A Sydney Catholic priest has reportedly offered a $5,000 reward for anyone who can prove the Lourdes miracles are fakes.
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reports Father Paul Glynn has put up the bounty to challenge sceptics of 24 cases he has investigated at the shrine in southern France.
Millions of people have flocked to Lourdes since 1858, when a French peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, said she had been visited by an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
The Catholic Church has since recognised 66 miracles at the site, the most recent in 1987.
Father Glynn has interviewed four people and reviewed the case notes of a further 20 that have not yet been recognised as miracles.
He believes medical science cannot explain the cures of the cases and has offered the reward to convince non-believers of the power of faith.