Announcement on a Significant Date
In a moment of joy following the rosary prayer on April 16, the feast day of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the rector of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, Father Michel Daubanes, announced the official recognition of a new miracle. It concerns the healing of Italian Antonietta Raco, who suffered from primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), a neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons and leads to severe muscle weakness. The news was simultaneously confirmed by the sanctuary through its social media.
A Rigorous Verification Process
As detailed by Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino of the Italian diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro, Mrs. Raco experienced her healing in the summer of 2009, after bathing in the sanctuary’s pools during a pilgrimage. «Upon returning home, Mrs. Raco began to move independently, and the effects of the unfortunate illness disappeared immediately and definitively,» the prelate stated. This event underwent a long and careful investigation process by the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, which declared the healing «medically inexplicable» with current scientific knowledge.
A Path of Faith and Science
David Torchala, communication director of the sanctuary, explained to OSV News the meticulousness of the process. «We always wonder why there are so few recognized miracles, only 72, compared to the millions of people who come to Lourdes,» he noted. However, he clarified that these recognitions are the result of «long and arduous medical procedures, investigations, and diagnoses.» Torchala emphasized that, after the scientific work, it falls to the Church, through the bishop of the diocese of the healed person, to recognize «that God’s hand has indeed been at work in a healing.»
A Tribute to Pilgrimage and Solidarity
The spokesperson took the opportunity to pay tribute to organizers and volunteers, especially the Italian association Unitalsi, which facilitates the pilgrimage of the sick. «Without all the hospitallers and volunteers who dedicate themselves year-round to the sick, this woman would not have been able to come to Lourdes,» he stressed. Italians are the most numerous visitors to the sanctuary after the French, maintaining a long history of devotion. The Lourdes pools, fully reopened in August 2024 after the pandemic, remain for many a powerful symbol of purification and hope, continuing the tradition of physical and spiritual healings associated with the site since the apparitions of 1858.
Original source: catholicreview.org (published on April 17, 2025)
Photo: Richmond Osei on Unsplash
