Pope Francis is one of the most-loved leaders of the Catholic church, and it seems that besides his holy path, he is one who can perform modern-day miracles, as he has been credited with one - well, half of one, when he visited Naples on Saturday, as reported by the Huffington Post.

While in Naples, the Pope kissed the relic containing St Gennaro's blood, and the contents in the glass ampoule, which is usually dry, turned to liquid. According to Cardinal Crescenzo Sepe, archbishop of Naples on the blood's change of state, "It is the sign that St. Gennaro loves Pope Francis: half of the blood turned to liquid."

According to Express UK, the Argentine leader was taken by surprise about the announcement and attempted to make a joke, saying, "The bishop said the blood is only half liquefied. It appears the saint only loves us half-way. We have to convert ourselves (to good) more so he loves us more."

St Gennaro, according to Huffington Post, is was the bishop of Naples who was martyred in 305 as he was persecuted under the Roman Emperor Diolcletian. In those days, Christians collect the blood of martyrs and keep them in catacombs with the corpse of the deceased, the blood as indication that the person has died a martyr.

Catholics believe that the miracle of St Gennaro's blood can occur three times a year on feast days, if they pray hard enough. However, skeptics believe that the "miracle" merely happens due to the chemicals present in the ampoule that changes blood viscosity when moved, and that's all that happened on Saturday during the pope's visit.

However, Saturday's "half miracle" was the first time that the blood liquefied in the presence of a Pope since 1848, when the same thing happened in front of Pope Pius IX.

This doesn't mean that Pope Francis is on his way to being called a saint. Elena Curti of the Catholic Weekly Tablet pointed out that the liquefying is a regular miracle that has been happening regularly over the last six centuries, and Catholics cannot treat each and every occasion as a miracle. The Pope's remark about the saint's half-love does not mean that he decries miracles either. According to Curti, "You need two miracles to make a saint, one for them to be declared blessed, and a second one to be canonized as a saint."

The Guardian pointed out, perhaps the pope realized that flashy pseudo-miracles such as the liquefaction of the saint's blood does not mean a thing.

Do you think the Pope has just performed a small miracle, or do you agree with Curti that it's a pseudo one?