Apparitions

Pilgrimages, religious journeys to holy places, have become fairly frequent these days, and every year millions of Catholics set out to visit a shrine dedicated to Mary or to some particular saint, like the shrines of Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima or our Basilica here in Padua, which welcomes from 4 to 5 million people yearly.



Pilgrimages, however, are not restricted to Catholicism. I am sure you will have heard about the pilgrimage to Mecca – one of the pillars of Islam and a sacred duty for every Muslim. Or you may have heard of the millions of devout Hindus who plunge into the Ganges river at the peak point of the Kumbh Mela festival.



This universal practice of going on a pilgrimage is therefore to be studied in depth if we wish to avoid the danger of shrugging it off as a useless diversion or, worse, as an example of superstition. Some months ago Pope Benedict himself went to Turin to venerate the Shroud, and a few days later he went to Fatima. Last year the Pope was in the Holy Land, and in 2008 he had also been to Lourdes. Each of these pilgrimages had their own particular meaning because every shrine has its nuance and significance.



Catholics believe that a shrine is a holy place, usually where an apparition or other miracle took place, or where a saint lived, worked or was buried. An apparition is an appearance of Jesus, Mary or one of the saints. It is not a physical presence of the holy person but an appearance – an image being imprinted on the senses.



The Church is always very cautious whenever she is called to make pronouncements on the authenticity of apparitions and revelations. It is only after long and painstaking research that she ventures to proclaim an apparition or a revelation as authentic. In this connection you are directed to page 28 for Renzo Allegri’s article on the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, which are currently being investigated by a Vatican commission.



All this caution is to be explained by the respect that must be paid to the Christian faith and to believers. Our faith, in fact, is based on the Church’s preaching of the Word of God – a task given her by Christ Himself for the conversion of souls and the salvation of many.



The first real and authentic apparition was, however, that of the Risen Lord to the Pious Women and the Apostles. This is the moment, in fact, when their faith, which came to birth in them after their first meeting with the Saviour, His teachings and miracles, grew to maturity.



Whenever we are dealing with an apparition, the divine and supernatural dimension always has precedence over the human one. Just to give an example, at Fatima it was Our Lady who took the initiative and allowed herself to be seen by Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta; it was she who allowed the three visionaries to enter into her supernatural space. We have the same situation in the case of Bernadette, of Juan Diego, and of many others. This is why these visionaries are seldom accurate in their accounts: they lack that supernatural language which alone can express what they experienced.



The Church always evaluates to the last detail the content and context of apparitions because she wants to defend the faithful from deception, and maintain the solidity and authenticity of their faith. Moreover she never obliges anyone, especially those with valid and unprejudiced reservations, to actually believe in these events.



Our faith is founded on the person of Jesus Christ and on His Church; apparitions come as an aid to faith, especially in particular moments in history when God wishes to reaffirm or strengthen some particular aspect of faith. This is why private revelations must be consistent with Jesus’ teachings. When they are not, they exclude themselves automatically. Anytime Scripture or Sacred Tradition is contradicted; anytime disobedience to the pope, to the hierarchy or to the Church’s Magisterium is encouraged, you can be sure, dear reader, that it is not an authentic apparition. Real apparitions occur to boost, but never replace, our Christian faith.