Vatican’s New Apparitions Guidelines Stress "caution" in Discernment Process: Official

Speaking specifically on the role of the bishops in the process, the cardinal observed that there have been instances in which some bishops have issued decrees on apparitions saying these events “should be considered as being true” and that the “faithful must believe, shall believe in this.”

“Quite often the bishop’s decrees have used these words,” Fernández said.

He emphasized that these new norms will help bishops “have a prudential character so that the faithful can accept this in a prudent way.” 

“The pastoral action of the bishops and then situations can be very different and therefore we decided to have six possible conclusions,” he added. “If we look at history, at the different cases, we recognize different kinds of situations that can be basically located within these six possibilities.”

The new norms outline three stages for the discernment process. At the end of the evaluation process, the local bishop and a delegate he appoints to oversee the commission’s work are to prepare a “personal votum” in which the bishop proposes to the dicastery a final judgment. That decision will normally follow one of six formulas, one of which is the “nihil obstat,” a pronouncement that means there are no doctrinal objections.

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“Without expressing any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon itself, many signs of the action of the Holy Spirit are acknowledged ‘in the midst’ of a given spiritual experience, and no aspects that are particularly critical or risky have been detected, at least so far,” the document states.

Drawing on biblical examples, Fernández noted that “right from the very beginning of the Church, the Holy Spirit itself, with charisms, promoted the necessary discernment of these manifestations. After 2,000 years, the Church still takes care of the faithful, helping them to be meek to the Holy Spirit.”

“These new norms are in continuity with this task,” he said.