Why are so few cancer cures recognized at Lourdes?

Because the criteria are strict in ways a modern cancer case almost never meets.

The criteria are traditionally credited to Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, later Pope Benedict XIV. They ask for several things at once. The illness must have been serious, with a poor outlook. It must be backed by objective medical evidence. There must be no treatment to which the recovery could be attributed. The recovery must be sudden, immediate, and without convalescence. All vital functions must return, rather than symptoms simply easing. And the result must last, rather than be a remission.

Now read that against cancer care in 2026. Almost every cancer patient is getting treatment. That alone rules the case out under the rule about attribution. Cancers can also shrink and later return. That runs into the rule that the cure must last rather than be a remission. And "sudden and immediate" describes very little of how cancer behaves or how it is treated.

This is a feature of the criteria rather than an accident. The process is designed to be hard to satisfy.

Nothing in Catholic teaching presents pilgrimage as a substitute for medical care. And the shrine's own process assumes that people are under the care of doctors.

Sources

• BMJ (PubMed Central) — Why are miraculous cures mainly of cancer?
• Translational Oncology (PubMed Central) — The spontaneous remission of cancer: current insights and therapeutic significance
• National Cancer Institute — Spirituality in Cancer Care (PDQ) Patient Version
• Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes — The miracles of Lourdes