{"id":78259,"date":"2025-11-12T07:35:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T12:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=78259"},"modified":"2025-11-12T07:39:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T12:39:30","slug":"vatican-nixes-apparitions-in-dozule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/vatican-nixes-apparitions-in-dozule\/","title":{"rendered":"Vatican Nixes Apparitions In Dozule"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Vatican:<\/em><\/p>\n

By Vatican News<\/b><\/p>\n

\"undefined\"<\/p>\n

The Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith has determined that \u201cthe phenomenon of the alleged apparitions said to take place in Dozul\u00e9\u201d linked to the creation of an enormous cross that would guarantee remission of sins and salvation to those who approached it, \u201cis to be considered, definitively, as not supernatural in origin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dicastery\u2019s decision was communicated in a letter in a letter signed by the Prefect, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez, authorizing Bishop Jacques Habert of Bayeux-Lisieux to issue the relevant decree. The decision was approved by Pope Leo XIV on November 3.<\/p>\n

In the French town of Dozul\u00e9, Jesus is said to have appeared 49 times between 1972 and 1978 to Madeleine Aumont, a mother, asking for the construction of the so-called \u201cGlorious Cross of Dozul\u00e9,\u201d which was never built. The cross was to be fully illuminated and reach a height of 738 meters, with arms measuring 123 meters, thus visible from far away as a sign of universal redemption. In recent decades, \u201cCrosses of Love\u201d have been erected in various countries around the world, scaled down to one hundredth of the size of the \u201cGlorious\u201d cross.<\/p>\n

As early as April 1983, the then-diocesan bishop, Jean-Marie-Cl\u00e9ment Badr\u00e9, stated that \u201cin no case can the construction of a monumental cross undertaken in Dozul\u00e9 (…) be an authentic sign of the manifestation of the Spirit of God.\u201d On December 8, 1985, the same bishop declared: \u201cRegarding what is taking place at Dozul\u00e9\u2014the activity and the agitation, the collection of funds by people acting on their own initiative, without a mandate and without respect for the authority of the Bishop; [\u2026] the fanatical propaganda in favor of the \u2018message\u2019; [\u2026] the categorical condemnation of those who do not adhere to it\u2014I am led, in conscience, to judge that, beyond all this ferment, I do not discern the signs that would authorize me to declare the alleged \u2018apparitions\u2019 to be authentic, nor to recognize a mission given to the Church to spread this \u2018message.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On the basis of recent guidelines for discerning alleged supernatural phenomena, the current bishop, Bishop Habert, has requested authorization from the Dicastery to issue a declaratio de non supernaturalitate, that is that \u201cthe phenomenon of the alleged apparitions of Dozul\u00e9 is not of supernatural origin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Fern\u00e1ndez’s letter accepts the Bishop\u2019s proposal: \u201cThis Dicastery authorizes Your Excellency to draw up the corresponding Decree and to declare that the phenomenon of the alleged apparitions said to have taken place in Dozul\u00e9 is to be regarded, definitively, as not supernatural in origin, with all the consequences that flow from this determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter highlights a number of problematic elements in the messages associated with the phenomenon, including the comparison of \u201cthe cross requested in Dozul\u00e9 with the Cross of Jerusalem,\u201d which \u201crisks confusing the sign with the mystery, and risks giving the impression that what Christ has accomplished once and for all could be \u201creproduced\u201d or \u201crenewed\u201d in a physical sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is also notes that \u201csome formulations contained in the alleged messages of Dozul\u00e9 insist upon the construction of \u2018the Glorious Cross\u2019 as a new sign, necessary for the salvation of the world, or as a privileged means of obtaining universal forgiveness and peace. At times, there is a mention of \u2018multiplying the sign,\u2019 as if such diffusion were a mission given by Christ Himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cross does not need 738 meters of steel or concrete to be recognized,\u201d the Dicastery declares. Rather, the Cross \u201cis raised every time a heart, moved by grace, opens itself to forgiveness; every time a soul converts; every time hope is rekindled where the situation seemed impossible; and even when, by kissing a small cross, believers entrust themselves to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

It goes on to reiterate that \u201cno private revelation may be considered a universal obligation or a sign binding the conscience of the faithful, even if spiritual fruits may accompany such phenomena. The Church encourages expressions of faith that lead to conversion and charity, but warns against every form of \u2018sacralization of the sign\u2019 that leads people to consider a material object as a guarantee of salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The messages of Dozul\u00e9 say that \u201call those who will have come to repent at the foot of \u2018the Glorious Cross\u2019 will be saved,\u201d that \u201c\u2018the Glorious Cross\u2019 will take away all sin,\u201d and that all those who \u201ccome there with faith to repent will be saved in this life and for eternity.\u201d The Dicastery states emphatically that \u201csuch expressions are incompatible with the Catholic doctrine on salvation, grace, and the sacraments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter then points out other messages that have been disproven by events. One such message, for example, asked for the \u201cGlorious Cross\u201d and Shrine to be built before the end of the 1975 Holy Year, \u201cfor it will be the last Holy Year.\u201d \u201cClearly, this purported prophecy was not fulfilled,\u201d the Dicastery notes, as two other ordinary Holy Years (2000 and 2025) and two extraordinary Holy Years (1983 and 2016) have subsequently been celebrated.<\/p>\n

The Dicastery also notes various apocalyptic statements which suggest the Lord\u2019s proximate or even imminent return, such as the one in which it is claimed that Jesus said: \u201cIf the cross is not erected, I will cause it to appear\u2014but there will be no more time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the theme of the Lord\u2019s return is an integral part of the Christian Faith,\u201d the Dicastery says, \u201cthe Church\u2014while recalling that Christ\u2019s return is a truth of the faith, even though no one can know or predict the precise date or its signs\u2014remains alert against millenarian or chronological interpretations, which risk setting the time or determining the modalities for the Final Judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concluding the letter, the Dicastery explains, \u201cThe cross, as a sign of devotion, is never mere exteriority. When Christians venerate the cross, they do not adore the wood or metal, nor do they think that a material cross can replace the saving work already accomplished in Christ\u2019s Paschal Mystery. Instead, they adore the One who offered His life upon it\u2026The veneration of the Cross thus forms us in a tangible spirituality and an incarnate faith: not an abstraction, but a way of facing life with our gaze fixed upon the Crucified, recognizing in every trial the possibility of a redemptive encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n

+<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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