Church Confirms Argentine Apparitions

CHURCH CONFIRMS ARGENTINE APPARITIONS AS "SUPERNATURAL" [Excerpts]

Once a month, thousands of devout Catholics descend on this small industrial city, where a woman with little education but great faith said she began seeing visions of the Virgin Mary on Sept. 25, 1983. After all these years the crowds flocking to a shrine built on the site are as big as ever, and they could well grow still further now that the local bishop has declared that the visions are genuine.

Not that the devout needed much encouragement. Just a few weeks ago, for example, despite bitter cold and torrential rains — it’s winter in Argentina — pilgrims from around the country filed through the streets to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas.

“We come to give thanks,” said a 50-year-old woman from Buenos Aires who gave her name as Dora. She said she began taking part in the processions, which are held on the 25th of the month, more than 30 years ago, “when there was nothing here.” Now there’s an enormous domed church that rises above the banks of the mighty Parana River....

Gladys Motta, the visionary who is now in her 80s, still lives a couple blocks from the church, though she rarely ventures out. That doesn’t stop pilgrims from slipping notes in her mailbox asking her to intercede with the Virgin Mary on their behalf. Motta began seeing the apparitions after she saw rosaries glowing in homes throughout San Nicolas de los Arroyos. She began to pray to the Virgin Mary, who subsequently appeared to her carrying the infant Jesus and wearing a blue gown and veil.

Since 1983, Motta says she has received more than 1,800 visitations from Mary and another 68 from Jesus. Miraculous healings and glowing rosaries have been attributed to them. In May, the bishop of San Nicolas, the Rev. Hector Cardelli, declared that Motta’s visions were of a “supernatural character” and he said he believed the messages had been sent by God.

That was a possible first step toward elevating Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas to a major place of pilgrimage on a par with famous Marian shrines like Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal or Guadalupe in Mexico….

In an interview in the sacristy of the shrine, Cardelli, who became bishop in 2004, said the confirmation that Motta’s visions were worthy of belief was arrived at after psychiatric tests that ensured that she was of sound mind, as well as extensive research and consultations with other clergy and experts.

(Engler, "Church confirms Argentine apparitions as ‘supernatural’," Religion News Service, 8/15/16)

[TBC: The only authority the Catholics didn't consult was the Word of God. Rather, the opinions of "clergy and other experts" (along with psychiatric examinations) determined whether this unbiblical practice was "genuine." “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Galatians:1:8But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
See All...). Tetlow’s Messages from Heaven, gives further information concerning the growing number of apparitions and points us back to a "more sure word of prophecy" and reveals the origin of these and other alleged heavenly visitors.]