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DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

“The Only Cross of Salvation”

Letter to the Bishop of Bayeux- Lisieux
Regarding the Alleged Apparitions of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Dozulé (France)

To His Excellency
The Most Reverend Jacques HABERT
Bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux

Your Excellency,

Allow me to begin this letter with a beautiful hymn to the Cross of Christ:

“O Cross, you are the great mercy of God, the glory of heaven, and the eternal salvation of humankind. O Cross, you are the terror of the wicked, the strength of the just, and the light of the faithful. O Cross, you granted that God in the flesh might serve for the salvation of those on earth, and that man, in God, should reign in heaven. Through you, the light of truth has shone forth, and the night of impiety has fled. You have destroyed the shrines once rooted among the nations, for the peoples who have come to faith. You are the bond of human peace, reconciling humankind to God through the covenant of Christ the Mediator. You have become the step by which we may ascend to heaven. Be always a pillar for the devout, and an anchor for us, that our house may stand firm and our ship be well guided—with faith fixed upon the Cross, and from the Cross receiving the crown” (Paulinus of Nola, Poem 19, lines 718-730).

I am writing regarding the alleged apparitions that occurred in Dozulé, associated with the figure of Madeleine Aumont. Over the years, they have elicited spiritual interest, but also not a few controversies and difficulties of a doctrinal and pastoral nature. This letter is prompted by various requests for clarification that this Dicastery has received and, above all, by certain theological and symbolic interpretations that have derived from those alleged events.

As is known, Your Excellency’s predecessors have already taken a position regarding these alleged apparitions. His Excellency, the Most Reverend Jean Badré stated: “For Christians, the manifestation of the Spirit of God is expressed in the sign of the Cross—the sign through which God shares in our sufferings and our sorrows; a sign disconcerting to the mentality of the modern person. Yet, salvation is not accomplished according to our human designs. The modest crosses planted in our countryside express this reality well.” Following his pastoral discernment, Bishop Badré concluded: “In no case can the construction of a monumental cross undertaken in Dozulé by an association based in Paris be an authentic sign of the manifestation of the Spirit of God” (Communiqué, 10 April 1983).

In his Declaration, published on 8 December 1985, Bishop Badré likewise affirmed: “Regarding what is taking place at Dozulé—the activity and the agitation, the collection of funds by people acting on their own initiative, without a mandate and without respect for the authority of the Bishop; […] the fanatical propaganda in favor of the ‘message’; […] the categorical condemnation of those who do not adhere to it—I am led, in conscience, to judge that, beyond all this ferment, I do not discern the signs that would authorize me to declare the alleged ‘apparitions’ to be authentic, nor to recognize a mission given to the Church to spread this ‘message.’”

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has also supported the efforts of the Bishops of Bayeux-Lisieux in the difficult task of addressing the issues that have continued to generate confusion. And, in the higher interest of the good of the faithful, the Dicastery has encouraged a continued vigilance over the phenomenon of the alleged apparitions, while also urging that any possible setting up of crosses be brought back into the context of a sound devotion to the Holy Cross.

Recently, after an in-depth examination of the phenomenon in question, Your Excellency judged it necessary to proceed with further discernment of the events connected with the Haute-Butte of Dozulé, to bring the entire matter to a conclusive resolution. To this end, in accordance with The Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, par. 22, Your Excellency proposed—as the conclusion of this discernment—to issue a declaratio de non supernaturalitate, by which the Dicastery would authorize you to make a definitive declaration that the phenomenon of the alleged apparitions of Dozulé is not of supernatural origin: that is, that it does not have an authentic divine source.

The principal message associated with the alleged apparitions of Dozulé includes the request to construct a luminous cross, designated “the Glorious Cross” (la Croix Glorieuse), measuring 738 meters in height and visible from afar, as a symbol of universal redemption and a sign of the Lord’s Second Coming in glory. The alleged messages include exhortations to conversion, penance, and contemplation of the Cross—themes central to the Christian faith. But the messages also raise some delicate theological questions that warrant clarification, lest the faith of the faithful be exposed to the risk of distortion.

