The Vatican’s 2024 procedure for judging reported apparitions, visions and similar claims, many concerning Jesus or Mary. It sets graded conclusions instead of a yes-or-no verdict, and does not rule on any particular event.
The Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena were issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope Francis and published on 17 May 2024, taking effect at Pentecost that year. They replace the procedural norms of 1978 for judging reports of apparitions, visions, messages, weeping images and similar phenomena, many of which concern Jesus or Mary.
The norms set out a graded series of possible conclusions rather than a single yes-or-no verdict. In ordinary cases the most positive outcome is a nihil obstat, which permits public devotion without declaring that the phenomenon is supernatural; other conclusions range through cautions and prohibitions to a declaration that a phenomenon is not supernatural. The local bishop conducts the inquiry, and the Dicastery must approve the outcome.
For this archive the document matters as the framework a major church now uses when assessing modern claims of revelation, including reported appearances of Jesus. It establishes institutional procedure; it does not adjudicate any particular claim and is not evidence for or against any reported event.
A citation note only: the document’s text is not mirrored in this archive. Follow the link for the official text.
The full text is not reproduced on this site. It is published by the Holy See, which holds the copyright, and this archive keeps only a citation card for it. The introduction above summarises its contents; read the document itself at the official source.
Official text: Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena (2024), on vatican.va
