Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith
Norms regarding the manner of proceeding
in the discernment of presumed
apparitions or revelations
in the discernment of presumed
apparitions or revelations
1. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is competent in
questions regarding the promotion and safeguarding of the teaching of faith and
morals. It is also competent to examine difficulties regarding to the proper
understanding of the faith, such as cases of pseudo-mysticism, presumed
apparitions, visions and messages attributed to supernatural sources. In regard
to these very delicate tasks, more than thirty years ago this Dicastery
prepared the Normae de modo procedendi in diudicandis praesumptis
apparitionibus ac revelationibus. This document, formulated by the Members
of the Plenary Session of the Congregation, was approved by the Servant of God,
Pope Paul VI, on 24 February 1978, and subsequently issued on 25 February 1978.
At that time the Normswere sent to Bishops for their information,
without, however, being officially published, as the norms were given for the
direct aid of the Pastors of the Church.
2. Over the years this document has been published in various
works treating these matters, in more than one language, without obtaining the
prior permission of this Dicastery. Today, it must be recognized that the
contents of these important norms are already in the public domain. Therefore,
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith believes it is now opportune to
publish these Norms, providing translations in the principle
languages.
3. In the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of
God held in October 2008, the issue of the problems stemming from the
experience of supernatural phenomena was raised as a pastoral concern by some
Bishops. Their concern was recognized by the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, who
inserted the issue into the larger context of the economy of salvation, in a
significant passage of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum
Domini. It is important to recall this teaching of the Pontiff, which is an
invitation to pay appropriate attention to these supernatural phenomena:
“In all of this, the Church gives voice to her awareness that with
Jesus Christ she stands before the definitive word of God: he is ‘the first and
the last’ (Rev 1:17). He has given creation and history their
definitive meaning; and hence we are called to live in time and in God’s
creation within this eschatological rhythm of the word; ‘thus the Christian
dispensation, since it is the new and definitive covenant, will never pass
away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious
manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Tim 6:14 and Tit 2:13)’.
Indeed, as the Fathers noted during the Synod, the ‘uniqueness of Christianity
is manifested in the event which is Jesus Christ, the culmination of
revelation, the fulfilment of God’s promises and the mediator of the encounter
between man and God. He who ‘has made God known’ (Jn 1:18) is the
one, definitive word given to mankind.’ Saint John of the Cross expresses this
truth magnificently: ‘Since he has given us his Son, his only word (for he
possesses no other), he spoke everything at once in this sole word – and he has
no more to say… because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has
spoken all at once by giving us this All who is his Son. Any person questioning
God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish
behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely on Christ
and by living with the desire for some other novelty’ (Ascent of Mount
Carmel, II, 22).”
Bearing this in mind, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, notes the
following:
“Consequently the Synod pointed to the need to ‘help the faithful
to distinguish the word of God from private revelations’ whose role ‘is not to
complete Christ’s definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a
certain period of history.’ The value of private revelations is essentially
different from that of the one public revelation: the latter demands faith; in
it God himself speaks to us through human words and the mediation of the living
community of the Church. The criterion for judging the truth of a private
revelation is its orientation to Christ himself. If it leads us away from him,
then it certainly does not come from the Holy Spirit, who guides us more deeply
into the Gospel, and not away from it. Private revelation is an aid to this
faith, and it demonstrates its credibility precisely because it refers back to
the one public revelation. Ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation
essentially means that its message contains nothing contrary to faith and
morals; it is licit to make it public and the faithful are authorized to give
to it their prudent adhesion. A private revelation can introduce new emphases,
give rise to new forms of piety, or deepen older ones. It can have a certain
prophetic character (cf. 1 Th 5:19-21) and can be a valuable
aid for better understanding and living the Gospel at a certain time;
consequently it should not be treated lightly. It is a help which is proffered,
but its use is not obligatory. In any event, it must be a matter of nourishing
faith, hope and love, which are for everyone the permanent path of salvation.”
(1)
4. It is my firm hope that the official publication of the Norms
regarding the manner of proceeding in the discernment of presumed apparitions
or revelations can aid the Pastors of the Catholic Church in their
difficult task of discerning presumed apparitions, revelations, messages or,
more generally, extraordinary phenomena of presumed supernatural origin. At the
same time it is hoped that this text might be useful to theologians and experts
in this field of the lived experience of the Church, whose delicacy requires an
ever-more thorough consideration.
William Card. Levada
Prefect
Vatican City State, 14 December 2011, Feast of Saint John of the Cross.
(1) Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini, on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, 30 September 2010, n. 14: AAS 102 (2010) 695-696. See also those passages of the Catechism for the Catholic Church dedicated to this topic (nn. 66-67).
PRELIMINARY NOTE
Origin and character of these norms
Origin and character of these norms
During the annual Plenary Session in November 1974, the Fathers of
this Sacred Congregation examined the problems relative to presumed apparitions
and to the revelations often connected with them and reached the following conclusions:
1. Today, more than in the past, news of these apparitions is
diffused rapidly among the faithful thanks to the means of information (mass
media). Moreover, the ease of going from one place to another fosters
frequent pilgrimages, so that Ecclesiastical Authority should discern quickly
about the merits of such matters.
2. On the other hand, modern mentality and the requirements of
critical scientific investigation render it more difficult, if not almost
impossible, to achieve with the required speed the judgments that in the past
concluded the investigation of such matters (constat de supernaturalitate, non
constat de supernaturalitate) and that offered to the Ordinaries the
possibility of authorizing or prohibiting public cult or other forms of devotion
among the faithful.
