The Vatican has radically revised its guidelines for assessing apparent miracles and plans to judge them more skeptically in the future. In addition to new categories for evaluation, the Vatican Office for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome will have the final say in decision-making on supernatural phenomena.
Given the increase in false rumors and the spread of fake news on the Internet, the current 1978 guidelines are no longer useful and practical. The powerful religious dicastery justified its decision to fundamentally revise the norms.
There is also a risk that fraudsters try to make money and manipulate people with so-called miracles or other phenomena. The new standards are intended to prevent these risks.
Six differentiated categories for assessment
While it was previously possible to judge whether or not a miracle occurred, there should now be six differentiated categories for judging supernatural phenomena.
At best, a supposed miracle is judged in the category “Nihil obstat” (in German: “Nothing stands in the way”). According to the information, this means that although there is no certainty about the supernatural authenticity, there are signs of the work of the Holy Spirit. Believers can freely worship and appreciate the phenomenon.
The remaining five categories deal with gray areas, but the final category means that a phenomenon is clearly considered not supernatural. Symptoms are initially classified into categories by the local bishop, but the Vatican makes the final decision. According to the Vatican, no more than six such cases were officially resolved after 1950.
Source: Krone
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