In accordance with new Vatican norms on alleged supernatural phenomena, an Italian bishop has given his “nihil obstat” acknowledging the pastoral and spiritual value of devotion to Our Lady of the Mystical Rose of Montichiari and allowing for any eventual pilgrimages to related sites in his diocese.
Bishop Pierantonio Tremolada of Brescia issued the decree 8 July after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith told him it did not find anything that directly contradicts church teaching in the writings of the late Pierina Gilli, who claimed to have received messages from a series of Marian apparitions in 1947 and 1966.
“The faithful are authorised to give (the phenomenon) their adhesion in a prudent manner,” the bishop wrote in his decree.
However, the decree is not a declaration recognising the supernatural origin or character of the alleged events, and the faithful are not obliged to believe in them, he added.
While the devotion to Our Lady of the Mystical Rose is worldwide, Bishop Tremolada said his decree applied to his diocese and that, according to the new norms, each bishop should evaluate and decide what is pastorally prudent in his own diocese after consulting with the dicastery.
