Vatican tightens rules on supernatural phenomena in crackdown on hoaxes

Source: The Guardian

Vatican tightens rules on supernatural phenomena in crackdown on hoaxes

Updated guidelines strip bishops of power to recognise ‘supernatural’ nature of purportedly divine events

Harriet Sherwood
Fri 17 May 2024 16.35 BST
Last modified on Fri 17 May 2024 23.02 BST

Apparitions of the Virgin Mary and weeping statues have been part of Catholicism for centuries, but the age of social media has prompted the Vatican to issue a crackdown against potential scams and hoaxes.

New rules issued on Friday say that only a pope, rather than local bishops, can declare apparitions and revelations to be “supernatural”. The document, Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, updates previous guidance issued in 1978 that is now considered “inadequate”.

Supernatural occurrences, such as “apparitions or visions of Christ or the Blessed Virgin, and other phenomena”, reinforced faith and encouraged devotion, and in some cases led to popular shrines being established, it said.

But there has also been concern at the rapid circulation on social media of unverified tears of blood appearing on statues or holy images allegedly detected on pieces of toast.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/vatican-rules-supernatural-phenomena-crackdown-hoaxes