The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that the apparitions of the Virgin Mary as the Mystical Rose to the Italian visionary Pierina Gilli are valid. According to the Dicastery, “it does not contain theological or moral elements contrary to the doctrine of the Church.”
This was stated by the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, in a letter approved by the Holy Father and sent on 5 July to Monsignor Pierantonio Tremolada, Bishop of Brescia, the city in northern Italy where the apparitions occurred.
Based on the new Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, the Vatican has not found “in the messages disseminated by Pierina Gilli elements that directly contradict the teaching of the Catholic Church on faith and morals.”
They also claim that the facts related to this spiritual experience “do not contain any negative moral aspects or other elements worthy of any criticism.”
They point out that “there are several positive aspects that stand out in the set of messages” and also make some clarifications “to avoid misunderstandings.”
The Italian Pierina Gill, who died in 1991 at the age of 80, claimed to have received messages from the Virgin in 1947 and 1966 in the town of Fontanelle, south of Montichiari, in Brescia.
According to the visionary, the Virgin Mary presented herself with the titles “Mystical Rose” and “Mother of the Church.” In addition, Pierina claimed to have seen three roses on the Virgin’s dress; one white, one red and one yellow, representing prayer, penitence and suffering.
Decades later, on 13 May 1966, the Virgin Mary would have indicated to Pierina a spring as a place of purification and grace. These facts were denied until 2019 when the place was proclaimed “Diocesan Sanctuary of the Mystical Rose – Mother of the Church”.
For the Vatican, the meaning attributed to the three roses was appropriate “and central to the visionary and her particular spiritual experience,” and they affirm that they should not “necessarily be thought of as being directed at all believers.”
“It is better to avoid presenting them as the core, the centre or the synthesis of the Gospel, which can only be charity, as the New Testament reminds us in several places,” the letter reads.
Cardinal Fernández also stressed that “Mary’s cooperation must always be understood in the sense of her maternal intercession and in the context of her help to create dispositions so that we can open ourselves to the action of sanctifying grace,” since “only Jesus Christ is our only Redeemer.”
The Doctrine of Faith highlights that “while exalting this beauty of Mary with all her affection and admiration, Pierina recognizes that everything that Mary does in us always directs us toward Jesus Christ.”