 Some theological disputes arose . The non @-@ decay of vampires ' bodies could recall the incorruption of the bodies of the saints of the Catholic Church . A paragraph on vampires was included in the second edition ( 1749 ) of De servorum Dei beatificatione et sanctorum canonizatione , On the beatification of the servants of God and on canonization of the blessed , written by Prospero Lambertini ( Pope Benedict XIV ) . In his opinion , while the incorruption of the bodies of saints was the effect of a divine intervention , all the phenomena attributed to vampires were purely natural or the fruit of " imagination , terror and fear " . In other words , vampires did not exist 
