Vatican says Jesus did not appear on a hill in France, “with all the consequences that flow from this finding”
Statue of Jesus in a hilly area (illustrative image), PHOTO: Graham Prentice / Alamy / Profimedia Images
Jesus may answer prayers, but he did not appear in a small town in northern France, the Vatican said on Wednesday, quoted by Reuters.
In a new instruction approved by Pope Leo, the Vatican's main doctrinal office said that accounts of Jesus' apparitions in the Normandy town of Dozulé should not be considered authentic by the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
A Catholic woman in the town claimed to have seen Jesus 49 times during the 1970s and that he had dictated a series of messages to her, asking her to build a 7.38m cross on a local hill.
“The phenomenon of the supposed apparitions (…) must be considered, definitively, as not having a supernatural origin, with all the consequences that arise from this finding”, the text issued by the doctrinal office states.
The Vatican evaluates every alleged apparition of Jesus
Catholics believe that religious figures such as Jesus and Mary can make supernatural appearances, called apparitions, to convey religious messages, create new devotional practices, or make general appeals for peace.
The Vatican has an official evaluation process to look into reports of such apparitions and warns against using the alleged phenomena for financial purposes.
Also, the Vatican recently issued a decree clarifying the titles that can be attributed to the Virgin Mary. In that text it was stated that Mary cannot be called the “co-savior” of the world, since Catholic teachings show that only Jesus saved humanity through his crucifixion and death.
Among the apparitions officially recognized by the Vatican are that of the Virgin Mary in Mexico in 1531 as the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the apparitions of Jesus to the Polish sister Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s.
“The cross does not need 7.38 meters of steel or concrete to be recognized: it rises every time a heart, moved by grace, opens itself to forgiveness,” the Vatican said Wednesday, referring to the alleged apparitions in Dozulé.
The document recalled that, according to local reports in Dozulé, Jesus had said that the world would end before the year 2000. “Obviously, this alleged prophecy did not come true,” the text said.
