New Vatican norms applied in alleged Italian apparitions
New Vatican norms applied in alleged Italian apparitions
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Following the recent Vatican guidelines regarding purported supernatural events, an Italian bishop has provided his “nihil obstat“recognizing the pastoral and spiritual significance of” devotion to Our Lady of the Mystical Rose of Montichiari and accommodating any possible pilgrimages to associated locations within his diocese.
Bishop Pierantonio Tremolada of Brescia released the decree on July 8 following the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith informing him that it did not uncover any assertions that directly oppose church doctrine in the works of the late Pierina Gilli, who asserted she had received messages from a sequence of Marian apparitions in 1947 and 1966.
The Vatican grants approval to the apparitions of Our Lady of the Mystical Rose.
“The believers are permitted to offer (the phenomenon) their support in a cautious way,” the bishop stated in his directive. Nonetheless, the directive does not serve as a declaration affirming the supernatural source or nature of the purported occurrences, and the faithful are not required to place their belief in them, he noted.
Although the reverence for Our Lady of the Mystical Rose spans the globe, Bishop Tremolada stated that his decree pertains to his own diocese and that, in light of the new guidelines, each bishop must assess and determine what is pastorally wise in his respective diocese following consultation with the dicastery.
By early July, the Vatican’s doctrinal department had issued two statements or letters addressing particular instances of purported apparitions and revelations since the introduction of new guidelines on May 17 aimed at assisting bishops in making swifter and more cautious decisions regarding the evaluation of claimed supernatural occurrences.
Vatican declarations regarding supposed visions
The initial statement was released on June 27, where the dicastery affirmed the decision made by Bishop Marco Salvi of Civita Castellano. In March, the bishop announced that the purported apparitions in Trevignano Romano, Italy, were not of a supernatural nature. The dicastery also validated the bishop’s ban on devotions and pilgrimages in locations linked to the purported occurrences within his diocese.
The updated guidelines mandate that bishops evaluate reported supernatural events in consultation with their national bishops’ conference and forward their assessment to the dicastery for feedback and sanction.
The standards also permit bishops to arrive at one of six conclusions that do not necessitate any assurance regarding the supernatural veracity of the phenomenon itself.
Objective of the updated regulations
In his correspondence to Bishop Tremolada dated July 5, the head of the dicastery, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, stated that the primary aim of the norms was no longer aimed at proving the supernatural nature of the purported phenomenon but rather at producing a “doctrinal-pastoral assessment” grounded in “the outcomes” of the devotion.
The dicastery provided its theological assessment of the messages gathered by Gilli to aid the bishop’s personal discernment, thus enabling the bishop to proclaim his own decree.
The cardinal stated that the dicastery “discovered no aspects in the messages shared by Pierina Gilli that openly oppose the doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding faith and morals. Additionally, we do not observe any negative moral considerations or significant concerns related to the events associated with this spiritual encounter.”
He outlined several “favorable elements that are prominent in the messages overall and others that, on the other hand, require clarification to prevent misunderstandings.”
However, “one can contend that the spiritual offering that emerges from the accounts shared by Pierina Gilli regarding Our Lady of the Mystical Rose does not encompass theological or ethical aspects that contradict the Church’s teachings,” it stated.
