LOURDES (LifeSiteNews) — The 72nd miracle of Lourdes, the healing of a 67-year-old Italian woman, Antonia Roca, from an incurable neuromuscular disease, was officially presented at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes last month.
During a July 25 press conference, alongside Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes, Father Michel Daubanes, the rector of the Lourdes sanctuary, and Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis, the sanctuary’s permanent doctor, Roca detailed her miraculous healing from Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS), which was attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes after she made a pilgrimage to the apparition site, per a Catholic News Agency (CNA) report.
Back in April, after 16 years of extensive medical, pastoral, and canonical examination, Roca’s healing was approved as the 72nd officially recognized Lourdes miracle.
In 2004, Raco began to suffer from Primary Lateral Sclerosis, which caused serious muscle weakness, difficulty walking, severe migraines, and other symptoms. Five years later, in 2009, the debilitated Raco and her husband made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, the site of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette, known for its healing spring waters that arose where St. Bernadette dug in the ground upon instruction from Our Lady.
During the presentation, Raco recalled arriving at Lourdes in a wheelchair, struggling to breathe and swallow, not expecting to be cured. On the second day of the pilgrimage, sanctuary volunteers brought her to the famous baths.
“We prayed together. That’s when I heard a beautiful young female voice say three times: ‘Don’t be afraid!’” she recounted. “At that moment, I burst into tears and prayed for the intentions I had brought with me.”
READ: Woman’s cure from a rare disease officially recognized as Lourdes’ 72nd miracle
Raco then described feeling a “sudden, sharp” pain in her legs while being immersed in the water of Lourdes. One night after returning home in her wheelchair, she heard that same beautiful voice urging her to call out to her husband and tell him what had happened.
“Something has happened,” Raco recalled proclaiming while standing up for the first time in several years, as they both realized she had miraculously been cured.
Mme Antonia Raco a ensuite témoigné avec beaucoup d’émotion devant les personnes présentes et la presse.
©Photo SNDL / Pierre Vincent pic.twitter.com/bnYTxAYeYA
— Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes (@lourdes_france) July 25, 2025
Multiple doctor check-ups confirmed her symptoms had disappeared, prompting Raco to report her cure to the Lourdes Office of Medical Observations.
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After a series of assessments, a majority of the members of the International Medical Committee of Lourdes (CMIL) affirmed in November 2024 that Raco was “cured of Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS) … in an unexpected, complete, lasting and unexplained manner according to medical knowledge.”
After the CMIL affirmed this miracle, Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino of Roca’s home Diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro, Italy, officially proclaimed it in November of last year.
“We often say: ‘If I saw a miracle, I would believe.’ But the truth is: If I believe, I can see miracles,” Fr. Daubanes said during the press briefing. “This healing is not just a story from the past. It is a living testimony that continues to bear fruit.”
Le recteur du Sanctuaire de #Lourdes, le père @DaubanesM, a annoncé à la fin du chapelet en italien de ce jour, la reconnaissance du 72e #Miracle de Lourdes.
Antonietta Raco, atteinte de Sclérose Latérale Primitive, a été guérie en 2009 lors de son pèlerinage à Lourdes. pic.twitter.com/dAwEQS87iK
— Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes (@lourdes_france) April 16, 2025
