"Nihil obstat" for Marian apparition in Spanish pilgrimage site

The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has given the go-ahead for the Spanish pilgrimage site of Chandavila and the veneration of Our Lady there. On Thursday, the dicastery published a letter from Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Faith, to the Archbishop of Mérida-Badajoz, José Rodríguez Carballo, in which he confirms the request for the "Nihil obstat" made by the chief shepherd. The church should "continue to offer the faithful who approach it a place of inner peace, consolation and conversion", it says.

However, in accordance with the new norms of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith from mid-May, the authority makes no statement about the authenticity of the supernatural phenomenon, but recognises that there are signs of the work of the Holy Spirit. With Vatican authorisation, the archbishop can now promote devotion, for example by authorising pilgrimages.

Mary as the "Mother of Sorrows"

The veneration of Chandavila dates back to 1945. At that time, the Blessed Mother is said to have appeared to ten-year-old Marcelina Barroso Exposito and seventeen-year-old Afra Brigido Blanco in the Spanish town of Chandavila near the border with Portugal as Our Lady of Sorrows. According to the alleged visions, the two girls led a "discreet and inconspicuous life" and devoted themselves to "works of charity, caring especially for the sick, the elderly and orphans, thus passing on to the suffering the sweet consolation of the Virgin's love that they had experienced", according to the letter from the Prefect of the Faith to Archbishop Carballo.

These are reasons not to raise any objections to "this beautiful devotion". In his letter, Fernández speaks of the same simplicity that can also be seen in Mary of Nazareth in the Gospels. "The most profound experience of this girl, even more than the vision, was the feeling of an embrace and a kiss that the Virgin gave her on the forehead," writes the Prefect of the Faith. "This assurance of Our Lady's loving closeness is perhaps the most beautiful message." In this context, Fernandez emphasises the many positive aspects that "point to the work of the Holy Spirit in the many pilgrims from Spain and Portugal, in the form of conversions, healings and other valuable signs".

In recent months, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued several judgements on alleged apparitions and miracles and published letters to the relevant bishops. Most recently, the "Nihil obstat" was issued for the visions of the mercy of the Trinity, as well as the "Nihil obstat" for the Marian devotion in Calabria. Prior to this, the dicastery provided information about a decision already made by Pope Paul VI not to recognise the alleged apparition of the "Lady of All Nations" in Amsterdam as being of supernatural origin. The first decision according to the new norms was published at the end of June, in which an alleged Marian apparition in the parish of Trevignano near Rome was declared to be clearly not of supernatural origin. (mtr)