Has there ever been a proven event deemed to be a miracle that defies the laws of physics and nature and remains inexplicable by modern science today?

Answer 1

There are many miracles that are said to have been witnessed by groups of people - even thousands of people. Any miracle that is approved as such by the Church is only done after both rigorous theological and scientific inquiry and the documentation involved is stored in both ecclesiastical and secular institutions.

Some miracles of note: The miracle of the sun in Fatima in 1917. It was witnessed by 40,000 to 100,000 people and had in attendance people from all levels of society and varying beliefs or unbelief. The following occurred:

• witnesses say the sun dimmed, zigzagged while growing larger or falling from the sky as well as shooting out beams of multi-coloured light.
• the ground and clothes of the witnesses were instantaneously dried despite having been soaked in a downpour for hours.
• many healings took place. Not just minor things that religious sentiment might excite, but cancer remissions, crippled bones repaired, etc., things that doctors would later examine without being able to account for.

The above events, singularly and further as a united event, have yet to be satisfactory explained naturally despite vigorous testing to do so.

The Shroud of Turin, if considered miraculous, remains one of the most baffling of scientific inquiries. Though not approved as authentic or miraculous by the Church, many consider the image upon it a miraculous rendition of Christ. Although it has undergone scrutiny many times, see-sawing between being proved a "forgery" to being "miraculous", new technology is constantly detecting new evidence that has scientists scrambling back to retest. The discovery of Middle Eastern pollens solely indigenous to the area around Christ's tomb, lost knowledge of crucifixion techniques, imprints of coins minted in the time of Christ over the eyes, and the impossibility of such a forgery to be made, even with today's technology, as well as a reverse image on the other side of the shroud leave scientists pressuring Rome for further testing.

Regarding a miracle worker, the most recent of renown is Padre Pio who died in 1968. Healings connected to him are so multifluous there are literally books of documentation concerning them. On his person he had the stigmata, wounds like those of Christs which would never heal, clot, become infected and which sometimes opened and closed instantously while under observation. Medical science has not been able to explain either him or his alleged miracles via known medical science.

Records of "miraculous events" and the inquiries done by both the Church and secular science concerning them can be found with some searching by contacting either the scientific institution that conducted the inquiry, the city hall or the records held by the diocese.

Answer 2

No. There has never been a miracle that defied the laws of physics and nature and remains inexplicable by modern science.

The alleged miracle at Fatima in 1917, in which a large group of people stared at the sun until they saw the sun move around and provide a fantastic light show, is readily explained:

• The sun at Fatima is the same sun that millions of others saw everywhere else in the world, but did not notice anything out of the ordinary. The sun is a massive body that the earth revolves around in a regular orbit and can not move in circles in one small place on the earth, but nowhere else.
• People who arrived at the field had a high expectation of seeing something out of the ordinary.
• The witnesses were Catholics and wanted to see a miracle, moreover it is very easy for people to feel social pressure to agree with what others say they could see.
• The people stared at the sun, and we know that staring at a bright object will cause "a light show" in our perception.

The Shroud of Turin, one of several shrouds touted in the Middle Ages as the original shroud in which Jesus was wrapped, has now been conclusively been proven to be a relic from the twelfth century.

Many Christians believe that prayers can result in miracles, especially when said for the sick. Modern science can test this and, in the only properly controlled scientific experiment designed to test the efficacy of prayer in ensuring a better outcome for hospital patients, no improvement was found in outcome for those for whom prayers were said, compared to those for whom no prayers were said as part of the test. This test was conducted by the Templeton Foundation.