These questions pertain to the meaning and value of the Cross, the remission of sins, and the announcement of the Lord’s imminent return. On these matters, therefore, some clarifications are necessary, so that the proclamation of Christ’s merciful love, revealed in the mystery of the Cross, may not be distorted by elements that obscure its central truth.

1. The Unique and Definitive Value of the Cross of Christ, the Universal Sign of Salvation

Some of the alleged messages propose a parallel between the luminous cross of Dozulé and the Cross of Jerusalem.

For example, in the fifth alleged apparition, dated 20 December 1972, the following exhortation appears: “Tell the priest that ‘the Glorious Cross’ erected in this place is comparable to Jerusalem.”

Even more explicitly, this comparison appears in the eleventh alleged apparition, dated 5 October 1973: “‘The Glorious Cross,’ raised upon the high hill, must be compared to the city of Jerusalem.”

However, Jerusalem—and in particular, Golgotha, where Christ’s crucifixion took place—is the historical place of the final events of the earthly life of Jesus of Nazareth and the salvific place where the Redemption was accomplished. One of the Fathers of the Church emphasizes the unique value of this place:

“He was truly crucified for our sins. And should you wish to deny this, the visible place itself, this blessed Golgotha, refutes you, where, in the name of Him who was here crucified, we are gathered together. Besides, the whole world has now been filled with pieces of the wood of the Cross. He was crucified not for His own sins, but that we might be freed from ours. He was despised and buffeted by men at that time as man, but was acknowledged as God by creation. For the sun, seeing its Master dishonored, was darkened and trembled, not enduring the sight” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 4, 10).

That wood, raised upon Calvary, has become the real sign of Christ’s sacrifice, which is unique and unrepeatable. For this reason, every other “sign” of the cross—whether devout or monumental—cannot be considered on the same plane. Thus, it seems misleading, both theologically and pastorally-symbolically, to compare “the Glorious Cross” of Dozulé to the Cross of Jerusalem.  

Indeed, Jerusalem is the sacramental center of salvation history, and not simply an architectural or symbolic model to be reproduced on scale. The saving power of what occurred on Calvary is made present sacramentally in the Church’s liturgical celebration. Another Father of the Church clarifies this point:

“‘Christ our Passover has been sacrificed’ (1 Cor. 5:7) as the Apostle says. Offering himself to the Father as a new and real sacrifice of reconciliation, he was crucified—not in the temple whose due worship is now completed, nor within the enclosure of the city which was to be destroyed because of its crime, but ‘outside and beyond the camp’ (Heb. 13:13). That way, as the mystery of the ancient sacrifices was ceasing, a new victim would be put on a new altar, and the Cross of Christ would be the altar not of the temple but of the world.” (Leo the Great, Sermon 59, 5).

And again:

“O wonderful power of the Cross! O indescribable glory of the Passion! In this is the tribunal of the Lord, and the judgment of the world, and the power of the Crucified. […] You have drawn all things to yourself, Lord, so that what was done in the one temple of Judea with concealed meanings, the devotion of all nations everywhere celebrates in a clear and open mystery” (ibid., 7).

Therefore, to compare the cross requested at Dozulé with the Cross of Jerusalem risks confusing the sign with the mystery, and risks giving the impression that what Christ has accomplished once and for all could be “reproduced” or “renewed” in a physical sense.

The Christian tradition recognizes in Christ’s Cross the universal sign of Redemption: “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23), but for those who believe, “the power and wisdom of God” (v. 24). To emphasize the universal reach of the redemption secured by Christ’s Cross, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of Golgotha as the center of the earth, where Jesus stretched out his arms in a symbolic embrace of all humanity:

“He stretched out his hands on the Cross to encompass the ends of the world; for this Golgotha is the very center of the earth. This is not my saying; it is a prophet who has said: ‘You wrought salvation in the midst of the earth’ (Ps. 73:12). He who by spiritual hands had established the heavens stretched out human hands [on Golgotha]” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis XIII, 28).

