MANILA (RVA News): After years of controversies and different allegations, the Vatican finally released the original 1951 decree rejecting alleged apparition in 1941 of the Virgin Mary in Lipa, Batangas, the Philippines.
On March 19, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Archdiocese of Lipa announced that the Vatican had released the decree declaring that the alleged apparition was not supernatural.
The devotees and priests have long debated this issue because the devotees claim that no existing decree or document exists. Last year an influential individual sued a priest who was even arrested and detained for “offending religious feelings” and discrediting the supposed apparition.
The reported apparition has long been a source of discussions and debate, even online, between Catholic Church officials and the devotees of what they call “Our Lady of Lipa,” also known as Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace [see, Sunday Examiner, 9 June, 6 August 2023; 15 July 2022].
In a circular released on March 19, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa announced that the dicastery “released a copy of the much-awaited 1951 decree regarding the conclusion of the Holy See on the alleged apparition in Lipa.”
The bishop explained that the dicastery had issued this decree “upon the fervent request of His Excellency Most Reverend Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.”
The English translation reads:
By order of the Most Holy Father’s will:
The apostolic delegate is to authorise the apostolic administrator to issue a document from the Curia in which it is declared that the events of Lipa, after serious examination, turn out not to have a supernatural origin or character.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
In an audience with His Holiness
Thursday, 29th day of March 1951
Certified authentic:
Victor Cardinal Fernandez, Prefect
On 29 March 1951, Pope Pius XII approved the ruling in an audience, and Victor Cardinal Fernandez, the current dicastery prefect under Pope Francis, authenticated it.
According to Rappler, in a letter to Bishop David, Cardinal Fernandez said he was not only providing a copy of the 1951 Vatican decree, but also furnishing a copy of the letter “in which Sister Mary Sicilia of Jesus, OCD, then the superior of the convent where the known events occurred, confessed guiltily to having deceived the faithful about the alleged apparitions in Lipa and consequently asked for forgiveness.”
The cardinal said, “This fact definitively and directly confirms the non-supernatural nature of the events in Lipa.”
