Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has declared that the alleged apparitions of Jesus in Dozulé, France, do not have divine origins and are “not supernatural.” The decision, approved by Pope Leo, was communicated to Bishop Jacques Habert of Bayeux-Lisieux in a letter dated November 12.
The alleged apparitions took place between 1972 and 1978 in France. The alleged visionary, a woman called Madeleine Aumont, claimed Jesus appeared to her and instructed her to construct a 738-meter-high “Glorious Cross of Dozulé,” where “remission of sins” and salvation could be obtained. In 1983, the then-diocesan bishop discerned the signs as unauthentic. The current bishop, Bishop Habert, had requested the Dicastery to issue a declaration.
The prefect of the dicastery, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, emphasized that the alleged messages were “incompatible with the Catholic doctrine on salvation, grace, and the sacraments.” He also clarified that “no material object can replace sacramental grace” and that forgiveness comes from Christ through the sacrament of reconciliation.
Regarding the various apocalyptic statements that suggested Christ’s imminent return, the dicastery stated that although Christ’s second coming is a truth of the faith, “no one can know or predict the precise date or its signs.”
“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,” Cardinal Fernández reiterated.