The Vatican has radically reformed its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena. The Vatican鈥檚 doctrine office overhauled norms first issued in 1978, arguing that they were no longer useful or viable in the internet age. It warned that nowadays, word about alleged supernatural phenomena travels quickly and can actually harm to the faithful if hoaxers are trying to make money off their beliefs or manipulate them. The new norms reframe the Catholic Church鈥檚 evaluation process. They essentially take off the table whether church authorities will declare a particular vision, stigmata or other seemingly divinely inspired event supernatural. And now they require the Vatican's final word.
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France鈥檚 Interior Minister says that a man who was shot and killed by police after a suspected arson attack on a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen was an Algerian national who鈥檇 sought medical treatment in France and wasn鈥檛 flagged as a suspected extremist. The minister praised the 25-year-old police officer who shot and killed the man. The minister said that he would be decorated for his 鈥渆xtremely courageous, extremely professional鈥 behavior faced with the suspected attacker who rushed at him with a kitchen knife early Friday after the blaze broke out at the synagogue.
Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, left, head of the Vatican doctrine office, is flanked by Sister Daniela del Gaudio, head of he Observatory on Marian Apparitions and Mystical Phenomenon, during a press conference at the Vatican, Friday, May 17, 2024. The Vatican on Friday radically reformed its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena that have long punctuated church history, putting the brakes on making definitive declarations unless the event is obviously fabricated. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, left, head of the Vatican doctrine office, and Sister Daniela del Gaudio, head of he Observatory on Marian Apparitions and Mystical Phenomenon, attend a press conference at the Vatican, Friday, May 17, 2024. The Vatican on Friday radically reformed its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena that have long punctuated church history, putting the brakes on making definitive declarations unless the event is obviously fabricated. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, left, head of the Vatican doctrine office, and Sister Daniela del Gaudio, head of he Observatory on Marian Apparitions and Mystical Phenomenon, shake hands at the end of a press conference at the Vatican, Friday, May 17, 2024. The Vatican on Friday radically reformed its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena that have long punctuated church history, putting the brakes on making definitive declarations unless the event is obviously fabricated. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The Rev. Brandon Thomas Crowley had always loved the Black Church, and developed an ambition in his youth to become a pastor even as he realized he was gay. When he was offered a prestigious job as a minister at age 22, he decided to keep his sexual identity a secret. It took six more years before he stood before his congregation in a Boston suburb and came out. That revelation changed the trajectory of his career, and fueled a new book, called 鈥淨ueering Black Churches.鈥 he hopes it can serve as a guide for other congregations to become open to LGBTQ people rather than shunning them.
Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, head of the Vatican doctrine office, poses for photographers at the end of a press conference at the Vatican, Friday, May 17, 2024. The Vatican on Friday radically reformed its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena that have long punctuated church history, putting the brakes on making definitive declarations unless the event is obviously fabricated. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Argentine Cardinal V铆ctor Manuel Fernandez, head of the Vatican doctrine office, poses for photographers at the end of a press conference at the Vatican, Friday, May 17, 2024. The Vatican on Friday radically reformed its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena that have long punctuated church history, putting the brakes on making definitive declarations unless the event is obviously fabricated. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker may have stirred controversy for his proclamations of conservative politics and Catholicism, but he received a standing ovation at the May 11 commencement ceremony at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. The fast-growing college is part of a constellation of conservative Catholic colleges that tout their adherence to church teachings and practice. It is part of a larger conservative movement in parts of the Catholic Church. The college also is home to more traditional expressions of Catholicism, such as the Latin Mass, all-night prayer vigils and a strict code of conduct.
Bosnian Roman Catholic women pray on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption in Medjugorje, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Tuesday, August 15, 2000. Some 19 years ago six young people claimed Holy Mary appeared to them in the town of Medjugorje. On Friday, May 17, 2024, the Vatican will issue revised norms for discerning apparitions "and other supernatural phenomena," updating a set of guidelines first issued in 1978. (AP Photo/Hidajet Delic, File)
