Antonia Raco, of Basilicata in southern Italy, had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2006. The disease had taken its toll quickly, reducing her to a wheelchair and leaving her unable to breathe or swallow properly.

Lourdes Visit Marked A Turning Point

In 2009, Raco and her husband, Antonio, joined an Italian pilgrimage group to Lourdes, organized by Unitalsi. At that point, she was very ill — unable to walk and dependent on assistance just to get through the day.

At the sanctuary baths, Raco described hearing something no MRI could detect: a young female voice repeating the words, “Don’t be afraid!” three times. She interpreted it as a message of peace, not fantasy.

She noted feeling pain in her legs during the immersion, but not the bad kind — more like something profound was underway. Though she didn’t mention it at the time, she later said it felt like “they were taken away.”

From Wheelchair to Healing at Home

After returning home, one quiet evening sitting beside her husband, Raco again heard the same reassuring voice. What happened next shocked even her: she stood up unaided, for the first time in years.

“Something has happened,” she told her husband — simple words from a woman suddenly standing tall where only decline was expected. This wasn’t slow progress or a fluke adjustment in meds; this was abrupt, powerful, and unexplainable.

Raco kept quiet about the details for some time. Eventually, she shared the story with her local parish priest within the Diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro, who understood that this wasn’t an isolated experience.

Church and Science Enter the Process

The former Archbishop of Cosenza-Bisignano, Francesco Nolè, who had participated in the 2009 pilgrimage himself, met with her. His words were as sobering as they were enlightening: the healing was a gift — but not for her alone.

What followed was not the quick wave of a holy hand. The Church launched a comprehensive, 16-year review process involving medical, canonical, and pastoral examination to ensure nothing could explain the event outside divine intervention.

Although her case was first presented in 2019 to the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, the committee initially found no consensus. But with a revised scientific consensus on ALS in 2020, a reassessment was made possible.

Science Affirms the Inexplicable Case

Professor Vincenzo Silani, a highly respected neurologist, reevaluated Raco in Milan in 2023 and confirmed her recovery remained medically inexplicable. ALS doesn't yield like that. There is no magic pill — and no spontaneous remissions.

In a private vote in November 2024, the committee found that 17 out of 21 members agreed that the healing met the criteria to be deemed a miraculous cure. Think about that — not an internet upvote, but doctors agreeing to something they can't explain.

Then, in April 2025, Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino officially recognized the recovery as a miracle. The Church requires healings to be complete, sudden, lasting, and not the result of treatment — and this one checked every box.

A Life Transformed Becomes a Testimony

At the July 2025 press conference in Lourdes, religious leaders stood alongside medical professionals in announcing the extraordinary finding. Raco appeared not as a passive beneficiary but wearing the white veil of the Hospitallers of Lourdes, signifying her continued service to the sick.

Faith, service, and duty — refreshingly at odds with today's culture of entitlement. At a time when victimhood is often monetized, Raco treated her experience as a calling, not a career opportunity.

As Bishop Jean-Marc Micas noted, a miracle doesn’t force conversion. It offers a sign. Whether we accept it depends not on science, but on how open we are to the idea that not everything can — or should — be explained away.