Understanding the New Vatican Norms for Discerning Supernatural Phenomena
Perhaps surprisingly, the new DDF norms for evaluating apparitions and other supernatural phenomena are reasonable and helpful.
When I first started exploring Catholicism as a Protestant in the early 1990’s, I was taken aback by the fact that many of the Catholics I knew believed the Blessed Virgin Mary was appearing in a small village in then-Yugoslavia. The seemingly outlandish tale conflicted with my stereotype of Catholics as more interested in rituals and rules than visions and heavenly visitors. As I came to…