is very careful to use non-believing scientists and not rely on believing scientists in declaring that the Shroud or Eucharistic miracles do not have a natural explanation, thus being deemed ‘supernatural’ or a miracle. One example of an initial nonbeliever is the renowned American Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a cardiologist and forensic pathologist, who inspected parts of the 1996 Buenos Aires Eucharistic miracle (It is considered a 21st-century miracle because extensive scientific study was completed in 2005). He remarked: “If this sample came from a dead person, how could it be that while I was examining it, the cells of the sample were moving and pulsating? If the heart came from someone who died in 1996, how could it still be alive?” When he was informed where the samples were from, he stated: “This will remain an inexplicable mystery to science—a mystery totally beyond her competence.”

We are all seeking truth, peace, and hope. We are blessed that the Holy Spirit has given us 21st-century Eucharistic miracles that are evidence that Jesus is the Eucharist, the medicine of immortality. God humbled himself to offer himself as both the sacrificial victim and high priest to defeat sin and death. God is in charge of life and death and wants our immortal souls to join Him in Heaven. He is outside of time, and so the Eucharist is the glorified body of Jesus Christ that ascended to Heaven, assuring us that our glorified bodies will also ascend to Heaven at the end of time.

Thus, the 21st-century Eucharistic miracles, as with the Shroud of Turin, are evidence that love does prevail over the darkness and lies. There is hope, because we were created by an all loving God so that we can join Him in our true home, Heaven. The reality of Jesus Christ’s fully human nature and fully divine nature counters the hopelessness, despair, and antilife current cultural narrative.
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21st-century Eucharistic Miracles

1. Buenos Aires, Argentina
On August 15, 1996, consecrated particles locked in the tabernacle changed into a red substance.

2. Tixtla, Mexico
On October 22, 2006, a Consecrated Host began secreting blood during a retreat Mass.

3. Sokolka, Poland,
On October 19, 2008, red clots were found on the partially dissolved Consecrated Host.

4. Legnica, Poland, on December 25, 2013, a Consecrated Host, placed in the water to dissolve, began bleeding.
On December 25, 2013, a Consecrated Host, placed in the water to dissolve, began bleeding.

Donna Villa joined Shalom Media USA in 2016 and is currently engaged in the worldwide mission of evangelization through Shalom World. She has a degree in Communications and vast experience in broadcasting.