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The Vatican forms a special agency to examine the statue of Mary crying blood. Photos/Illustrations
ROMA – An institute has been set up in Rome, Italia to study alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary and other supernatural phenomena in the Catholic Church.
The International Observatory on Marian Apparitions and Mystical Phenomena (OISA) was established in April and is part of the Pontifical International Marian Academy.
The observatory aims to investigate alleged Marian apparitions and other phenomena, such as weeping or bleeding that appear on Marian statues and images, whose authenticity has not been declared by the competent authorities.
Sister Daniela del Gaudio, a Franciscan nun of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is director of the observatory.
“The task of the observatory is not to judge or intervene in alleged sightings or phenomena, but to study how these events occurred and to provide information and support to bishops of various dioceses who need to carry out investigations in this area,” he said in a press conference earlier this month. , as reported by the Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana cited from the Catholic Herald, Sunday (3/6/2023).
A diocesan bishop is responsible for giving official recognition of apparitions that have occurred or are taking place in his diocese according to a specific process and criteria outlined by the Vatican. The diocesan commission will also be involved.
One of the most important criteria for approving apparitions, said Del Gaudio, according to Famiglia Cristiana, is the consistency of the message conveyed by the visionaries or visionaries with the message of public revelation contained in Scripture.
He explained that the Marian apparitions did not introduce new revelations; they bring the spiritually fruitful actualization of the Gospel in human history.
“The new Observatory will take a multidisciplinary approach to studying Marian apparitions with scholars from the fields of sociology, culture, psychology, medicine, and theology,” explained Del Gaudio.
