PROT. N. 226/1949-94656

May 08, 2023

His Excellency
The Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio S. DAVID
President
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)
General Secretariat: 470 Gen
Luna St., Intramuros, Manila 1002
P.O. Box 3601, 1076 CPO Manila
Philippines

Your Excellency,
H.E. Msgr. Charles John Brown, the Papal Nunzio in Philippines, has forwarded a document from H. E. Msgr. Gilbert Armea Garcera, Archbishop of Lipa, on the preparation for the celebration
of the 75th anniversary of the alleged apparitions by Confraternity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace.

It would not be advisable for you to authorize the aforementioned celebration under any form
for the following reasons:

1. In 1951, this Dicastery, then Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy See, after due
   examination of the documents made available, declared the alleged apparitions in Lipa to have
   no supernatural character or origin, a decision directly approved by Pope Pius XII.
2. The documents taken into account in that decision included the written testimony of Sr. Mary
   Cecilia of Jesus, OCD, the Prioress of the Carmel Convent, who initially seemed to endorse the supernatural events and subsequently confessed the untruthfulness of those events and her complicity in giving credence to the same.
3. When this Dicastery became aware of the persistent confusion and false notions deriving from erroneous and inaccurate information relating to its decision of 1951, it reaffirmed its decision with the Decree of December 11, 2015.
4. Furthermore, this Dicastery has made it known at various occasions that its decision, approved by the Supreme Pontiff, is definitive and, therefore, the matter is not subject to the competence of the local authority.
5. The name of the Confraternity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace is evidently connected to the alleged apparitions to Teresa Castillo who claimed to have been instructed through a message by Our Lady herself to call her by this title.
6. The date and the place of the celebration is clearly linked to the alleged apparitions in Lipa.
7. Through many letters and dialogues with the Archbishops of Lipa, this Dicastery repeatedly pointed out the theological inaccuracy associated with the title, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace and repeatedly asked to adhere to the Czestochowa Statement (4 June, 1997) and to catechize the faithful accordingly.
8. Unfortunately, the efforts to celebrate the 75th anniversary clearly demonstrate that, contrary
   to the decree notifying already in 1951 that the alleged apparitions in Lipa had no supernatural origin and character, the devotion and activities around the same appear to have continued almost unabated to this day.

Hence, this Dicastery asks you to dissuade any form of activity in view of the proposed celebration in Lipa.

Thanking you for your cooperation, I remain

Yours in Christ,

Luis F. Card. LADARIA, S.I.
Prefect

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Source: CBCP News