(NCR. Edward Pentin).
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is putting the finishing touches to a new document that sets out clear rules on discerning apparitions and other such supernatural events. The dicastery’s prefect, Cardinal Victor Fernández, told the Register April 23 that he and his staff are “in the process of finalizing a new text with clear guidelines and norms for the discernment of apparitions and other phenomena.” The cardinal, who met with Pope Francis in private audience on Monday, did not divulge any further details on the document, nor exactly when it will be published. The last time the Vatican’s doctrinal office issued a general document on apparitions was in 1978, during the final months of the pontificate of Pope Paul VI. In “Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceedings in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations,”the then-Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Croatian Cardinal Franjo Šeper, outlined the process the Catholic Church follows when investigating alleged apparitions or revelations.