Vatican orders cessation of anniversary celebrations related to Philippine Marian apparition
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced that the Vatican has ordered to cease any celebration related to the 75th anniversary of the alleged apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lipa, Batangas.
In a circular released July 28, CBCP President Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said he received a formal letter from Cardinal Luis Ladaria, SJ, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, which specifically instructs the conference to “dissuade any form of activity in the view of the proposed celebration in Lipa.”
“It would not be advisable for you to authorize the aforementioned celebration under any form,” wrote the cardinal in a letter dated May 8.
Cardinal Ladaria was responding to a document from Lipa Archbishop Gilbert Garcera on the preparations for the anniversary of the Marian apparitions by the Confraternity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace.
According to Bishop David, the Dicastery calls on everyone to abide by the 2015 decree of Rome that reiterates the 1951 decision, which ruled the Lipa apparitions to have “no supernatural character or origin.”
“I hope you can communicate this to the faithful in your own ecclesiastical jurisdictions, especially those who are involved in the said Confraternity,” said Bishop David addressing his fellow prelates.
Furthermore, Cardinal Ladaria reminded the faithful that since this decision has direct approval from Pope Pius XII, the stand of the Catholic Church on the apparitions is definitive.
“The matter is not subject to the competence of the local authority,” he wrote.
Cardinal Ladaria also explained that the Dicastery has already pointed out the theological inaccuracy associated with Marian's title Mary Mediatrix of All Grace through several correspondences with the current and former archbishops of Lipa.
The Lipa apparitions supposedly happened in 1948 when Sister Teresa Castillo, then postulate of the Carmelita convent in Batangas, claimed to have heard the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary and witnessed a rain of rose petals. -Luke Godoy
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