Except for special cases decided by the pontiff, there will no longer be a declaration by the Church on the supernatural character of phenomena, but only an authorization for prudent adherence and a recognition of pastoral value, provided that there are no mystifications. The relationship of these phenomena with many sanctuaries in Asia.
Vatican City () – Given the testimonies of an apparition, the Church – “as a rule” and unless a statement is expressly indicated by the pontiff – will no longer rule on the supernatural nature of these phenomena. More quickly, the local bishop, always involving the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, from now on will limit himself to establishing whether signs of an action of the Spirit are recognized and whether there is a pastoral value that advises the dissemination of the message, even through pilgrimages.
This is the novelty of the new “Norms for proceeding in the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena” of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved by Pope Francis and released today by the Vatican. These are procedures that – although they recognize that “many times these manifestations have produced a great wealth of spiritual fruits, growth in faith, devotion and fraternity and service and, in some cases, have given rise to different Shrines spread throughout the world that today form part of the heart of the popular piety of many peoples” – aim to avoid cases of opposing judgments on the same phenomenon expressed by the Church at different times and levels.
The basic objective of the text – signed by the prefect of the dicastery, Card. Víctor Manuel Fernández, and by the secretary Mons. Armando Matteo – is the desire to “make the faithful attentive” to the signs of the divine presence among us, but also to “preserve them from all deception.” In this sense “it does not include – explains Fernández in the introduction of the text – a declaration about the supernaturality of the phenomenon object of discernment, that is, the possibility of affirming with moral certainty that that thing comes from a decision of God who has willed it in such a way.” straight”. Instead, a “nihil obstat” is granted – that is, the confirmation of the lack of objections – which indicates that “in relation to this phenomenon the faithful “can give their assent in a prudent manner”, although it is no longer a declaration about the supernaturality of the facts. “It is only an aid “but it is not obligatory to use it.”
The new norms will now establish six possible conclusions at the end of the investigation of each of these phenomena: in addition to the “nihil obstat” – which corresponds to a totally positive evaluation of the phenomenon – there are five other specific possible results, in cases where the bishop and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith consider that there are reasons for prudence or even perplexity in the messages or in the way in which the forms of this devotion are managed. The last of these degrees is a “declaration of non-supernaturality”, for those cases in which it is evident that the phenomenon is not supernatural based on concrete evidence, such as the confession of a supposed clairvoyant or credible testimonies of forgery.
These new norms refer to phenomena that also closely affect the spiritual experience of many Christian communities in Asia, where numerous sanctuaries have been built in places that the devotion of the faithful has linked to Marian apparitions. Among the 15 on which the Church has formally ruled is that of Our Lady of Akita, in Japan (in the photo), where the Virgin appeared, between 1973 and 1981, to Sister. Agnes Sasagawa, a convert from Buddhism to Christianity. In 1988 the then Card. Joseph Ratzinger – as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – was the one who established that the messages of Our Lady of Akita are reliable and worthy of faith.
But along with this case, the Churches of Asia have also preserved many other testimonies of supernatural phenomena, which in most cases were a way of comforting populations affected by suffering and persecution. Linked to the memory of the Marian apparitions, for example, are the Indian sanctuary of Velankanni, where according to tradition the Virgin revealed herself to a Hindu child in the 16th century, and that of Our Lady of La Vang, in Vietnam, where the Virgin brought comfort to local Christians during the great persecution of the late 18th century. Chinese Catholics also say there were Marian apparitions in 1900, during the wave of violence against Christians that sparked the Boxer Rebellion. The most significant place in this sense is the Donglu sanctuary, in the diocese of Baoding, in Hebei, where precisely this Marian devotion has long been in the crosshairs of the Chinese authorities’ repression against clandestine Catholic communities.
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