The Vatican Changes the Rules on the Supernatural Part 1

Back in May of this year, the Vatican released new rules governing how the Catholic Church (and specifically the Vatican itself) would evaluate and judge alleged supernatural occurrences such as Marian apparitions.  These rules will have far-reaching effects on such supernatural phenomena, especially since a number of them, most notably those at Medjugorje, are still occurring on a regular basis.  

 
In this first part, I will review the Church’s teachings on private and public revelation and discuss the 1978 criteria for evaluating supernatural phenomena.  In the second part, I will discuss the new changes that the Vatican enacted back in May 2024.  Lastly in the third part, I will discuss how the Vatican is already using the new rules to approve or disprove alleged supernatural phenomena.  

 
Before delving into the new rules, I find it necessary to review some of the Church’s teachings on private revelation (which these supernatural phenomena are considered) and the Church’s prior rules which the new rules supersede.  By necessity, this will require some repetition of what I’ve written in previous postings on Catholic supernatural.   

 
The Church makes an important distinction between public and private revelation.  On the subject of public revelation, The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:  “God has revealed  himself fully by sending his own Son, in which he has established his covenant forever.  The Son is his Father’s definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation after him ” (Ligouri Publications, 1994, Paragraph 73, pg. 24).   

 
In a posting on EWTN’s website, Father William Most offered an explanation of public revelation.  “Public revelation is what we have in Scripture and Tradition,” he wrote. “It was completed, finished, when the last Apostle died and the New Testament was finished. So there is no more until Christ returns at the end.” (See https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/public-and-private-revelation-12423  )  

Private revelation has occurred and continues to occur after the last Apostles died.  The Church has recognized a number of important private revelations such as those to St. Juan Diego in 1531, St. Bernadette in 1858, at Fatima in 1917 and St. Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s.  

The Catechism offers a detailed explanation of private revelation:   

 
“Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church.  They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith.  It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history.  Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome  these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. ”  (See Paragraph 67, p. 23).

In 1978, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith set forth three categories for determining the validity of supernatural events like Garabandal and Medjugorje:

 
1) constat de supernaturalitate (it is established supernatural)

 
2) constat de non supernaturalitate (it is established not supernatural)

3) non constat de supernaturalitate (it is not established supernatural)

The 1978 rules offer three possible determinations for alleged supernatural occurrences.  First, constat de supernaturalitate is an approval of the occurrence as supernatural.  Second, constat de non supernaturalitate is a disapproval of the occurrence.  That means the occurrence is not supernatural. Third, non constat de supernaturalitate neither approves nor disapproves the occurrence as supernatural.  Essentially this means that the occurrence still requires further scrutiny and thus can either be approved or disapproved in the future.

These were the classifications that remained in effect for over forty years…until the Vatican changed them several weeks ago.  

In the next part, I will discuss these new changes.