Lourdes Healing of Antonietta Raco

Complete and lasting recovery of motor function. Raco was able to stand unaided after years of severe mobility impairment. No relapse as of declaration date (2025).

Antonietta Raco, a 67-year-old woman from the Basilicata region of southern Italy, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2006. ALS is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease with no known cure, causing the gradual degeneration of motor neurons. By the time she traveled to Lourdes in the summer of 2009, her mobility had been severely compromised.

On the second day of her pilgrimage, while immersed in the baths of the Lourdes sanctuary, Raco reported hearing a voice three times saying “Don’t be afraid.” She experienced a sharp pain in her legs during the immersion. After returning home, she was able to stand unaided for the first time in years.

Her case was submitted to the International Medical Committee of Lourdes (CMIL), the scientific body that investigates reported cures at the shrine. The initial review in 2019 was inconclusive. A revised diagnostic consensus was established in 2020 confirming the original ALS diagnosis. In 2023, neurologist Professor Vincenzo Silani conducted a further reevaluation. In November 2024, a secret vote among the 21 members of the CMIL resulted in 17 votes in favor of an unexplained, complete, and lasting cure — exceeding the two-thirds majority required under Church criteria.

The CMIL result was reported to Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino of the Diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro, the diocese of Raco’s residence. On April 16, 2025, Bishop Orofino decreed the cure to be of divine origin in a solemn ceremony at the Cathedral of Maria Ss. Annunziata in Tursi. Antonietta Raco was officially introduced at a press conference in Lourdes on July 25, 2025, making her the 72nd recognized miraculous healing at the sanctuary.

The CMIL process, established since 1947, requires that a cure meet a strict set of criteria: the original diagnosis must be certain and serious, the cure must be sudden, complete, lasting, and scientifically inexplicable, and there must be no relapse. The 16-year gap between healing (2009) and declaration (2025) is characteristic of the process — sustained follow-up is required before any conclusion is drawn.