Doctors in the Vatican have attributed the miraculous cure of a man bent double by a crippling spinal condition to the Victorian Cardinal John Henry Newman, Britain’s most famous convert to Roman Catholicism.

Although the miracle has still to be ratified by a panel of theologians, the medical decision makes it almost certain that Cardinal Newman will be beatified this year, taking him a further step closer to sainthood.

Insiders say that Pope Benedict XVI, who has taken a close personal interest in the Newman “cause” since its early days, might even decide to make him a Doctor of the Church at the same time as he is beatified, which would in effect mean immediate canonisation. Normally, a second miracle would be required for him to be declared saint after beatification. A second miracle for Newman has been claimed but no investigations into this one will be made until the beatification process if complete.

The Consulta Medica of the Vatican met yesterday at the Congregation of Saints where the “cure” of Jack Sullivan, a lay deacon in the Church from Boston, Massachusetts, was discussed. The medical council voted that there was no known medical explanation for his recovery, effectively declaring it miraculous. The official declaration of a miracle is expected to be made within weeks, after the theologians have reviewed the medical decision.

Mr Sullivan, who had been bent double by his condition, had prayed for the intercession of Cardinal Newman when he recovered from his illness and was able to walk straight again.

Newman is on track to become the first nonmartyr saint in England since the Reformation, and de facto the patron saint of converts. He would be the first British saint since the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales were canonised in one go in 1970.