The announcement will be made during a Mass celebrating the feast of St John the Baptist on 19 June, to be held at St John’s co-cathedral in Valletta at 5.45pm.

The matter will be then referred to the Saint’s Congregation, whose medics and theologians will scrutinise the case to determine whether the boy’s recovery can be declared miraculous.

The Congregation will present its conclusions to the Pope who will have the final say on the matter. The eventual declaration of the case as miraculous by the Pope would be the final stage before Dun Gorg Preca is declared a saint.