Fake news and fraud

Vatican reforms standards for alleged miracles

Lourdes is one of the world's most visited pilgrimage sites. In 1858, a girl is said to have had Marian apparitions here

(Bild: AP)

The Vatican has radically revised its guidelines for evaluating apparent miracles and wants to assess them more skeptically in future. In addition to new categories for evaluation, the Vatican Office for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome is to have the final say in deciding on supernatural phenomena. 

In view of an increase in false rumors and the spread of fake news on the internet, the current guidelines from 1978 are no longer meaningful and practicable, the powerful Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith explained its decision to fundamentally revise the norms.

There is also a risk that fraudsters will try to make money and manipulate people with alleged miracles or other phenomena. These risks are to be prevented with the new norms.

Pope Francis

(Bild: APA/AFP/Tiziana FABI)

Six differentiated categories for assessment
Whereas it was previously possible to assess whether a miracle had occurred or not, there are now to be six differentiated categories for assessing supernatural phenomena.

In the best case scenario, an alleged miracle will be assessed with the category "Nihil obstat" (meaning "Nothing stands in the way"). According to the information provided, this means that although there is no certainty of supernatural authenticity, there are signs that the Holy Spirit is at work. Believers may worship and honor the phenomenon without further ado.

The remaining five categories deal with gray areas, but the last category clearly states that a phenomenon is not supernatural. Phenomena are initially categorized by the local bishop, but the Vatican makes the final decision. According to the Vatican, no more than six such cases have been officially clarified since 1950.