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The Palazzo del Sant'Uffizio, the seat of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. / Credit: Jim McIntosh via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City, Jul 29, 2025 / 10:47 am (CNA).

The Vatican's doctrinal office has expressed reservations about an alleged Marian apparition site in southern Italy, permitting only private devotion and warning that claims that a deceased woman has communicated messages through a guardian angel "require further study."

Sant'Onofrio is a mountain in the southern Italian region of Molise, close to the town of Agnone. Since 2009, a resident  of the area, Michelino Marcovecchio, has claimed to receive visions of the Virgin Mary and messages from her.

He has also claimed to hear the voice of his deceased mother-in-law, Livia Casciano, through his guardian angel.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) gave the alleged supernatural experiences at Mount Sant'Onofrio a judgment of "prae oculis habeatur" ("let it be held before the eyes"), meaning there are "important positive signs" but "some aspects of confusion or potential risk are also perceived," and "doctrinal clarification might be necessary."

The DDF said "private worship is permitted," including personal visits in pairs or small groups to the cross or Stations of the Cross erected on Mount Sant'Onofrio.

Acts of public worship, however, are not allowed, including pilgrimages, pastoral events, and the celebration of Mass in places linked to the alleged spiritual experiences. Information about the phenomenon and its alleged messages may also not be disseminated without approval from Church authorities.

In a letter to Bishop Camillo Cibotti of Isernia-Venafro and Trivento, DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández wrote that there is value to the content of some of the messages received by Marcovecchio and "signs of the action of the Holy Spirit in the midst of this alleged supernatural phenomenon."

However, he added, "some aspects of confusion or potential risks are also perceived that require the diocesan bishop to engage in a careful discernment and dialogue with the recipients of a given spiritual experience.

The cardinal also drew attention to two aspects of the alleged manifestations requiring particular care on the part of the bishop. 

First, some members of the local clergy had failed to observe the previous bishop's decision to prohibit any form of public or private worship related to the alleged apparitions and even appeared to urge disobedience.

The second potential issue was the "unusual fact that some souls of the deceased are said to manifest themselves to the alleged visionary through the work of his guardian angel."

Fernández said the alleged apparitions experienced on Mount Sant'Onofrio follow the Church's teaching on the relationship between the living and the dead but "in a manner that shows its originality with respect to spiritual tradition and which would therefore require further study."

The prefect invited the bishop to ensure those who follow and promote the spiritual experiences at Mount Sant'Onofrio keep in mind "that the line between lawful and risky practices is rather thin."

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