Luisa P's Kingdom of the Divine Will Cult.
The Flemish theologian, Belgian Jesuit, Father Edouard Dhanis - an eminent scholar in this field, states succinctly that ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation has three elements: the message contains nothing contrary to faith or morals; it is lawful to make it public; and the faithful are authorized to accept it with prudence” (ibid., cf.
E. Dhanis, La Civiltà Cattolica 104 [1953], II, 392–406).Because they do not require divine and Catholic faith, private revelations do not impose an obligation of belief of the sort that public revelation does. To disbelieve knowingly and deliberately anything God has revealed in such a way that it requires divine and Catholic faith is to commit mortal sin. However, since God has not issued private revelations with this degree of certainty, the burden is not imposed. Thus, “such a message can be a genuine help in understanding the Gospel and living it better at a particular moment in time; therefore it should not be disregarded. It is a help which is offered, but which one is not obliged to use” (ibid.).
“The criterion for the truth and value of a private revelation is therefore its orientation to Christ himself. When it leads us away from him, when it becomes independent of him or even presents itself as another and better plan of salvation more important than the Gospel, then it certainly does not come from the Holy Spirit, who guides us more deeply into the Gospel and not away from it” (ibid.).
Revelation: Public and PrivateCRITERIA FOR JUDGING, AT LEAST WITH PROBABILITY, THE CHARACTER OF THE PRESUMED APPARITIONS OR REVELATIONS
A) Positive Criteria:a) Moral certitude, or at least great probability of the existence of the fact, acquired by means of a serious investigation;
b) Particular circumstances relative to the existence and to the nature of the fact, that is to say:
1. Personal qualities of the subject or of the subjects (in particular, psychological equilibrium, honesty and rectitude of moral life, sincerity and habitual docility towards Ecclesiastical Authority, the capacity to return to a normal regimen of a life of faith, etc.);
2. As regards revelation: true theological and spiritual doctrine and immune from error;
3. Healthy devotion and abundant and constant spiritual fruit (for example, spirit of prayer, conversion, testimonies of charity, etc.).
B) Negative Criteria:a) Manifest error concerning the fact.
b) Doctrinal errors attributed to God himself, or to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or to some saint in their manifestations, taking into account however the possibility that the subject might have added, even unconsciously, purely human elements or some error of the natural order to an authentic supernatural revelation (cf. Saint Ignatius, Exercises, no. 336).
c) Evidence of a search for profit or gain strictly connected to the fact.
d) Gravely immoral acts committed by the subject or his or her followers when the fact occurred or in connection with it.
e) Psychological disorder or psychopathic tendencies in the subject, that with certainty influenced on the presumed supernatural fact, or psychosis, collective hysteria or other things of this kind.
It is to be noted that these criteria, be they positive or negative, are not peremptory but rather indicative, and they should be applied cumulatively or with some mutual convergence.
Norms regarding the manner of proceedings in the discernment of presumed apparitions or revelationsCriteria the Church Uses for Discerning Private RevelationBasically, the Church pursues a common sense course. It looks at the alleged visionary and asks questions like:
1. What are his natural qualities or defects, from a physical, intellectual, and especially moral standpoint? If the information is favorable (if the person is of sound judgment, calm imagination; if his acts are dictated by reason and not by enthusiasm, etc.), many causes of illusion are thereby excluded. However, a momentary aberration is still possible.
2. How has the person been educated? Can the knowledge of the visionary have been derived from books or from conversations with theologians?
3. What are the virtues exhibited before and after the revelation? Has he made progress in holiness and especially in humility? The tree can be judged by its fruits.
4. What extraordinary graces of union with God have been received? The greater they are the greater the probability in favor of the revelation, at least in the main.
5. Has the person had other revelations that have been judged Divine? Has he made any predictions that have been clearly realized?
6. Has he been subjected to heavy trials? It is almost impossible for extraordinary favors to be conferred without heavy crosses; for both are marks of God’s friendship, and each is a preparation for the other.
7. Does he practice the following rules: fear deception; be open with your director; do not desire to have revelations?
In addition to weighing the character of the alleged visionary, of course, the Church is obliged to weigh the character of the alleged visions, again with various common sense criteria:
1. Is there an authentic account, in which nothing has been added, suppressed, or corrected?
2. Is the revelation consistent with the teaching of the Church or with the recognized facts of history or natural science?
3. Does it teach nothing contrary to good morals, and is it unaccompanied by any indecent action?
4. Is the teaching helpful towards obtaining eternal salvation?
5. After examining all the circumstances accompanying the vision (the attitudes, acts, words, etc.), do we find the dignity and seriousness which become the Divine Majesty?
6. What sentiments of peace, or, on the other hand, of disturbance, are experienced during or after the revelations?
7. It often happens that the revelation inspires an exterior work—for instance, the establishment of a new devotion, the foundation of a new religious congregation or association, the revision of the constitutions of a congregation, etc., the building of a church or the creation of a pilgrimage, the reformation of the lax spirit in a certain body, the preaching of a new spirituality, etc. In these cases the value of the proposed work must be carefully examined; is it good in itself, useful, filling a need, not injurious to other works, etc.?
8. Have the revelations been subjected to the tests of time, investigation, and discussion?
9. If any work has been begun as a result of the revelation, has it produced great spiritual fruit?
10. Have the Pope and the bishops believed this to be so, and have they assisted the progress of the work?
Criteria the Church Uses for Discerning Private RevelationCDF: Norms on discerning presumed apparitions now in EnglishThe Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has published new translations of the Norms regarding the manner of proceeding in the discernment of presumed apparitions or revelations into various languages from their original Latin.
