The Vatican has officially declared that the alleged apparitions of Jesus in Douzole, a small town in northern France, in the Normandy region, are “not of supernatural origin,” meaning that for the Church they lack a divine basis and cannot be considered true manifestations of God.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Holy See body that deals with the doctrine of the Catholic faith, issued an opinion that Pope Leo’s official agreed with.
This decision by the Holy See ends decades of controversy surrounding the supposed seer Madeleine Oumeau, who in the 1970s claimed that Jesus appeared to her 49 times on a hill near Dozole and requested that a cross of enormous proportions be built on the site that would guarantee forgiveness of sins and salvation to those who approached him.
Omo – who died in 2016 – was a mother and a local parishioner of this town of the Diocese of Bayeux-Lizeu, and between 1972 and 1978 she declared that Jesus had asked her to erect there the so-called Glorious Cross of Dozzoli, which should be fully illuminated, 738 meters high and 123 meters long, visible from a very great distance, “a sign of universal salvation.” This cross was never erected.
As Vatican media reports, in 1985, the then bishop of the diocese, Jean-Marie Clement Padre, ruled out declaring the alleged apparitions authentic. “The action and agitation, the raising of funds by persons acting under their own responsibility, without authority, without any respect for the authority of the bishop, the fanatical propaganda in favor of the ‘message,’ and the condemnation without appeal of those who do not adhere to it, make me consider, in conscience, that, out of all this excitement, I cannot discern the signs which would permit me to declare the ‘apparitions’ of which one speaks to be true.” But until now the case has remained open without official confirmation or denial.
Current Bishop Jacques Habert, who studied the issue from a theological and doctrinal point of view, had suggested to the Department for the Doctrine of the Faith that… Declaring the absence of the supernaturalThat is, declaring that the alleged apparitions have no supernatural origin, closing the issue once and for all.
The apocalyptic tone of Dozolet’s supposed letters and the strange request for a giant crucifix were the two points that aroused the greatest suspicion in the Holy See, which usually appears very cautious in matters relating to apparitions. The Catholic Church has recognized very few apparitions as real throughout history – such as those at Lourdes or Fatima – out of the thousands of supposed revelations that have been reported.
“The cross does not need 738 meters of steel or cement to be recognizable,” the Vatican Council said. He stressed that “the Church encourages the expression of faith that leads to repentance and love, but warns against any form of ‘sanctification of symbols’ that leads to considering the material object an absolute guarantee of salvation.”
The Holy See also considers that the messages supposedly left by Jesus in Dozzoli in which it is said that “all who have gone to repent at the feet of the Glorious Cross will be saved,” that “the Glorious Cross will forgive all sins,” and that all those who “come there with faith to repent will be saved in this life and for all eternity” are “incompatible with the Catholic doctrine of salvation, grace and sacraments.”
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