Lourdes announces 72nd miracle: Italian pilgrim cured of degenerative disease

CNA Staff, Apr 16, 2025 / 17:19 pm

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on Wednesday announced the recognition of the 72nd miracle at the Catholic pilgrimage site, one involving an Italian woman who was cured of a rare neuromuscular condition more than 15 years ago.

Father Michel Daubanes, the rector of the sanctuary, made the announcement on Wednesday following the completion of a rosary at the French shrine, according to a tweet issued by the directors of the holy site.

The pilgrim who received the miracle was identified as Italian woman Antonietta Raco, who “suffered from primary lateral sclerosis” and who was “cured in 2009 during her pilgrimage to Lourdes,” the tweet said.

Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino of Tursi-Lagonegro in Italy, where Raco lives, likewise announced the recognition of the miracle on Wednesday.

After bathing in the waters at Lourdes in 2009, Raco “began to move independently” after which “the effects of the infamous illness immediately and definitively disappeared,” the Italian diocese said on Wednesday. 

“After a long period of accurate investigations, the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, in turn, declared the medically unexplained character of the scientific knowledge of the lady’s recovery,” the diocese said. 

The bishop subsequently “provided for the establishment of a medical-theological commission and the appointment of an episcopal delegate in order to make the necessary ecclesial discernment about the alleged miraculous healing.”

“Thank God, who with this divine sign has once again manifested his presence among his people,” the diocese said. 

The Italian newspaper La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno reported on Wednesday that Raco’s doctor described the healing as “a scientifically inexplicable phenomenon.”

Raco herself reportedly described experiencing “an unusual feeling of well-being" after bathing in the Lourdes spring in 2009.