A visit to Lourdes, the site of mystery and medical miracles
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has an office dedicated to investigating claims of miraculous cures to determine if they can be explained by current medical knowledge.
Updated on: August 2, 2026 / 7:00 PM EDT / CBS News
Over the last 164 years, bishops from the Catholic church have recognized more than 70 medical miracles connected to The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France. Each year, 4 million pilgrims visit the small town. Many make the journey to Lourdes because they've heard the stories of the miraculous medical recoveries that have taken place there.
In 2022, correspondent Bill Whitaker reported on the Lourdes Office of Medical Observations where world-renowned doctors and researchers conduct decade-long investigations into the countless claims of cures. They determine which cases can be medically explained and which cannot according to current medical knowledge. When Whitaker was in Lourdes in 2022, the office was overseen by Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis, a former pediatrician and Harvard trained epidemiologist, who served as the office's president and residing physician until February 2026.
Two medical miracles were recognized since the 60 Minutes team visited Lourdes in 2022, bringing the number of medical miracles recognized by the Catholic Church to 72.
"We [are] looking for a diagnosis and if that diagnosis is a diagnosis of a severe disease with a severe prognosis," Dr. de Franciscis told 60 Minutes in 2022. "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."
What separates the more than 7,000 recorded claims of cures from the 72 that church officials have recognized as miracles, is a tremendous amount of medical documentation and a patient's willingness to put their life under a microscope.