Cardinal Fernández at Rome mysticism conference: Holy Spirit acts with full freedom in history; new norms aid prudent discernment of phenomena.
Newsroom (11/11/2025 Gaudium Press )The Holy Spirit manifests God’s presence in the Church with complete freedom, at times acting “against nature” and blowing where He wills, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, affirmed Tuesday during a major Vatican-sponsored conference on mysticism.
Speaking on the second day of the international congress “Mysticism, Mystical Phenomena, and Holiness” at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, the Argentine cardinal stressed that genuine mystical experiences allow believers to “taste” the living God and can serve today as a “therapeutic path” in a world that is rapidly losing its “sensitivity toward God.”
Organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the three-day event (November 10–12) concludes Thursday with a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.
Cardinal Fernández focused his address on the new norms for the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena, approved by Pope Leo XIV in May 2024 and published by the DDF. The prefect underscored the foundational principle that “the Holy Spirit works in the Church with full freedom,” manifesting Himself throughout history in diverse and sometimes extraordinary ways—visions, locutions, stigmata, and apparitions included.
While the Church has processed approximately 3,500 beatifications and canonizations in the past half-century, only three or four phenomena have received an official declaration of supernatural origin, the cardinal noted, illustrating the extreme caution exercised before affirming divine intervention.
The most common outcome, he explained, remains the nihil obstat, which permits public devotion without pronouncing definitively on supernatural authenticity. Even when recognition is granted, such phenomena retain the character of “private revelation”: the faithful remain free to accept or disregard them, and their messages can never be placed on the same level as public revelation contained in Scripture and Tradition.
Cardinal Fernández warned especially against the risk that a declaration of supernaturality could lead devotees to treat subsequent messages as “revealed Word,” as well as against phenomena exploited for profit, power, or control—practices he described as “very, very concerning” and capable of producing serious spiritual abuses.
The new norms, he concluded, offer bishops a range of “prudential conclusions” to resolve cases locally when possible, reserving direct Dicastery involvement for situations presenting grave confusion or risk.
Also addressing the conference was renowned medievalist André Vauchez, professor emeritus at the University of Paris X–Nanterre, who traced the “feminization and secularization” of Western mysticism from the late 12th century onward. Women mystics such as St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Catherine of Siena, and Blessed Dorothea of Montau came to be seen, especially during the crises of the 14th century, as prophetic voices capable of guiding popes and reforming the Church.
Fr. Luca Ezio Bolis, professor at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy, offered a vivid metaphor distinguishing theological knowledge (“eating”) from mystical contemplation (“tasting”). He argued that centuries of suspicion toward mysticism have left both theology and spirituality impoverished, and called for its recovery as an authentic gift of grace—neither irrationalism nor occultism, but a profound, transformative encounter with the living God.
The conference continues Wednesday with further explorations of mystical theology and its relevance for Christian life today.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
Related Images:
