On Tuesday, the Dicastery published a letter from Prefect of the Faith Víctor Manuel Fernández to the Bishop of Como, Cardinal Oscar Cantoni, in which it confirms the Cardinal's request for the granting of the "Nihil obstat".
In accordance with the new norms for the evaluation of alleged supernatural phenomena the authority makes no statement as to whether the messages are actually supernatural in origin.
With the authorisation from the Vatican, the diocesan bishop can now regulate the further handling of the messages.
The music teacher Gioacchino Genovese is said to have felt a "living presence of the mystery of the Holy Trinity" through a spiritual vision in 2000.
According to the Dicastery of the Faith, the central message is: "The Trinity is the source of mercy and its perfect realisation".
Genovese wrote down his visions, and from 2005 he went public and invited other believers to take part in prayers of petition and adoration.
In 2010, the then Bishop of Como, Diego Coletti, recognised the place of worship, the parish church of Maccio, a district of Villa Guardia near Como, as a diocesan shrine with the title "Mercy of the Holy Trinity".
Visions of the devil may not be used
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith acknowledges the messages in view of what it deplores as a marginalisation of the Trinity in theology and spirituality in past centuries: "In this sense, Mr Genovese's spiritual experience is in line with the rediscovery of the central importance of the Holy Trinity for the Christian faith and Christian life that has taken place in the last century."
In the writings of Mr Genovese, the truth about the Trinity and the message of mercy are forcefully expressed.
However, there are also passages in the messages that require theological categorisation.
In particular, formulations on the incarnation of God the Son in the context of the Trinity were formulated in Genovese's early writings in such a way that their dissemination was to be avoided.
Later, however, the seer chose appropriate formulations. Genovese's visions of the devil and passages "that give precise indications to the bishop or other persons (information on dates, times, places and other details)" may not be used.
Should there be further visions by Genovese, these must be re-examined by the diocesan bishop and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Further miracle decisions announced
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had already approached the Bishop of Como in this matter last year, and asked him to refrain from an evaluation of supernaturalism, but to "continue the pastoral evaluation of the spiritual events that occurred in the shrine of Maccio di Villa Guardia".
Even then, the Dicastery emphasised positive elements, namely "both the spiritual and doctrinal message of this experience, as well as the person directly involved, whose discretion, sobriety, humility and sincerity attest to the credibility of his testimony".
In recent weeks, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has published four decisions on Marian apparitions.
Cardinal Fernández also announced that further decisions are still to be expected.
Most recently, the the veneration of the "Madonna dello Scoglio" in Calabria the "Nihil obstat".
Prior to this, the Dicastery informed about a decision already made by Pope Paul VI that the alleged apparition of the "Lady of All Nations" in Amsterdam is not recognised as being of supernatural origin. is not recognised as supernatural.
The first decision according to the new norms was published at the end of June.
An alleged Marian apparition in the parish of Trevignano near Rome was declared to be clearly not of supernatural origin.
At the beginning of last week, the dicastery published a favourable positive evaluation of the apparition of the "Maria Rosa Mistica"on the basis of which the responsible Bishop of Brescia can now take the next steps towards recognising it.