For these reasons, in order that the devotion stirred among the
faithful as a result of facts of this sort might manifest itself in full
communion with the Church, and bear fruits by which the Church herself might
later discern the true nature of the facts, the Fathers judged that in this
matter the following procedure should be promoted.
When Ecclesiastical Authority is informed of a presumed apparition
or revelation, it will be its responsibility:
a) first, to judge the fact according to positive and negative
criteria (cf. infra, no. I);
b) then, if this examination results in a favorable conclusion, to
permit some public manifestation of cult or of devotion, overseeing this with
great prudence (equivalent to the formula, “for now, nothing stands in the
way”) (pro nunc nihil obstare).
c) finally, in light of time passed and of experience, with
special regard to the fecundity of spiritual fruit generated from this new
devotion, to express a judgment regarding the authenticity and supernatural
character if the case so merits.
I. CRITERIA FOR JUDGING, AT LEAST WITH PROBABILITY,THE CHARACTER
OF THE PRESUMED APPARATIONS OR REVELATIONS
A) Positive Criteria:
a) Moral certitude, or at least great probability of the existence
of the fact, acquired by means of a serious investigation;
b) Particular circumstances relative to the existence and to the
nature of the fact, that is to say:
1. Personal qualities of the subject or of the subjects (in
particular, psychological equilibrium, honesty and rectitude of moral life,
sincerity and habitual docility towards Ecclesiastical Authority, the capacity
to return to a normal regimen of a life of faith, etc.);
2. As regards revelation: true theological and spiritual doctrine
and immune from error;
3. Healthy devotion and abundant and constant spiritual fruit (for
example, spirit of prayer, conversion, testimonies of charity, etc.).
B) Negative Criteria:
a) Manifest error concerning the fact.
b) Doctrinal errors attributed to God himself, or to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, or to some saint in their manifestations, taking into account
however the possibility that the subject might have added, even unconsciously,
purely human elements or some error of the natural order to an authentic
supernatural revelation (cf. Saint Ignatius, Exercises, no. 336).
c) Evidence of a search for profit or gain strictly connected to
the fact.
d) Gravely immoral acts committed by the subject or his or her
followers when the fact occurred or in connection with it.
e) Psychological disorder or psychopathic tendencies in the
subject, that with certainty influenced on the presumed supernatural fact, or
psychosis, collective hysteria or other things of this kind.
It is to be noted that these criteria, be they positive or
negative, are not peremptory but rather indicative, and they should be applied
cumulatively or with some mutual convergence.
II. INTERVENTION OF THE COMPETENT ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY
1. If, on the occasion of a presumed supernatural fact, there
arises in a spontaneous way among the faithful a certain cult or some devotion,
the competent Ecclesiastical Authority has the serious duty of looking into of
without delay and of diligently watching over it.
2. If the faithful request it legitimately (that is, in communion
with the Pastors, and not prompted by a sectarian spirit), the competent
Ecclesiastical Authority can intervene to permit or promote some form of cult
or devotion, if, after the application of the above criteria, nothing stands in
the way. They must be careful that the faithful not interpret this practice as
approval of the supernatural nature of the fact on the part of the Church (cf.
Preliminary note c).
3. By reason of its doctrinal and pastoral task, the competent
Authority can intervene motu proprio and indeed must do so in
grave circumstances, for example in order to correct or prevent abuses in the
exercise of cult and devotion, to condemn erroneous doctrine, to avoid the
dangers of a false or unseemly mysticism, etc.
4. In doubtful cases that clearly do not put the good of the
Church at risk, the competent Ecclesiastical Authority is to refrain from any
judgment and from any direct action (because it can also happen that, after a
certain period of time, the presumed supernatural fact falls into oblivion); it
must not however cease from being vigilant by intervening if necessary, with
promptness and prudence.
III. AUTHORITIES COMPETENT TO INTERVENE
1. Above all, the duty of vigilance and intervention falls to the
Ordinary of the place.
2. The regional or national Conference of Bishops can intervene:
a) If the Ordinary of the place, having done his part, turns to it
to judge the matter with greater certainty;
b) If the matter pertains to the national or regional level;
always, however, with the prior consent of the Ordinary of the place.
3. The Apostolic See can intervene if asked either by the Ordinary
himself, by a qualified group of the faithful, or even directly by reason of
the universal jurisdiction of the Supreme Pontiff (cf. infra, no.
IV).
IV. ON THE INTERVENTION OF THE SACRED CONGREGATION FOR THE
DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
1. a) The intervention of the Sacred Congregation can be requested
either by the Ordinary, after he has done his part, or by a qualified group of
the faithful. In this second case, care must be taken that recourse to the
Sacred Congregation not be motivated by suspect reasons (for example, in order
to compel the Ordinary to modify his own legitimate decisions, to support some
sectarian group, etc.).
b) It is up to the Sacred Congregation to intervene motu
proprio in more grave cases, especially if the matter affects the
larger part of the Church, always after having consulted the Ordinary and even,
if the situation requires, even the Conference of Bishops.
2. It is up to the Sacred Congregation to judge and approve the
Ordinary’s way of proceeding or, in so far as it be possible and fitting, to
initiate a new examination of the matter, distinct from that undertaken by the
Ordinary and carried out either by the Sacred Congregation itself or by a
special Commission.
The Present Norms, deliberated in the Plenary Session of this
Sacred Congregation, were approved by the Supreme Pontiff, Paul VI on 24
February 1978.
In Rome, from the palace of the Sacred Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, 25 February 1978.
Francis Cardinal Šeper
Prefect
Jérôme Hamer, O.P.
Secretary
Prefect
Jérôme Hamer, O.P.
Secretary
May 30, 2012
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