Discernment of spirits.
New rules?
According to the British Timesonline, the Holy Father has called for tighter protocol as regards recognition of apparitions and spiritual communications from heaven.
“The Pope has asked Monsignor Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, a Spanish Jesuit and secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - which Benedict himself headed as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - to draw up new guidelines for bishops around the world on the recognition of reported apparitions by the Virgin Mary.
Vatican official said the Pope wanted to avoid “excesses and abuses”. He believes bishops should resist being swayed by the emotional reaction of believers and be guided instead by strictly applied “scientific, psychological and theological criteria”. - TimesOnLine
There are never new rules - it is simply a matter of tighter discipline. There have been a couple of apparitions approved by local bishops I have a great deal of difficulty with, such as Betania, Venezuela, where a rose supposedly grew out of the chest of the seer; and Ida Perlman of Amsterdam and the Our Lady of All Nations revelations. I have never read anything that could convince me these events make any sense. Don’t be offended - we do not have to accept private revelations. As Cardinal Ratzinger once stated in an interview, “No apparition is indispensable to the faith”.
Photo: I love this photo - I call it “Pope out for a ride” - it is a photo of Blessed John XXIII.
