When a tiny slit between the grubby natural world and the rarefied ether of the supernatural tears and the two realms have a chance to see one another, people will naturally want to tell others. As luck would have it, when Catholics experience an apparition, it always seems to be from the Catholic playbook. You know, the Blessed Virgin, Jesus on toast or Saint so-and-so. It’s never Martin Luther or Desmond Tutu.

I write about this only as an amused outsider. I don’t care what they think they saw. Let ’em have it. It’s a great story to share. What is engaging for me is that the Church is uneasy with the doctrinal implications of what many of the apparitions or miracles have brought to the mix. The quote below by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández is insightful.

“Even recently, some bishops have wanted to make statements such as, ‘I confirm the absolute truth of the facts’ and ‘the faithful must undoubtedly consider as true …’”. “These expressions,” [Cardinal Víctor Manuel] Fernández states, “effectively oriented the faithful to think they had to believe in these phenomena, which sometimes were valued more than the Gospel itself.”

Effective May 19, 2024, the Vatican has issued a document titled “Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena.” Whereas previously, a local bishop had much discretion in what he decides before he announces a determination on an event of alleged supernatural origin. The new guideline states that the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) “must always be consulted and give final approval to what the bishop decides …”. The new norms say that “only the pope can judge that an alleged apparition or other phenomenon is of “supernatural origin.” 

What is going on with the supernatural phenomena issue? Has there been an outbreak? The whole religion rests on a pillar of the supernatural so is it really that bad? The real change is very small- the main difference with the new guideline is that consultation between the diocesan bishop and the dicastery is now in the open rather than going unmentioned and the Pope has the final word according to the Catholic News Agency. They don’t want the doctrine to get too wacky.

Why? It seems that the accounts of personal revelation and Marian apparitions were getting a bit out of hand. Many bishops have been inclined to rule in a positive way in favor of the alleged apparition. This became a problem writ large in the minds of some and it had to be addressed.

As I have previously mentioned, I did time in Texas. I did a postdoc in the blazing hot, heavily Catholic city of San Antonio, TX. One evening on the local news there was a TV camera crew trying to capture an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It happened in an alley in a tree back lit by a streetlight and it drew a crowd of anxious, jabbering onlookers. The apparition itself was actually a shadow from a tree under the streetlight. But with the car headlights and TV camera lights it had completely vanished. Yet people lingered, hoping for a glimpse of the miraculous sighting. Eventually, the camera crew signed off and left. It was yet another Marian Apparition witnessed only by a lucky few.