Virgin Mary, Catholic View of Marian Apparitions

Catholic view of Marian Apparitions

The term Marian apparition is usually used in cases where visions of the Virgin Mary are reported, either with or without a conversation. There are, however, cases (e.g. Saint Padre Pio or Sister Maria Pierina De Micheli) where visions of Jesus and Mary and conversations with both are reported. Well-known apparitions include Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Fatima.

The official position of the Holy See is that while the Holy Office has approved a few apparitions of the Virgin Mary, Roman Catholics at large are not required to believe them. 

However, many Catholics express belief in Marian apparitions. This has included popes, e.g. four popes, i.e. Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II have supported the Our Lady of Fátima messages as supernatural. Pope John Paul II was particularly attached to Fátima and credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life after he was shot in Rome on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fátima in May 1981. He donated the bullet that wounded him on that day to the Roman Catholic sanctuary at Fátima Portugal. 

As a historical pattern, Vatican approval seems to have followed general acceptance of a vision by well over a century in most cases. According to Father Salvatore M. Perrella of the Mariunum Pontifical Institute in Rome, of the 295 reported apparitions studied by the Holy See through the centuries only 12 have been approved, the latest being in May 2008.