Vatican revamps norms to evaluate visions of Mary as it adapts to internet age and combats hoaxers

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has radically reformed its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena. The Vatican’s 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’s 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.