Lourdes: A site of mystery and 72 recognized medical miracles

Millions journey to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France each year, drawn by stories of miraculous medical recoveries. Over 164 years, the Catholic Church has officially recognized more than 70 medical miracles connected to the site.

The Lourdes Office of Medical Observations is where world-renowned doctors and researchers meticulously investigate countless claims of cures. Their decade-long investigations aim to determine which cases can be explained by current medical knowledge and which cannot.

Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis, former president and physician of the office, explained the rigorous criteria in 2022: "We [are] looking for a diagnosis and if that diagnosis is a diagnosis of a severe disease with a severe prognosis... And then, we want to make sure that that person is a person that was cured in a way that one would say suddenly…in an instantaneous way, in a complete way, in a way lasting in time. And…my seventh criteria that has to match is there must be no possible explanation to that cure."

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We [are] looking for a diagnosis and if that diagnosis is a diagnosis of a severe disease with a severe prognosis... And then, we want to make sure that that person is a person that was cured in a way that one would say suddenly…in an instantaneous way, in a complete way, in a way lasting in time. And…my seventh criteria that has to match is there must be no possible explanation to that cure.

Since the "60 Minutes" team visited in 2022, two more medical miracles have been recognized, bringing the total to 72. The key difference between the thousands of recorded cure claims and the officially recognized miracles lies in extensive medical documentation and the patient's willingness to undergo intense scrutiny.

While some skeptics point to the less rigorous medical science of the late 1800s and question the strictness of the office's criteria over time, its conclusions have remained unproven. Dr. Esther Sternberg, a scholar on the mind-body connection, noted in 2022 that as medical science advanced, so did the evaluation of unexplained cures, with the office continually adding layers of diagnostic measures.

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As medical science and rigor in diagnosis progressed…determining whether something was an unexplained cure progressed as well. They [Lourdes Office of Medical Observations] kept adding these different layers of evaluation…and more diagnostic measures.