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The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from 1974 until 1978, spent sessions in drafting some new criteria for discerning apparitions and revelations. These criteria apply to events after 1980, but can also apply in retrospect so that the resumption of certain previous investigations can be carried out...• At the time of the Annual Plenary Congregation, during November 1974, the Fathers of the Sacred Congregation began a study of the problems relating to apparitions and claimed revelations, and the consequences which often which often result from these, and they reached the following conclusions.
1. Today more than previously, the news of these apparitions is spread more rapidly among the Faithful thanks to the mass media. In addition, ease of travel enables more frequent pilgrimages. Also the ecclesiastical authority itself found it necessary to reconsider this subject.
2. On the other hand, because of current instruments of knowledge, the contribution of science, and the requirements of rigorous criticism, it is more difficult, if not impossible, to arrive as quickly as previously at judgments which conclude, as previously happened investigations into these matters (
constate de supernaturalitate, non constat de supernaruralitate); and because of this, it is more difficult for the Ordinary to authorize or prohibit public worship or any other form of devotion of the Faithful. For these reasons, so that the devotions that take place among the Faithful in situations of these kinds can be in accordance with the Church, and bear fruit, and so that the Church itself is able to ultimately distinguish the true nature of the facts, the Fathers consider that it is necessary to promote the following practice in regard to these matters. So that the ecclesiastical authority is able to discern with certainty the authenticity of claimed apparitions or revelations, it will proceed as follows:
a) Initially, to judge the facts according to positive and negative criteria (cf. below, n.1).
b) Then, if this examination appears favorable, to allow certain public demonstrations of cult and devotion, while continuing to investigate the facts with extreme prudence (which is equivalent to the formulae: “for the moment, nothing is opposed to it”)
c) Finally, in due course, and in the light of experience (starting from a particular study of the spiritual fruits generated by the new devotion), to give a judgment on the authenticity of the supernatural character, if the case requires this.
I. Criteria of judgment, concerning the possibility at least, of the character of the apparitions and supposed revelations.A) Positive Criteria:
a) Moral certainty, or at least a great probability, as to the existence of the facts acquired at the end of a serious investigation.
b) Particular circumstances relating to the existence and the nature of the facts:
1. Personal qualities of the subject – in particular mental balance, honesty and rectitude of moral life, sincerity and obedience to the ecclesiastical authority, ability to lead a normal life of faith, etc.
2. With regard to the revelations: their conformity with theological doctrines; their spiritual truths; and their exemption from any error.
3. A healthy devotion and spiritual fruits which persevere and endure – in particular, the spirit of prayer, conversion, manifest signs of charity, etc.
B) Negative criteria:
a) A manifest error of fact.
b) Doctrinal errors that one would attribute to God himself, or to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or to the Holy Spirit in their manifestations. Bearing in mind, however, the possibility that the subject may add something by their own activity – even if this is done unconsciously – of some purely human origin to an authentic supernatural revelation, these having nevertheless to remain free from any error in the natural order. CF St Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises, n.336
c) An obvious interest in monetary gain in relation to the matter.
d) Gravely immoral acts committed by the subject, or his associates, at the time of the facts, or on the occasion of these facts.
e) Physic disorders or psychopathic tendencies concerning the subject, which would exert an unquestionable influence on the alleged supernatural occurrences, or the existence of psychosis, mass hysteria, or other conditions of the same kind.It is important to consider these criteria, whether they are positive or negative, as indicative standards and not as final arguments, and to study them in their totality and in relation with the other criteria.
II) Intervention of the competent local Authority:1. If at any time of the supposed supernatural occurrence, worship or a form of devotion emerges in a spontaneous way among the Faithful, the competent ecclesiastical Authority has the serious obligation to inform itself without delay and to carry out a thorough investigation.
2. At the legitimate request of the Faithful (when they are in communion with their pastors and are not motivated by a sectarian spirit), the competent ecclesiastical Authority can intervene to authorize and promote various forms of worship and devotion if, assuming the criteria given above having been applied, nothing is opposed to it. But there must be vigilance nonetheless to ensure that the Faithful do not regard this action as an approval by the Church of the supernatural character of the vent in question. (cf. above, Preliminary Note, c)
3. By virtue of his doctrinal and pastoral duty, the competent ecclesiastical Authority can intervene immediately by his own authority, and he must do so in serious circumstances, for example, when it is a question of correcting or of preventing abuses in the exercise of worship or devotion, to condemn erroneous doctrines, to avoid the dangers of false mysticism etc.
4. In doubtful cases, which do not involve the welfare of the Church, the competent ecclesiastical Authority may refrain from any judgment and any direct action (especially as it can happen that, after a certain time, the supposedly supernatural occurrence can fall into oblivion); but he should remain vigilant about the occurrence in such a way as to be in a position to intervene with swiftness and prudence, if that is necessary.
III) Other Authorities entitled to intervene:1. The foremost authority to inquire and to intervene belongs to the local Ordinary.
2. But the regional or national episcopal Conference may intervene:
a) If the local Ordinary, after having fulfilled the obligations which fall to him, resorts to them for a study of the occurrence in its entirety.
b) If the occurrence assumes national or regional importance.
3. The Apostolic See can intervene, either at the request of the Ordinary himself, or at the request of a qualified group of the Faithful, or directly by virtue of the immediate right of universal jurisdiction of the Sovereign Pontiff (cf. below, IV)
IV) Intervention of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:1. a) The intervention of the Sacred Congregation can be agreed to be necessary either by the Ordinary, after he has fulfilled the obligations falling to him, or by a qualified group of the Faithful. In this second case, vigilance is necessary so that the recourse to the Sacred Congregation is not motivated by suspect reasons (for example to force, in one way or another, the Ordinary to modify his legitimate decisions, or to assist the sectarian inclinations of a group etc.)
b) It belongs to the Sacred Congregation to intervene of its own accord in serious cases, in particular when the occurrence affects a broad portion of the Church; but the Ordinary will always be consulted, as well as the episcopal Conference, if the situation requires it.
2. It is the prerogative of the Sacred Congregation to discern and to approve the way of acting of the Ordinary, or, if it proves to be necessary, to carry out a new examination of the facts distinct from that which the Ordinary carried out; this new examination of the facts will be done either by the Sacred Congregation itself, or by a commission especially established for this purpose.
The present norms, defined in the plenary Congregation of this Sacred Congregation, were approved by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Paul VI, on February 24, 1978.
Palace of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithRome, February 27, 1978Francis, Cardinal Seper, PrefectFr Jerome Hamer, O.P., Secretary• This text is reproduced from the book:
Medjugorje, What’s Happening? by Fr James Mulligan, a priest serving in the Archdiocese of Westminster.
• more information relative to Medjugorje and criteria for evaluating apparitions can be found at this link:
Vatican criteria for judging Medjugorje
The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue. So that I may know how to reply to the wearied he provides me with speech. Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear. For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle. Isaiah 50 : 4-6
