Lourdes medical miracles: How 72 cures reached Church recognition
More than 7,000 healings have been reported at Lourdes, but only 72 are Church-recognized miracles after medical review.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
3 min read
The headline figure behind Lourdes medical miracles is 72, but it sits at the end of a long divide between a reported healing, a medical finding and a Church decision. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes says more than 7,000 healings have been reported since the 1858 apparitions, while 72 have been recognized as miracles by the Catholic Church.
That recognition does not mean doctors declare a supernatural cause. The medical conclusion is narrower: after investigation, a case may be judged unexplained by present medical knowledge. The person’s local bishop then makes the theological decision on whether to call it a miracle.
How are Lourdes medical miracles investigated?
The Sanctuary’s Medical Bureau, founded in 1883, is the first stop for a person who wants to report a cure. Its permanent doctor can bring in clinicians registered at Lourdes that day to decide whether a case warrants further examination, according to the Sanctuary.
Cases that continue can be examined for years. The International Medical Committee of Lourdes then votes on whether the recovery is unexplained in the current state of medical knowledge. Its finding goes to the bishop in the recovered person’s home diocese, who decides whether the Church will recognize a miracle.
CBS News reported that the process requires substantial medical records and follow-up, and that some inquiries take decades. An updated 60 Minutes report said two cases were recognized after its 2022 visit, bringing the total to 72.
What must a reported Lourdes cure show?
The Sanctuary lists seven conditions used in its medical assessments. In plain terms, the illness must be serious and have a poor outlook; it must have a documented medical diagnosis; and there must be objective evidence of an organic disease or lesion.
- No treatment can account for the recovery.
- The improvement must be sudden, immediate and without a recovery period.
- Vital functions must return fully, rather than symptoms merely easing.
- The result must last and be definitive, rather than a remission.
The criteria exclude a broad range of reported recoveries from reaching the final stage. A person can report feeling better or attribute a recovery to prayer without that account meeting the medical bureau’s standards.
Among the names on the Sanctuary’s current list is Sister Bernadette Moriau, whose cure was recognized in 2018. The list also records John Jack Traynor with a 2024 recognition date. It includes Antonia Raco, who the Sanctuary says recovered from primary lateral sclerosis after visiting Lourdes in 2009, though the supplied listing does not give a recognition date for her case.
Why do Lourdes miracle totals differ?
Readers may find older totals online. One Sanctuary page lists 70 recognized cures, while its current miraculous-healings list says 72. The later total is also cited by CBS News and a Paramount press release dated August 1, 2026.
A 2014 study in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences found that Lourdes recordkeeping and medical methods changed over time. It said no cure was certified between 1976 and 2006, while later official Sanctuary records show additional recognitions. The study said the phenomenon still lacked a scientific explanation; it did not treat the cases as proof of divine intervention.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.