Catholics ordered to keep quiet over Virgin visions

Claims will first have to be investigated

Catholics who claim they have seen the Virgin Mary will be forced to remain silent about the apparitions until a team of psychologists, theologians, priests and exorcists have fully investigated their claims under new Vatican guidelines aimed at stamping out false claims of miracles.

The Pope has instructed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition, to draw up a new handbook to help bishops snuff out an explosion of bogus heavenly apparitions.

Benedict XVI plans to update the Vatican’s current rules on investigating apparitions to help distinguish between true and false claims of visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, messages, stigmata (the appearances of the five wounds of Christ), weeping and bleeding statues and Eucharistic miracles.

Monsignor Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, a respected Spanish Jesuit archbishop, has been placed in charge of drawing up the handbook, known as a “vademecum”, which will update the current rules set in 1978.

According to Petrus, an Italian online magazine which leans towards conservative elements in the Vatican, anyone who claims to have seen an apparition will only be believed as long as they remain silent and do not court publicity over their claims. If they refuse to obey, this will be taken as a sign that their claims are false.
[...]

Read Another Article

Ted Haggard: I’m back from ‘wilderness’
Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals to hear faith healing case

Related News Articles Topic(s): Catholic Church • Mariology Related Tags / Keywords: apparitions • Catholic Church • Mariology • Virgin Mary Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Catholic Church Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Baltimore archbishop tells Virgin Mary ‘visionary’ to stop activities The Virgin Mary’s place in the Kern County sun Church recognizes Virgin Mary appearances in France French Church wary of Virgin Mary sermons Martin E. Marty: Papal Headlines and Apathy Scourge of America’s paedophile priests sets up shop in UK Austrians left Church in record numbers amid abuse scandal Hundreds injured in Philippines religious procession ‘De-baptism’ in Belgium in wake of child abuse scandal Vatican says condoms acceptable only in ‘exceptional’ cases

Search Religion News Blog