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The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
reevaluated the process of apparitions from 1974-1978.
1. Today more than formerly, the news of these
apparitions is spread more quickly among the faithful thanks to the means of
information ("mass media"); in addition, the ease of travel supports more
frequent pilgrimages. Also, the ecclesiastical authority was itself brought to
reconsider this subject.
2. Similarly, because of current instruments of
knowledge, the contributions of science, and the requirement of a rigorous
criticism, it is more difficult, if not impossible, to arrive as speedily as
previously at judgments which conclude, as formerly happened, investigations
into this matter (“constate de supernaturalitate, non constat de
supernaturalitate”); and because of that, 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 devotion stirred up
among the faithful by facts of this kind can appear as a disposition in full
communion 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 this matter.
So that the ecclesiastical authority is able to
acquire more certainty on such or such an apparition or revelation, it will
proceed in the following way:
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 formula:
“for the moment, nothing is opposed to it”).
c) Finally, after a certain time, and in the light
of experience, (starting from a particular study of the spiritual fruits
generated by the new devotion), to give a judgement on the authenticity of the
supernatural character, if the case requires this.
I. Criteria of judgement, concerning the
probability at least, of the character of the apparitions and supposed
revelations.
A) Positive criteria:
a) Moral certainty, or at least great probability,
as to the existence of the fact, [revelation] acquired at the end of a serious
investigation.
b) Particular circumstances relating to the
existence and the nature of the fact:
1. Personal qualities of the subject—in particular
mental balance, honesty and rectitude of moral life, habitual sincerity and
docility towards ecclesiastical authority, ability to return to the normal
manner of a life of faith, etc.
2. With regard to the revelations, their
conformity with theological doctrines and their spiritual veracity, their
exemption from all error.
3. A healthy devotion and spiritual fruits which
endure (in particular, the spirit of prayer, conversions, signs of charity,
etc).
B) Negative criteria:
a) A glaring error as to the facts.
b) Doctrinal errors that one would attribute to
God himself, or to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Holy Spirit in their
manifestations (taking into account, however, the possibility that the subject
may add something by their own activity—even if this is done unconsciously—of
some purely human elements 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 pursuit of monetary gain in relation
with the fact.
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) Psychic disorders or psychopathic tendencies
concerning the subject, which would exert an unquestionable influence on the
allegedly supernatural facts, or indeed psychosis, mass hysteria, or other
factors 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 plurality and in relation with the other
criteria.
II. Intervention of the competent local Authority
1. As, at the time of a presumed supernatural
fact, worship or an ordinary form of devotion is born in a quasi spontaneous way
among the faithful, the competent ecclesiastical Authority has the serious
obligation to inform itself without delay and to carry out a diligent
investigation.
2. At the legitimate request of the faithful (when
they are in communion with their pastors and are not driven 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
nevertheless, to ensure that the faithful do not regard this way of acting as an
approval by the Church of the supernatural character of the event in question
(cf. above, Preliminary Note, c).
3. By virtue of his doctrinal and pastoral duty,
the competent ecclesiastical Authority can intervene immediately of 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 a false
mysticism etc.
4. In doubtful cases, which do not involve the
welfare of the Church, the competent ecclesiastical Authority may refrain from
any judgement and any direct action (more especially as it can happen that, at
the end of a certain time, the supposedly supernatural event can lapse from
memory); but he should not remain less vigilant about the event, 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 event in
its entirety.
b) If the event assumes national or regional
importance.
3. The Apostolic See can intervene, either at the
request of 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. above, 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 one or another, the Ordinary to modify his legitimate decisions, or to
confirm the sectarian drift of a group, etc.)
b) It belongs to the Sacred Congregation to
intervene of its own accord in serious cases, in particular when the event
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 belongs to the Sacred Congregation to
discern and 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.
At Rome, the Palace of the Sacred Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, February 27, 1978.
Francis, Cardinal Seper, Prefect, Fr. Jerome Hamer, O.P., Secretary.
ARTICLE ONE: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reevaluated process of apparitions 1974-1978
ARTICLE THREE: Third Medjugorje Commission
ARTICLE FOUR: About New Commission 07
ARTICLE FIVE: Shocking Truth of Medjugorje Commissions
ARTICLE SIX: Announcement of Forth Medjugorje Commission
ARTICLE SEVEN: Forth Medjugorje Commission
ARTICLE EIGHT: 4 Medjugorje Commissions Later, the Short Version
ARTICLE NINE: The Choices of the 4th "Independent" Medjugorje Commission
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