Vatican Recognition (after Investigation and approval by Local Bishop)*

Please select: Guadalupe, Mexico (1531) Siluva, Lithuania (1608) Laus, France (1664) Rue du Bac, France (1830) Rome, Italy (1842) La Salette, France (1846) Lourdes, France (1858) Filippsdorf, Czech Republic (1866) Pontmain, France (1871) Gietrzwald, Poland (1877) Knock, Ireland (1879) Fatima, Portugal (1917) Beauraing, Belgium (1932) Banneaux, Belgium (1933) Kibeho, Rwanda (1981)

* Please note: As established in the Council of Trent (1545-63), the local bishop is the first and main authority in the judgement of the authenticity of apparition claims. Vatican approval is not required for an apparition to be considered authentic. After an episcopal approval, the Vatican may do nothing but it may release an official statement or after some time give non-written forms of approval such as a papal visit with the crowning of the associated icon or a gift such as a golden rose, the approval of the construction of (or elevation of an existing shrine to) a basilica, the establishment of a feast day, or the canonization of the associated visionary.



Positive judgments by the local bishop (but not yet by the Vatican) theoretically are able to be reversed by a subsequent bishop - but this has never happened in the history of the Church. Negative judgments (Constat de non supernaturalitate) and rulings of no evidence of supernaturality (Non constat de supernaturalitate) have later been changed to positive judgments on a few rare occasions with the ruling of a subsequent bishop.



If a Marian apparition is recognized by the bishop, it means that the message is not contrary to faith and morals, that Mary can be venerated in a special way at the site and that the faithful can believe with confidence in the supernaturality of the event. But, because belief in a private revelation is not required by the church, Catholics are at liberty to decide how much personal spiritual emphasis (if any) to place on apparitions and the messages they deliver.



Click here for more on the discernment of apparition claims.





