(ZENIT News / Lourdes, 04.18.2025).- In a deeply moving announcement made on Holy Wednesday, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France confirmed its 72nd officially recognized miracle—marking the extraordinary recovery of an Italian woman who, more than fifteen years ago, was suffering from a severe and incurable neurological condition.
The declaration was made by Fr. Michel Daubanes, rector of the shrine, moments after the conclusion of the Rosary prayer, in front of gathered pilgrims and clergy. The miracle recognized is that of Antonietta Raco, a woman from the italian Diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro, who was diagnosed in 2006 with primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), a rare and progressive neuromuscular disorder affecting movement, speech, and even the ability to breathe.
By 2008, her physical condition had drastically deteriorated—marked by tetraparesis, dysarthria, and compromised respiratory function. She was bound to a debilitating trajectory with no known medical hope. But in August of 2009, during a pilgrimage to Lourdes organized by the Italian Catholic association UNITALSI, Raco entered the sanctuary’s famed healing pools. What followed was as swift as it was unexplainable: she stood up, unaided, walked, and experienced what she described as an overwhelming sense of physical and spiritual well-being.
We welcome the official proclamation of the 72nd miracle of Lourdes by Mgr Vincenzo Carmine Orofino, Bishop of the Diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro (MATERA), Italy. Ms Raco, who suffered from Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS), was cured in 2009 during her pilgrimage to @lourdes_france pic.twitter.com/8f2Hx8kkME
— AMIL- Association Médicale Internationale Lourdes (@LourdesMedicale) April 17, 2025
She spoke little of the event until her return home, where further medical evaluations confirmed the absence of all prior symptoms. Yet, paradoxically, the diagnosis of PLS remained validated. Over the next several years, an intense and rigorous process unfolded. Between 2010 and 2017, her case was examined by numerous medical experts in Italy and abroad, culminating in a conclusion from the International Medical Committee of Lourdes (CMIL) in 2017: her recovery was “complete, lasting, and medically inexplicable.”
Still, it would take until November 15, 2024, for the committee to officially recognize her case as one that defied scientific explanation. That same consensus paved the way for the ecclesiastical discernment process in her home diocese. Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino of Tursi-Lagonegro subsequently convened a commission of theologians and medical experts to examine the spiritual dimensions of the healing.
On April 16, 2025, the bishop formally declared the event to be a miracle, giving public thanks for what he called a sign of God’s abiding closeness to His people. “Through this divine sign,” the diocesan statement read, “the Lord has once again revealed His presence among us.”
Medical professionals involved in the case have expressed their own astonishment. Raco’s physician described the recovery as “a phenomenon scientifically inexplicable.”
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