The Vatican Press Conference to Discuss Apparitions and The Supernatural

In response to a thread from pianopraze, about Luis Elizondo telling his followers he is not suicidal, I came across this press conference happening 5/17 at the Vatican.

Press Conference of 17 May 2024 On Friday 17 May 2024, at 12.00, a press conference will be held in the Holy See Press Office, Sala San Pio X, Via dell’Ospedale 1, to present the new provisions of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for discerning between apparitions and other supernatural phenomena. The speakers will be: - His Eminence Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; - Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary for the Doctrinal Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; - Sr. Daniela Del Gaudio, S.F.I., director of the International Observatory for Marian apparitions and mystical phenomena of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, lecturer in Mariology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and the San Bonaventura Faculty of Rome. The press conference will be livestreamed in the original language on the Vatican News YouTube channel, at

press.vatican.va...

Some news headlines are reading, The Pope and Aliens.

In reading the above press conference details, it sounds like they’re talking about dreams and prophecies, apparitions.

Supernatural phenomenon could be UAPs or just an event like the latest solar storm causing northern lights in Alabama.

I admit this story caught my attention, wondering if anything dramatic would be told. Probably not.

Thoughts? Comments?

I read this a few days ago.

It's not a big deal.

The Vatican has had conferences on apparitions and issued documents on them before.

And that's what this is about .... APPARITIONS ... Of Jesus and Mary and Saints and Angels. No it's not about Northern Lights or about space aliens or anything like that.

They are just updating, giving modern requirements for when an apparition of Jesus or Mary (etc) can be considered 'approved' by the Catholic church.

There are a set of standards that have to be met when someone claims an apparition of Jesus or Mary or any of the other religious figures. Standards of what happens during the apparition as well as standards for the person who claims the vision. There are also standards as to what happens after the vision ... like - do people accept it and act accordingly and does it bring people to God, or does it have the opposite effect.

I've been to two Marian apparition sites. Medjugorje in 1991 before it had church approval. (It is only approved for the first week of apparitions. The other decades of apparitions have not had approval (yet?). And I've been to Betania in 1994 which has full church approval. The Catholic church can not give an apparition site full approval before the apparitions end. Medjugorje is still ongoing after all these decades. So it's unclear as to when, and if, it will receive full approval.

For the Catholic church to give 'approval' doesn't mean that it says the apparition took place, it just means that nothing that is happening with it goes against the faith and it's okay to believe in it.

The Catholic church has these kinds of meetings, and has had them about apparitions before, in order to update and to make sure they are keeping up with what is happening in regards to apparitions. And by 'apparitions' I don't mean space aliens .. I mean apparitions of Jesus and Mary and St. Joseph and other saints and angels.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Ya boring procedural document updated from 1978 here:

www.vatican.va...

I started to read, but didn’t seem like any current events are described, so I lost interest.

I don’t believe in the supernatural, and every time I remember my dreams, I qualify that as an apparition.

originally posted by: ByeByeAmericanPie
I don’t believe in the supernatural,

Go to Medjugorje for a week.
We saw and experienced a lot of supernatural things.
The kind you see in movies. Can't be faked.

and every time I remember my dreams, I qualify that as an apparition.

I started a thread about how I hate dreaming. I wish we didn't dream.
Someone called it 'mind rape'. I agree with that description.

a reply to: ByeByeAmericanPie

There are a growing number of people who think the Catholic church is pure evil and the current pope is the most diabolical of all.

All I know is the church is supposed to be based solely on the word of God, but the interpretation keeps changing. It's not just the Catholic church changing the rules, wither; they're all doing it.

People are encouraged to 'know God' and follow His commands, but how are they supposed to do that when His image and His word keeps getting changed? Were religious leaders wrong for centuries, or are they wrong now?

Perhaps church doctrine is not the way afterall, or if it is which one got it right?

a reply to: ByeByeAmericanPie

Actually, the following paragraph from their procedural document makes it sound like their procedures, last visited in 1978, were updated in response to an event.

“ To prevent any further delays in the resolution of a specific case involving an event of alleged supernatural origin, the Dicastery recently proposed to the Holy Father the idea of concluding the discernment process not with a declaration of “de supernaturalitate” but with a “Nihil obstat,” which would allow the Bishop to draw pastoral benefit from the spiritual phenomenon. The idea of concluding with a declaration of “Nihil obstat” was reached after assessing the various spiritual and pastoral fruits of the event and finding no substantial negative elements in it. The Holy Father considered this proposal to be a “right solution.””

Ahem...

a reply to: ByeByeAmericanPie


the Pope in Rome...is interested in 'moving-the-goalposts' concerning 'apparitions' for when Jesus appears as the Son-of-Man (before 2048)...

a reply to: ohahhupthera

crop circles?

a reply to: ByeByeAmericanPie

No, these are not crop circles. These are ancient figures in the desert, carved into stone. They are very large, it was impossible to draw them without helicopters