The idea behind the move, according to CDF Prefect Cardinal William Levada, is to help bishops worldwide determine the credibility of “extraordinary phenomena of presumed supernatural origin” in the light of faith.
The Norms, which were first drawn up by the Servant of God Pope Paul VI in 1978, are now available on the congregation's website
Dicastero per la Dottrina della Fede - Index in six languages including English.
Below the text of the Preface by CDF Prefect Cardinal William Levada
PREFACE
1. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is competent in questions regarding the promotion and safeguarding of the teaching of faith and morals. It is also competent to examine difficulties regarding to the proper understanding of the faith, such as cases of pseudo-mysticism, presumed apparitions, visions and messages attributed to supernatural sources. In regard to these very delicate tasks, more than thirty years ago this Dicastery prepared the Normae de modo procedendi in diudicandis praesumptis apparitionibus ac revelationibus. This document, formulated by the Members of the Plenary Session of the Congregation, was approved by the Servant of God, Pope Paul VI, on 24 February 1978, and subsequently issued on 25 February 1978. At that time the Norms were sent to Bishops for their information, without, however, being officially published, as the norms were given for the direct aid of the Pastors of the Church.
2. Over the years this document has been published in various works treating these matters, in more than one language, without obtaining the prior permission of this Dicastery. Today, it must be recognized that the contents of these important norms are already in the public domain. Therefore, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith believes it is now opportune to publish these Norms, providing translations in the principle languages.
3. In the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God held in October 2008, the issue of the problems stemming from the experience of supernatural phenomena was raised as a pastoral concern by some Bishops. Their concern was recognized by the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, who inserted the issue into the larger context of the economy of salvation, in a significant passage of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini. It is important to recall this teaching of the Pontiff, which is an invitation to pay appropriate attention to these supernatural phenomena:
“In all of this, the Church gives voice to her awareness that with Jesus Christ she stands before the definitive word of God: he is ‘the first and the last’ (Rev 1:17). He has given creation and history their definitive meaning; and hence we are called to live in time and in God’s creation within this eschatological rhythm of the word; ‘thus the Christian dispensation, since it is the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away;
and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Tim 6:14 and Tit 2:13)’. Indeed, as the Fathers noted during the Synod, the ‘uniqueness of Christianity is manifested in the event which is Jesus Christ, the culmination of revelation, the fulfilment of God’s promises and the mediator of the encounter between man and God. He who ‘has made God known’ (Jn 1:18) is the one, definitive word given to mankind.’ Saint John of the Cross expresses this truth magnificently: ‘Since he has given us his Son, his only word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything at once in this sole word – and he has no more to say… because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has spoken all at once by giving us this All who is his Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely on Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty’ (Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 22).”
Bearing this in mind, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, notes the following:
“Consequently the Synod pointed to the need to ‘help the faithful to distinguish the word of God from private revelations’ whose role ‘is not to complete Christ’s definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history.’ The value of private revelations is essentially different from that of the one public revelation: the latter demands faith; in it God himself speaks to us through human words and the mediation of the living community of the Church. The criterion for judging the truth of a private revelation is its orientation to Christ himself. If it leads us away from him, then it certainly does not come from the Holy Spirit, who guides us more deeply into the Gospel, and not away from it. Private revelation is an aid to this faith, and it demonstrates its credibility precisely because it refers back to the one public revelation. Ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation essentially means that its message contains nothing contrary to faith and morals; it is licit to make it public and the faithful are authorized to give to it their prudent adhesion. A private revelation can introduce new emphases, give rise to new forms of piety, or deepen older ones. It can have a certain prophetic character (cf. 1 Th 5:19-21) and can be a valuable aid for better understanding and living the Gospel at a certain time; consequently it should not be treated lightly. It is a help which is proffered, but its use is not obligatory. In any event, it must be a matter of nourishing faith, hope and love, which are for everyone the permanent path of salvation.”
4. It is my firm hope that the official publication of the Norms regarding the manner of proceeding in the discernment of presumed apparitions or revelations can aid the Pastors of the Catholic Church in their difficult task of discerning presumed apparitions, revelations, messages or, more generally, extraordinary phenomena of presumed supernatural origin. At the same time it is hoped that this text might be useful to theologians and experts in this field of the lived experience of the Church, whose delicacy requires an ever-more thorough consideration.
William Card. Levada
Prefect
Vatican City State, 14 December 2011, Feast of Saint John of the Cross.
CDF: Norms on discerning presumed apparitions now in English___________________________
QUESTIONS for proponents of the Divine Will...What is the Catholic definition of Divine Revelation?
What is the Catholic definition of privation revelation?
How are the two distinct from each other?
Does Luisa P say she has received something
new...
never before communicated to the Church?
Do Luisa P's writings improve upon or complete / surpass or correct Christ's definitive Revelation when He walked the earth?
Is Luisa P’s private revelation a necessity to fulfill the Church?
Can one attain the knowledge necessary to reach the highest degree of sanctity without her writings?
Does Luisa P’s new way allow us to surpass all the other saints in holiness (eg super saints like Padre Pio)?
How many wills are there in Jesus Christ? Could you explain those operations?
What is the condemned heresy of monothelitism?
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Monothelitism and MonothelitesIf Adam and Eve had the gift of Divine Will, then how did they fall and then why this desire to return to the Garden of Eden?
Do those living in the Divine Will need to go to confession (living in a way incapable of committing any sin)?
How can one have certitude that one is acting in accordance with the Divine Will at any given moment? What assurances does one have...?
