The Catholic hierarchy’s decision-making process demonstrates its susceptibility to serious errors, and consequently, the susceptibility of believers to those same errors. Biblical end-time warnings concern a grand spiritual deception called “Babylon,” or confusion. Confusion is what our world faces at this very moment, and we must watch and be wary.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is the final authority for what is true and what is error in Catholicism. When spiritual phenomena occurs, such as an apparition of the Virgin Mary, the Church must act to determine if the phenomena is true and authentic to the faith.
Around 2010, a man from Milan, Italy, named Michelino Marcovecchio, began receiving visions and messages from the Virgin Mary on Mount Sant’Onofrio. Word of these apparitions spread, attracting attention and controversy. The Church was forced to investigate using their prescribed standards–Roman Catholic dogma. The specific standards are found in a revised 2024 set of Guidelines called “Norms for proceeding in the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena.” The issue is/was simple: Were the messages worthy of veneration by the Catholic faithful?
The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez. After years of investigation by the local bishop, Cardinal Fernandez recently issued a judgment that was, shall we say, a bit fuzzy. The Prefect said, “prae coulis habeatur,” which means, let’s watch this for a bit more.
Such a ruling is not quite an approval, but instead an acknowledgment that aspects of the messages of the Virgin were indeed good, but that some aspects were unclear. The conclusion? Individuals or small groups are allowed to visit the site and venerate the Virgin, but no official church rituals or pilgrimages are to be held. No promotional activities were approved either.
The reasons for the withholding of full approval were varied.
Some clerics were getting ahead of the Church, and some of the faithful believers were not appealing to the Church for approval. More seriously, the apparitions involve some communication with the dead. The Virgin and the man’s dead mother-in-law were giving messages.
The Church teaches that believers can pray to the dead, but can’t evoke the dead, that is, practice spiritualism. The Church admits that the line between prayer and evocation is a fine one. If a guardian angel bears the message, that would be fine. But mediumship contact is forbidden.
For outside observers, the line is indeed a fine one. The Bible forbids contact with the dead, including Mary, the mother of Jesus. But the Church does not base its teachings on the Bible, but on Tradition. This is the great danger to faithful Catholics. Their church isn’t quite sure about the apparitions of Mount Sant’Onofrio, so it approves them to a degree.
Apparently, the Church will continue listening to the dead mother-in-law to see if she says anything heretical. If she continues speaking the “truth,” eventually she will gain full approval as well.
It is clear that the Bible and the Roman Church are at odds. As for me, I choose to depend on the Bible.