Miracles of Lourdes: How Many Healings Has the Church Recognized?

The Catholic Church has officially recognized 72 healings as miraculous at Lourdes, out of roughly 7,300 cases examined since 1858. The 72nd, that of Antonietta Raco, was proclaimed on 16 April 2025 by Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino, of the diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro (Basilicata, Italy), following a favourable opinion from the International Medical Committee of Lourdes (Theillier; Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes).

How Many Miracles Are Recognized at Lourdes Today?

Since 1858, 72 healings have been declared miraculous by the Church. The most recent, that of Antonietta Raco, was proclaimed on 16 April 2025 by Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino, of the diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro, in Basilicata (Italy).

This figure of 72 represents only a tiny fraction of the cases studied. Since the first apparitions of 1858, around 7,300 healings have been reported and examined by the Sanctuary’s competent authorities (Theillier, Lourdes, terre de guérisons). Most of these files stop partway through the process: a medically observed improvement is never, on its own, enough to obtain canonical recognition.

Before Antonietta Raco, the 70th recognized healing was that of Sister Bernadette Moriau, in 2018. Only a very small number of files clear every stage of verification each decade. It is therefore important to always date this figure of 72, since it changes with each new episcopal decision, and some older sources still cite “70” or earlier totals.

This scarcity is not a sign of the Church’s disinterest in the healings observed at Lourdes. On the contrary, it reflects the deliberate rigour of the examination process, designed to remain credible on a subject that touches both medicine and faith. A pilgrim discovering this figure for the first time can see that a recognized miracle is never a hasty claim, but the outcome of a long and well-documented procedure.

The Sanctuary now welcomes around 3.6 million people every year (lourdes-france.org, 2024). Set against this steady flow of pilgrims over more than a century and a half, the figure of 72 recognized healings shows just how cautious the Church chooses to be: it prefers a small, solidly established number to a long but fragile list.

Video — Antonia Raco, the 72nd Miraculée of Lourdes (official channel of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes).

How Does the Church Recognize a Miracle?

Every healing reported at Lourdes is first examined by the Bureau of Medical Observations, then referred to the International Medical Committee of Lourdes (CMIL) for its opinion, before a final decision by the diocesan bishop.

The Bureau of Medical Observations is the first stage of every case. Based at the Sanctuary, it gathers testimonies and medical records from people who report having been healed during a pilgrimage. Dr Alessandro de Franciscis, the fifteenth president of the Bureau and the first non-Frenchman to hold the post, has led it since 10 February 2009.

When a file appears medically solid enough, it is passed on to the CMIL. This body brings together doctors from various specialities and nationalities, who study the case independently of one another before voting. For Antonietta Raco’s healing, the favourable vote was 17 votes out of 21, in November 2024.

The CMIL’s opinion alone, however, is not enough to make a healing an officially recognized miracle. It only opens the way to the final stage: the judgment of the bishop of the diocese where the person concerned lives. This division into distinct stages, medical then episcopal, ensures that no single body rules alone on so sensitive a matter.

The CMIL does not review cases continuously: it meets periodically, and each submitted case receives a thorough examination before any vote is taken. This deliberate slowness explains why, on average, only one healing clears every stage every few years. It also protects the Sanctuary from a common accusation, that of making spectacular announcements without solid medical grounds.

What Medical Criteria Define a Miraculous Healing?

A healing is only considered miraculous if it is sudden, complete, lasting, and medically inexplicable, with no link to any ongoing treatment.

These criteria are traditionally associated with Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, the future Pope Benedict XIV, in his treatise De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canonizatione (Book IV, Part I, Chapter VIII, no. 2, 1734), a reference text still used today by the Bureau of Medical Observations and the CMIL (AMIL, amilourdes.com/criteres-canoniques, accessed July 2026). They continue to shape the examination of Lourdes cases today.

Two notions often confused by pilgrims must be distinguished: a healing described as “unexplained”, simply observed by medicine without a known cause, and a healing described as “miraculous”, a term reserved for cases that have received the diocesan bishop’s official recognition. An unexplained healing is therefore never presented as a “proven miracle”: science notes an absence of explanation at a given point in time; it does not rule on any divine intervention.

The water from the Massabielle spring falls outside these medical criteria: it has never been identified as a curative agent by the scientific analyses carried out over the decades. Bernadette herself recalled that this water would have no power without the faith of the person receiving it (Laurentin, Logia). Its value, for this portal as for the Sanctuary, remains spiritual and sacramental, never medical.

Since 2008, the Sanctuary has offered pilgrims the gesture of the water at the fountains by the Grotto, rather than systematic immersion in the baths (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes). This gesture is part of a practice of prayer and trust, not an expectation of an immediate physical result. It is a reminder that the pilgrim’s approach remains, above all, spiritual, even when it accompanies very real suffering or illness.

What Role Does the Diocesan Bishop Play in the Final Recognition?

Only the bishop of the diocese where the healed person lives can officially proclaim a miracle, following a favourable opinion from the CMIL.

This final step ties the recognition of a miracle to the Church’s ordinary pastoral authority, rather than to a centralized Roman body. This is why the 72nd healing was proclaimed by Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino, of Tursi-Lagonegro, the Italian diocese where Antonietta Raco lives, and not by the Sanctuary of Lourdes itself, which has no authority to make such a decision.

The theological meaning of this process goes beyond simply verifying medical facts. The Catechism of the Catholic Church recalls that Christ’s many healings were a resplendent sign that “God has visited his people” (CCC § 1503, citing Lk 7:16). To recognize a miracle is, above all, to discern a sign of God’s presence among human beings, rather than to establish proof in the scientific sense of the term.

For the pilgrim, this distinction guards against a magical reading of Lourdes. Recognized healings remain rare signs, surrounded by rigorous safeguards at every stage, not personal guarantees of healing offered to every visitor to the Sanctuary. They invite, instead, a reading of faith, in keeping with what the Catechism recalls about Christ’s compassion for the sick.

This way of understanding miracles echoes the spirit of the World Day of the Sick, established by Saint John Paul II in 1992 and marked every 11 February at Lourdes. This day highlights all the sick who come on pilgrimage, healed or not, and recalls that the spiritual accompaniment of suffering remains at the heart of the Sanctuary’s mission, far beyond the 72 officially recognized cases alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources and References

Magisterium

• Catechism of the Catholic Church, editio typica 1997 — § 1503 (official USCCB English translation)

Lourdes sources

• Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes — lourdes-france.org, “Miracles and healings” page (accessed July 2026)

Bernadettine corpus

• Theillier, Lourdes, terre de guérisons
• Laurentin, Logia de Bernadette (quotation on the spring water)

Additional online sources

• AMIL (Association Médicale Internationale de Lourdes) — amilourdes.com/criteres-canoniques (accessed July 2026): Cardinal Lambertini, De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canonizatione, Liber IV, Pars I, Cap. VIII, no. 2, 1734

Media

• Video “Antonia Raco, the 72nd Miraculée of Lourdes” — official channel of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, youtube.com/watch?v=aRmQbm6J7zk