The Vatican is set to provide new insights on apparitions and other supernatural phenomena during a press conference on Friday, which will be streamed live on YouTube.
Scheduled for 6 a.m. ET, the press conference will introduce new guidelines from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to a Holy See Press Office news release. The focus will be on apparitions, described by the Encyclopedia of the Bible as supernatural or spiritual visitations.
In conjunction with the conference, Vatican officials will publish updated documentation on apparitions.
Current protocols outline the steps officials must take when an apparition is reported, including determining the validity of the claim through positive and negative criteria. The guidelines also advise officials to cautiously allow public expressions of devotion and to assess the merit of the supernatural claim.
Three speakers will address the conference: Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Monsignor Armando Matteo, and Sister Daniela Del Gaudio.
How to Watch the Vatican Press Conference Livestream
The news conference will be streamed live on the Vatican’s official YouTube channel at 6 a.m. ET.
What is an Apparition?
In biblical terms, apparitions refer to the appearance of a dead and disembodied person, though this is rare and mainly reflects popular belief, according to the Encyclopedia of the Bible. Apparitions typically involve divine entities such as saints or the Virgin Mary.
Last Apparition Guidance Revisions Made in 1978
These new guidelines represent the first updates to the Church’s doctrine on apparitions since 1978. In April, the dicastery announced it was finalizing a new text with clear guidelines for discerning apparitions and other phenomena, as reported by the National Catholic Register.
Pope Francis recently gave an in-depth interview to CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell, the first one-on-one interview with a U.S. broadcast network. An extended version of this interview will air on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, May 19, where the Pope will discuss several Church controversies and the steps he’s taken to modernize the institution.
