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The Vatican has approved Marian devotion at Medjugorje without pronouncing on the authenticity of alleged apparitions, emphasizing positive spiritual fruits.
Cardinal Víctor Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will lead a press conference on the “spiritual experience” of Medjugorje.
It is the DDF’s fourth public pronouncement related to alleged apparitions since issuing norms for the discernment of “alleged supernatural phenomena” in May.
The DDF said that in 1974 the doctrinal office voted unanimously that the visions were not supernatural and would not be further investigated.
The apparitions took place in Montichiari and Fontanelle, Italy, located in the country’s northern province of Brescia in 1947 and 1966.
Thorough discernment is needed in the alleged apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the residence of a faithful in the Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda, the Archbishop of the Metropolitan See has said.
The Vatican’s doctrinal office is centralizing its authority over the investigation of alleged Marian apparitions and other religious phenomena under new norms.
“The Church has stated that the faithful are never forced to believe in this phenomenon. They are never obliged. There’s no obligation,” Fernández said.
Officials from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith discussed problems that could come up in examining apparitions in November 1974.
May 13 is the optional memorial of Our Lady of Fátima, arguably the most prominent approved apparition of the 20th century.
The Holy See Press Office announced that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández will unveil new norms for discernment regarding “apparitions and other supernatural phenomena.”
An institution has been formed in Rome to study alleged Marian apparitions and other supernatural phenomena in the Catholic Church.
There is only one Vatican-approved Marian apparition that took place on the African continent: Our Lady of Kibeho.