Closely guarded guidelines on how to deal with divine apparitions of the Virgin Mary and "supernatural phenomena" have now been released by the Vatican.
The "norms" on how the Roman Catholic Church handles mystical apparitions were drawn up in 1978 under Pope Paul VI for strictly internal use, but have been released after a series of leaks over the years.
They shed light on the consideration of apparitions such as those that inspired the shrines at Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal, which attract millions of pilgrims every year, many seeking "miracle" cures.
The local bishop should rule on reports, setting up a panel to judge the "psychological equilibrium and rectitude of moral life" of witnesses, and whether reports correspond with doctrine.
In the guidelines, Cardinal William Levada, the American prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, writes that deciding whether a spiritual revelation is genuine or not is based on its "orientation to Christ Himself". "If it leads us away from Him, then it certainly does not come from the Holy Spirit."