2. The Risk of Duplicating or Replacing the Salvific Sign

Some formulations contained in the alleged messages of Dozulé insist upon the construction of “the Glorious Cross” as a new sign, necessary for the salvation of the world, or as a privileged means of obtaining universal forgiveness and peace. At times, there is a mention of “multiplying the sign,” as if such diffusion were a mission given by Christ himself.

In the fifteenth alleged apparition on 5 April 1974, some additional and specific indications are given: “‘The Glorious Cross’ should be raised on the Haute-Butte, very close to the territorial boundary of Dozulé, at the precise place where the fruit tree is found, the tree of Sin, because ‘the Glorious Cross’ will take away all sin.”

The request to raise such a cross should be understood as an improper duplication of the sign of the Cross, a symbolic superimposition on the mystery of Redemption—as if the modern world required a new “monument of salvation.” Yet, the Catholic Faith teaches that the power of the Cross does not need to be replicated, for it is already present in every Eucharist, in every church, in every believer who lives united to the sacrifice of Christ. This novel symbol would risk shifting attention from the Faith to a visible sign, absolutizing it and fostering a form of “material sacrality” that does not belong to the heart of Christianity.

Moreover, for a sign of faith to be authentic, it must lead people to Christ, not draw attention to itself. The Cross of Jerusalem is the “sacrament of the saving sacrifice,” whereas a monumental cross such as that of Dozulé risks becoming “the symbol of an autonomous message,” separated from the sacramental economy of the Church. No cross, no relic, and no private apparition can replace the means of grace established by Christ.

Scripture teaches that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). In the Declaration Dominus Iesus, “On the Uniqueness and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church,” the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith affirmed: “From the beginning, the community of believers has recognized in Jesus a salvific value such that he alone, as Son of God made man, crucified and risen, by the mission received from the Father and in the power of the Holy Spirit, bestows revelation (cf. Mt. 11:27) and divine life (cf. Jn. 1:12; 5:25-26; 17:2) to all humanity and to every person” (par. 15). The face of salvation shines in the beauty of Christ crucified and risen, who continues to pour out the life that flows from the wood of the Cross—even on those who were not physically present at Golgotha. No other sign, however devout or striking, can substitute for or replicate the unique mystery of the Cross of Jesus.

The Cross does not need 738 meters of steel or concrete to be recognized: it is raised every time a heart, moved by grace, opens itself to forgiveness; every time a soul converts; every time hope is rekindled where the situation seemed impossible; and even when, by kissing a small cross, believers entrust themselves to Christ. Every act of faith, every gesture of mercy, every “yes” to the will of God is like a living stone elevating that Cross in the world.

Furthermore, it must be reiterated that no private revelation may be considered a universal obligation or a sign binding the conscience of the faithful, even if spiritual fruits may accompany such phenomena. The Church encourages expressions of faith that lead to conversion and charity, but warns against every form of “sacralization of the sign” that leads people to consider a material object as a guarantee of salvation.

3. A Crucial Doctrinal Clarification: The Cross and the Remission of Sins

Among the most troubling statements found in the presumed messages of Dozulé is the reference to the “remission of sins” through the contemplation of this particular cross.

Thus, in the fourteenth alleged apparition, on 1 March 1974, it is stated: “All those who will have come to repent at the foot of ‘the Glorious Cross’ [of Dozulé] will be saved. Satan will be destroyed, and only Peace and Joy will remain.”

Again, in the fifteenth alleged apparition, on 5 April 1974, as noted above, one reads: “‘The Glorious Cross’ should be raised on the Haute-Butte, very close to the territorial boundary of Dozulé, at the precise place where the fruit tree is found, the tree of Sin, because ‘the Glorious Cross’ will take away all sin.”

