Vatican approves devotion to 1945 Spanish Marian apparitions
August 23, 2024
» Continue to this story on Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
CWN Editor's Note: Following an August 22 audience with Pope Francis, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith authorized a Spanish archbishop to grant a nihil obstat to the 1945 apparitions of Our Lady of Sorrows of Chandavila, in La Codosera.
Under new Vatican norms for assessing alleged supernatural phenomena, a nihil obstat is the most positive of six possible outcomes. “Without expressing any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon itself,” a nihil obstat acknowledges “many signs of the action of the Holy Spirit” and encourages appreciation and promotion of devotion.
In his letter, entitled “A Light in Spain,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández discussed the spiritual experiences of two girls, Marcelina Barroso Expósito and Afra Brígido Blanco, who separately received apparitions. Afterwards, they “led a discreet and inconspicuous life” and “dedicated themselves to works of charity, especially to caring for the sick, the elderly, and orphans.”
Cardinal Fernández wrote that Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows of Chandavila, built in 1947, has been the site of “conversions, healings, and other valuable signs.” He expressed hope that the shrine will continue to be “a place of interior peace, consolation, and conversion.”
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