In a lecture at a conference of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints on Tuesday, which the authority of the faith has now published, the prefect emphasised that before the new norms, only three or four cases of possible miracles had been clarified in recent years.
In the same period, there had been around 3,500 beatifications and canonisations in which a miracle usually had to be examined. "This statistical disparity illustrates how difficult it is to arrive at such a declaration," said Fernández.
The slow pace was due to the fact that when a supernatural origin of a phenomenon is explained, the associated messages are given enormous importance: "If the words of a founder are sometimes perceived as 'divine', this becomes even more problematic when these words are officially declared to be of supernatural origin."
According to the new norms, the confirmation of the supernatural origin of a phenomenon is therefore only an absolute exception and is only made at the request of the Pope.
Declarations about miracles not infallible
Another reason for the new rules is that an explicit confirmation as supernatural would lead to a certain "sealing" of the phenomenon, so that more recent findings and developments in interpretation would find it difficult to be taken into account. The assessment of a supernatural phenomenon is generally not conclusive because the decision on this does not fall within the remit of the infallible magisterium.
"Even in cases recognised by the Church, these are always private revelations, so that the faithful are free to believe or not to believe, since the declaration of the supernatural does not bind the faithful and is therefore not essential for salvation," Fernández emphasised.
As a result, the prefect was satisfied with the initial experiences with the new rules. They had made it possible to settle several cases, some of which had been under review for decades.
"At the same time, they have highlighted critical points and created effective criteria for future pastoral action in dealing with these specific phenomena."
According to Fernández, in addition to 18 cases, the results of which have since been published by the dicastery, other confidential cases have also been dealt with. The prefect did not provide any details.
Jesus does not want a giant cross
The reformed procedure for examining possible supernatural events no longer aims to definitively establish the supernatural nature of an event.
Instead, it classifies the examined events into different categories, ranging from a "Nihil obstat", in which the pastoral value of an event is recognised, to a "Prohibetur et obstruatur", in which the critical aspects predominate and the worship of the phenomenon must not be upheld.
In addition, it is still possible to definitively establish that a phenomenon certainly does not have a supernatural origin.
The first decision under the new standards was published at the end of June 2024.
An alleged Marian apparition in the municipality of Trevignano near Rome was declared to be clearly not of supernatural origin ("Declaratio de non supernaturalitate").
The most recent decision also led to this result: Jesus' alleged request to a French woman to erect a 738 metre high cross was finally classified as non-supernatural at the beginning of November.