CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES PASTORAL INSTRUCTION ON THE DEVOTION TO OUR LADY, MEDIATRIX OF GRACE, ON LIPA AND LOCAL INTERPRETATIONS

1. We recall that the Vatican decision on Lipa was simply this that the alleged apparitions of Our Lady, Mediatrix of Grace, in the Carmelite Monastery in Lipa:

• (a) did not have a supernatural origin and character;
• (b) they are not authentic.

Nothing more is said except the two points above.

2. However, some priests including some exorcists have been reported as declaring:

• (a) that the nuns were led by the devil;
• (b) that the Lipa statue of the Blessed Mother, Mediatrix of Grace, is demonic;
• (c) that the statues are to be removed and/or destroyed.

3. Such declarations clearly and erroneously go beyond the Vatican decision and in the process are misinterpreting and distorting it.

4. The declarations of some priests and exorcists have to be verified. For we have reports of both denials and also of actual occurrence. We cannot ignore the suffering of those who are innocent.

5. Most certainly the reported declarations have gravely scandalized Marian devotees, both those who believe in Lipa and also those who do not believe as they see the Lipa statue being removed from churches and even broken into pieces.

6. At a previous CBCP Plenary Assembly, I suggested that the Lipa statue of the Blessed Mother, Mediatrix of Grace, may be kept in churches and chapels as long as it is dissociated from the Lipa alleged apparitions. Through the centuries and in many countries there have been many different images of the Mediatrix of Grace.

7. The following are suggested for our pastoral action:

• (a) that Bishops instruct their clergy about the truth of the Vatican Decision and prevent them from misinterpreting and distorting it;
• (b) that Bishops instruct priests who have been removing Lipa statues or even destroying them to desist from doing so;
• (c) that Bishops instruct their priests on how to treat the Lipa statue, such as is suggested in no. 5 above;
• (d) that Bishops publicly foster devotion to Our Lady Mediatrix of Grace as a devotion blessed by centuries of pious usage, independent of unrelated to Lipa.

Given with the conforme of the members of the Episcopal Commission of the Doctrine and Faith.

+Orlando B. Cardinal Quevedo, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Cotabato
Chairman, ECDF
July 7, 2018