The Vatican’s doctrine office overhauled norms first issued in 1978, arguing that they were no longer useful or viable in the internet age. Nowadays, word about apparitions or weeping Madonnas travels quickly and can actually harm the faithful if hoaxers are trying to make money off people's beliefs or manipulate them, the Vatican said. That has been the case for the purported apparitions of Mary that turned Fatima, Portugal, and Lourdes, France, into enormously popular pilgrimage destinations. The revised norms acknowledge the real potential for such abuses and warn that hoaxers will be held accountable, including with canonical penalties. “The church gives the faithful the freedom to pay attention” or not, he said at a news conference.

Source: ABC News May 17, 2024 07:20 UTC