A month later, in the sixteenth alleged apparition, on 3 May 1974, it is stated once more: “That leaning tree is the symbol of sin. Uproot it before it bears fruit and hasten to raise in its place ‘the Glorious Cross,’ because ‘the Glorious Cross’ will take away every sin.”

It is evident that when the apparitions speak of “salvation,” they are not referring to being saved only from an earthly catastrophe. In the seventeenth alleged apparition, on 31 May 1974, one reads: “All those who come there with faith to repent will be saved in this life and for eternity. Satan will no longer have any power over them.”

As can be seen, one encounters here the main theological error found in the alleged messages of Dozulé, for such expressions are incompatible with the Catholic doctrine on salvation, grace, and the sacraments. For example, the alleged message of 1 March 1974 suggests that the mere act of going to the foot of that cross would suffice to obtain forgiveness of sins and salvation. The Catholic Church, however, teaches that forgiveness does not proceed from a physical location, but from Christ himself; the remission of sins is received through the sacraments—in particular, the Sacrament of Penance—and no material object can replace sacramental grace. The Cross is indeed a sign of salvation, but a cross that we construct is not, of itself, a place of automatic forgiveness, since forgiveness comes from Christ.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church recalls that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance to reconcile with God those faithful who, after Baptism, have fallen into sin (cf. CCC 1446) and that the forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism is extended through the ministry of priests (cf. CCC 1461). This means that the mere performance of an external act—such as visiting a particular place or touching a cross—is not in itself sufficient for the remission of sins. Instead, what is required is interior repentance and the priest’s absolution, the visible sign of God’s forgiveness. The sacraments of the New Law are effective instruments of grace, and no sign, however holy, can replace them (cf. Council of Trent, Session VII, Decree on the Sacraments, can. 6: DH 1606; CCC 1084).

The “Semipelagians” historically accepted that grace was necessary for salvation, yet held that the beginning of faith depended on our human will rather than on divine grace. In taking a position against this, the Second Council of Orange taught that absolutely necessary for salvation. The canons of the Council declare that the beginning of faith, the desire to believe, and every good work that we accomplish are gifts from God (cf. canons 5-7: DH 375-377). This means that without grace, the human person cannot even desire to approach God. As Saint Paul states in his Letter to the Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). The Council of Trent, in its Sixth Session, addressed the question of justification and the role of divine grace, affirming that nothing from the side of the human person can precede grace (cf. Decree on Justification, ch. 5: DH 1525; ibid., can. 3: DH 1553).

We cannot claim to purchase friendship with God with any act of our own; it always remains a free gift of God’s love. Sinners, through good acts undertaken under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, can only prepare themselves for justification, yet such acts do not merit justification. Therefore, the human act of approaching the Cross of Dozulé cannot itself assure us of salvation.

No one is freed from their sins except by the free and gratuitous mercy of God. As the Council of Trent teaches: “We are said to be justified gratuitously because nothing that precedes justification, neither faith nor works, merits the grace of justification; for ‘it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of work; otherwise (as the same apostle says) grace would no longer be grace’ [Rom. 11:6]” (Council of Trent, Session VI, Decree on Justification, ch. 8: DH 1532; cf. ibid., ch. 13: DH 1541).

The Letter Placuit Deo (1 March 2018) of the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in addressing the heresies of Neo-Pelagianism and Neo-Gnosticism, highlights

“the inconsistency of the claims to self-salvation that depend on human efforts alone can be seen. Against this, the Faith confesses that we are saved by means of Baptism, which seals upon us the indelible character of belonging to Christ and to the Church, from which derives the transformation of the way of living our relationships with God, with other men and women, and with creation (cf. Mt. 28:19). Thus, purified from original, and all other sins, we are called to a new existence conforming to Christ (cf. Rom. 6:4). With the grace of the seven sacraments, believers continually grow and are spiritually renewed, especially when the journey becomes more difficult. When they abandon their love for Christ by sinning, believers can be re-introduced into the order of relationships begun by Christ in the sacrament of Penance, allowing them to again walk as He did (cf. 1 Jn. 2:6). In this way, we look with hope toward the Last Judgement, in which each person will be judged on the concreteness of his or her love (cf. Rom. 13:8-10), especially regarding the weakest (cf. Mt. 25:31-46)” (n. 13).

