By Edoardo Giribaldi
The free action of the Spirit—at times, as Saint Augustine said, “against nature,” blowing where He wills—is manifested in a mysticism open to all. Such experiences allow us to “taste” deeply the relationship with God, and can today serve as a “therapeutic path” in a world increasingly losing its “sensitivity toward God.”
These were among the themes addressed on Nov 11, during the second day of the conference “Mysticism, Mystical Phenomena, and Holiness,” organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Pontifical Urban University.
The conference, which began on Monday with greetings from Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery, continues until Wednesday, while on Thursday participants will meet with Pope Leo XIV.
Cardinal Fernández: Spirit manifests Himself in history
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke at the conference on Tuesday, explaining the norms adopted by the Dicastery regarding the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena.
These norms rest on key principles, he said: “The Holy Spirit works in the Church with full freedom.”
In Catholic teaching, there is a firm conviction in the “freedom of the Spirit,” who may manifest in history in diverse ways, even through supernatural events such as apparitions or visions.
In ordinary practice, the study of such cases often ends with a nihil obstat, which authorizes public devotion without pronouncing on the supernatural origin of the phenomenon.
Over the past fifty years, noted Cardinal Fernández, there have been about 3,500 cases of beatifications and canonizations.
In the same period, however, only three or four declarations of supernatural origin have been issued—demonstrating the difficulty of reaching an official recognition of this kind.
A principal concern, added the Cardinal Prefect, is the risk that once a phenomenon is declared of divine origin, its messages may be taken as “revealed Word.”
Such a declaration does not guarantee absolute certainty of authenticity. Even in cases recognized by the Church, they remain “private revelations,” which the faithful are free to believe or not.
The Church’s declaration therefore has a “prudential” nature, and in many cases is not even necessary: numerous manifestations have produced shrines and spiritual fruits without any official recognition.
Discernment, he said, helps distinguish genuine phenomena from those exploited for profit or control over others—situations that are “very, very concerning” and can lead to serious “abuses.”
The Dicastery’s norms propose possible “prudential conclusions” to be adopted before a phenomenon reaches proportions that make intervention more complex.
Some cases can be resolved locally, while others require direct involvement from the Dicastery when elements of confusion or potential risks emerge that demand careful discernment, concluded Cardinal Fernández.
Vauchez: Women mystics in the Middle Ages
Professor André Vauchez, historian of medieval Christianity at the University of Paris X–Nanterre, gave a lecture in French, entitled “Mysticism and Holiness in the West during the Late Middle Ages.”
Beginning in the late 12th century, he explained, mysticism underwent a double process of “feminization and secularization,” becoming an individual experience that at times appeared suspect to the Church, “insofar as priestly ministry seemed unnecessary for those who received such graces.”
Some historians have interpreted mystical experience as a kind of “refuge” for women who, in most cases, did not know Latin and had to dictate their experiences to clerics.
From the 14th century onward, however, certain religious orders—particularly Franciscans and Dominicans—maintained that women were in fact predisposed to a deeper understanding of the mysteries of faith, as they were not burdened by “temporal concerns or scholastic reasoning.”
By the mid-14th century, the situation had evolved further. Many Christians, including Popes Urban V and Gregory XI, recognized that the “visionary and prophetic discourse” of figures such as Saint Bridget of Sweden, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Blessed Dorothea of Montau could support the Church “in times of trial and crisis.”
Fr Bolis: Mysticism as a Divine ‘Gift’
Fr Luca Ezio Bolis, professor of the History of Spirituality and Spiritual Theology at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy, addressed “Mysticism and Theology: A Complex and Fruitful Relationship.”
To clarify this relationship, Fr Bolis offered a striking metaphor: the difference between “eating,” which represents theological knowledge, and “tasting” food, which symbolizes mystical experience.
This distinction reflects the broader tension between faith and reason, in which faith has often been relegated to a “marginal region” relative to reason.
Such separation has impoverished both, said Fr Bolis. Theology has sometimes become abstract and arid in its perception of Christian revelation, while spiritual experience has been exposed to the risk of “subjectivist drift.”
Today, after centuries of suspicion, mysticism is again being valued—even as a potential “therapeutic path”—in an age when “sensitivity toward God” seems diminished.
Fr Bolis emphasized that mysticism does not equate to irrationalism, clairvoyance, superstition, occultism, or magic. Rather, it is a divine gift, the fruit of grace, and not something that can be acquired through technique. – Vatican News
