Letter to the Bishop of Locri-Gerace About the Spiritual Experience Connected with the Sanctuary of the "Madonna dello Scoglio" in Santa Domenica di Placanica, Italy (5 July 2024)

DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

5 July 2024

Letter to the Bishop of Locri-Gerace (Italy) on the Spiritual Experience Connected with
the Sanctuary of the “Madonna dello Scoglio” (Our Lady of the Rock) in Santa Domenica di Placanica (Italy)

Your Excellency,

With a letter dated 3 June 2024, you wrote to this Dicastery regarding events connected with the Diocesan Shrine of “Madonna dello Scoglio” (Our Lady of the Rock), located in Santa Domenica di Placanica (Italy), which is under your jurisdiction.

This Sanctuary, which began as a simple chapel, was erected on 11 February 2016 following a young believer’s intense spiritual experience. Since then, it has attracted the interest of many other faithful people from different backgrounds, especially those who are suffering and sick. Over the years, the place has increasingly attracted devout attendance and pilgrimages under the supervision of the competent Ordinary.

An intense spiritual activity of prayer and listening has developed in this place. You have written: “The fruits of Christian life in those who frequent the Rock [i.e., the shrine] are evident, such as the existence of the spirit of prayer, conversions, some vocations to the priesthood and religious life, testimonies of charity, as well as a healthy devotion, and other spiritual fruits.”

As a result, by your predecessor’s Decree of 7 December 2008, “having noted that the events are theologically and liturgically sound, it was decided to accept this site officially as a place of worship, under the pastoral care of the Diocesan Bishop, leaving to the future judgment of the Apostolic See the evaluation of the facts and reasons that have determined the action of worship in this place.”

With the passing of the years, as you yourself have informed us, no critical or risky elements have emerged, much less problems of obvious gravity. Instead, there are signs of grace and spiritual conversion.

Therefore, wishing to continue to increase the pastoral value and promote the spread of this spiritual proposal—including through pilgrimages, gatherings and prayer meetings—in accordance with no. 17 of the Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena (17 May 2024) published by this Dicastery, you have determined a Nihil Obstat is in order so that the spiritual experience proposed for the Shrine may have the recognition necessary to continue to operate in such a way that those who visit it may feel comforted and encouraged to continue, knowing that they are in communion with the Catholic Church.

In this regard, this Dicastery takes note of your positive report on the spiritual good that is taking place in the above-mentioned location, over which you exercise constant vigilance so that there may be no manipulation of persons, undue financial gain, or serious doctrinal errors that could cause scandal, harm the faithful, or undermine the credibility of the Church.

Therefore, in consideration of what you have written, and without making any judgment on whether the events relating to the spiritual experience in question were supernatural or not, this Dicastery confirms the Nihil Obstat determination that you have proposed.

At this point, on the basis of the current norms (art. 21, §§1-2; art. 22, §§1-2 of the aforementioned Norms), you—as the Diocesan Bishop—must now by decree clearly communicate to the People of God your judgment on the events in question, indicating the nature of the authorization and the limits of a possible permitted veneration, specifying that the determination made is not to be understood as an approval of the supernatural character of the phenomenon and that the faithful are authorized to give their adherence to it in a prudent manner. Furthermore, the Decree must clarify that this Nihil Obstat determination does not imply any judgment—either positive or negative—on the lives of the persons involved in this case and that any further messages from the latter will be made known only after your consideration.

Lastly, since the Decree is issued “in agreement with the Dicastery,” before publishing it, please send it to this curial institution for due consideration. Please also inform the Italian Episcopal Conference in good time of the determination approved by the Dicastery.

It remains your duty to continue to give the utmost attention to the correct appreciation of the fruits arising from the phenomenon, to watch over them with prudence.

In addition to what has been recalled above, allow me to recall that the correct veneration of Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Church, and our Mother, must be expressed in such a way as to exclude inappropriate forms of veneration and the use of improper Marian titles. Instead, veneration in a clear Christological perspective is opportune, as the ecclesial magisterium teaches: “when the Mother is honored, the Son [...] is rightly known, loved and glorified” (LG, 66).

Your Excellency, in the secularized world in which we live, in which so many spend their lives without any reference to transcendence, the pilgrims who approach the Shrine of the Rock are a powerful sign of faith. Their presence before the Virgin, who for them becomes a clear expression of the Lord’s mercy, is a way of acknowledging their own inadequacy to carry out the labors of life and their ardent need and desire for God. In such a truly precious context of faith, a renewed proclamation of the kerygma can continue to enlighten and enrich this experience of the Spirit.

In informing you of the above, I would like to take this occasion to offer you my respectful greetings.

Víctor Manuel Card. FERNÁNDEZ
Prefect

Ex Audientia Diei 05.07.2024
Franciscus