Judgments on Alleged Supernatural Phenomena

The diocesan bishop ordinarily receives reports, protects the faithful, gathers evidence, appoints experts, and evaluates doctrine, witnesses, psychological and moral integrity, spiritual fruits, finances, alleged signs, and possible manipulation. He acts in communication with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Under the current norms, the Dicastery must approve the proposed final determination before the bishop publicly issues it.^[1]

The object of investigation must be defined. A decree may concern an alleged apparition, selected messages, a visionary's conduct, a devotion that arose around a site, reported healings, or abuses by promoters. Good fruit does not prove every physical claim, and a problem with one message need not prove fraud in every witness. Exact scope permits a just determination rather than a verdict on an undefined cloud of stories.^[1]

The 2024 norms provide six ordinary conclusions: Nihil Obstat; Prae Oculis Habeatur; Curatur; Sub Mandato; Prohibetur et Obstruatur; and Declaratio de Non Supernaturalitate. They do not form a simple ladder from six points to one. Each answers a different pastoral and evidentiary situation, and only the exact decree shows which permissions, cautions, mandates, or prohibitions apply.^[1]

A Nihil Obstat is the most favorable ordinary conclusion, authorizing positive pastoral reception without declaring a supernatural origin. Prae Oculis Habeatur preserves positive elements under caution. Curatur redirects a widespread phenomenon with serious problems. Sub Mandato places the situation under special governance. Prohibetur et Obstruatur forbids adherence and seeks to halt spread. A Declaration of Non-Supernaturality records an evidentially grounded negative finding.^[1]

Earlier practice is often summarized through Constat de Supernaturalitate, Non Constat de Supernaturalitate, and Constat de Non Supernaturalitate. A constat was a positive supernatural judgment; non constat said that supernatural character had not been established; constat de non was a negative finding. Historical decrees used varied vernacular wording, so the summary formula should never replace the act itself.^[3]

The current discipline ordinarily avoids a declaration that a phenomenon is supernatural. Only the pope may authorize an exceptional procedure contemplating such a declaration. This change makes it especially misleading to call every favorable modern decision an approved apparition. Older positive judgments and modern nihil obstats must therefore be recorded according to their distinct juridical forms.^[1][3]

Public Revelation is complete in Christ and transmitted in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. Private revelation can call believers to live the Gospel in a time and place, but it cannot enlarge the Deposit of Faith. No positive judgment makes acceptance of an apparition a condition of being Catholic, and no visionary becomes an alternative teacher over the pope and bishops.^[2][4]

A Catholic is free not to adopt a permitted private devotion and must respect restrictions imposed by competent authority. Approved liturgy, sound doctrine, sacramental life, conversion, charity, and communion remain the measure. This freedom does not license factual misreporting: when the Church has issued an affirmative, cautious, restrictive, or negative decision, an encyclopedia should state it accurately and distinguish the event from the level of assent owed to Catholic doctrine.^[1][2]