4. The Imminent Return of Christ

Some of the alleged messages of Dozulé, or the interpretations related to them, speak of the Lord’s proximate or even imminent return.

In the sixteenth alleged apparition, dated 3 May 1974, one reads: “Tell the Church to send messages to the whole world and to hasten to erect ‘the Glorious Cross’ [of Dozulé] on the designated place, and at its foot a Shrine. All will come to repent and to find Peace and Joy. ‘The Glorious Cross,’ or the Sign of the Son of Man, is the announcement of the proximate return in glory of the Risen Jesus. When this Cross is raised from the earth, I will draw all things to myself.” In this way, that which Scripture attributes to the Paschal Mystery of Christ is instead attributed to the cross of Dozulé.

Then, in the seventeenth alleged apparition, dated 31 May 1974, it is stated: “Jesus asks that the prayer he has taught you be spread throughout the world. He asks that ‘the Glorious Cross’ and the Shrine be built before the end of the Holy Year [1975], for it will be the last Holy Year.” Clearly, this purported prophecy was not fulfilled.

Furthermore, in the twenty-first alleged apparition, dated 1 November 1974, it is claimed: “Tell them that there will be no other signs except the Sign of God. The only visible sign is the attitude and the words of his servant, which are the Words of God, and these Words cannot be refuted. If the cross is not erected, I will cause it to appear—but there will be no more time.”

Although the theme of the Lord’s return is an integral part of the Christian Faith, the Church—while recalling that Christ’s return is a truth of the faith, even though no one can know or predict the precise date or its signs—remains alert against millenarian or chronological interpretations, which risk setting the time or determining the modalities for the Final Judgment.

In the evaluation of the alleged supernatural phenomena, the Church’s discernment requires that there be no sensationalist or apocalyptic elements that could generate confusion. Therefore, messages that speak of an “imminent end” or a “proximate date” can fuel unfounded expectations or visions that deviate from Christian hope. No private message, in fact, can anticipate or determine “the times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7).

The eschatological vigilance that Jesus recommends to his disciples—to “watch and pray” (Mt. 26:41)—is a stable spiritual attitude, and not a temporal prediction or a geographically localized event. The danger of reducing Christian hope to an expectation of an imminent return with extraordinary events must be firmly avoided.

The Cross, the Sacramental of Redeeming Love

In the Church’s tradition, the Cross is not merely a symbol or a historical reminder, but a sign that refers to grace and prepares us to receive it. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches (cf. CCC 1667-1670), sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church to prepare people to receive the principal effects of the sacraments and to sanctify the various circumstances of their lives. A cross, when it is blessed and venerated with faith, participates in this reality: it does not confer grace in itself, but it recalls it and awakens the desire for it in the heart of those who contemplate the Cross—that is, it works by way of motivation, attraction, and suggestion, to prepare us to receive grace.

The faithful who wear a blessed cross make an act of embodied faith: they make the mystery of Redemption present on their bodies and in their lives. It is a gesture that must lead toward an inner conformity with Christ: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt. 16:24). To wear a cross, therefore, is not only an act of devotion, but is also a daily call to live this Gospel passage by showing self-giving love, patience in trial, and a hope that triumphs over suffering. It is a practical way of saying: “I belong to Christ who has loved me and given himself up for me” (cf. Gal. 2:20).

Saint Bonaventure understood this well when he urged us to look not only upon the cross, but upon the crucifix as a stimulus for our union with Christ:

“And you also, redeemed man, consider who he is, how great he is, and what kind of a person he is who for you is hanging on the Cross […]. O human heart, you are harder than any hardness of rocks, if at the recollection of such great expiation you are not struck with terror, nor moved with compassion, nor shattered with compunction, nor softened with devoted love” (Bonaventure, Lignum vitae, II, 29).

In another passage, he refers to Jerusalem to inspire the desire for spiritual union with the Lord:

“This, however, is mystical and most secret, which no one knows except the one who receives it, and no one receives except the one who desires it, and no one desires except the one who is inflamed in his very marrow by the fire of the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sent into the world. […] This fire is God, and his furnace is in Jerusalem; and Christ enkindles it in the heat of his burning passion” (Bonaventure, Itinerarium mentis in Deum, VII, 4 and 6).

For the believer, the blessed cross is not simply a religious ornament: it is a sign that speaks to the heart. Those who wear the cross around their neck or keep it in their home proclaim, even without words, that the Crucified Christ is the center of their life, and that every joy and sorrow finds its meaning in him. In this way, the cross, as a sacramental, becomes a spiritual place in which the baptismal “yes” is renewed: the faithful recall that they were marked with the sign of the cross on the day of their Baptism and that they are called each day to “take up [their] cross” (cf. Mt. 16:24) and follow in his footsteps.

The cross, as a sign of devotion, is never mere exteriority. When Christians venerate the cross, they do not adore the wood or metal, nor do they think that a material cross can replace the saving work already accomplished in Christ’s Paschal Mystery. Instead, they adore the One who offered his life upon it:

“When, therefore, you see a Christian venerating the Cross, know that it is for the sake of Christ, the Crucified, that he makes his veneration—and not because of the nature of wood itself” (John Damascene, On the Holy Images, III, 89).

Let us also receive the further teaching of this Father of the Church:

“Every action of Christ and all his working of miracles were truly very great and divine and wonderful, but of all things the most wonderful is his honorable Cross. For by nothing else except the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ has death been brought low, the sin of our first parent destroyed, hell plundered, resurrection bestowed […]. By the Cross, all things have been set aright. […] So, then, that honorable and most truly venerable tree, upon which Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for us, is itself to be adored, because it has been sanctified by contact with the sacred body and blood. So also are the nails, the lance, the garments, and such sacred resting places of his […]. And we also adore the likeness of the honorable and life-giving Cross, even though it be made of another material; not that we honor the material—God forbid!—but the likeness as a symbol of Christ. […] [T]he material of which the likeness of the Cross was composed is not itself to be adored, even though it be gold or precious stones. Thus, we adore everything that has reference to God, although it is to him that we direct the worship” (John Damascene, The Orthodox Faith, IV, 11).

The veneration of the Cross thus forms us in a tangible spirituality and an incarnate faith: not an abstraction, but a way of facing life with our gaze fixed upon the Crucified, recognizing in every trial the possibility of a redemptive encounter.

In light of all that has been stated above, this Dicastery authorizes Your Excellency to draw up the corresponding Decree and to declare that the phenomenon of the alleged apparitions said to have taken place in Dozulé is to be regarded, definitively, as not supernatural in origin, with all the consequences that flow from this determination.

In renewing its confidence in your prudent pastoral guidance, this Dicastery wishes to encourage a clear and positive catechesis on the mystery of the Cross, so that the faithful may recognize that the definitive revelation has already been accomplished in Christ, and that every other spiritual experience must be evaluated in the light of the Gospel, of Sacred Tradition, and of the Magisterium of the Church.

Prayer, love for those who suffer, and the veneration of the Cross remain authentic means of conversion; however, they must not be accompanied by elements that lead to confusion, nor by claims to supernatural authority apart from the Church’s discernment.

In communicating the above, I extend my heartfelt regards.

Víctor Manuel Card. FERNÁNDEZ
Prefect

Ex Audientia diei 03.11.2025
Leo PP. XIV