How should I weigh private revelations about Purgatory?

Current norm Defined dogma Private revelation

What the Church holds

Current norm Private revelation is never an object of faith. Under the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena (17 May 2024), the Church normally does not declare a phenomenon supernatural. The most positive conclusion is a nihil obstat, which authorises the faithful to give it prudent adherence; it does not oblige belief (Norms, art. 22).

Defined dogma The defined doctrine — that Purgatory exists, that its sufferings are real, and that the suffrages of the living avail — rests on Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium alone.

What the saints and mystics report

Private revelation The witnesses tested their own visitors — the Pater, Ave and Credo, the sign of the cross, holy water, the threat of exorcism — and the collectors were franker than their reputation: Schouppe attaches “nothing but a personal and private authority” to his stories.

Accounts that bear on this

Read: The Saints and Mystics Read: The Church’s Definitions Theme J: Discernment — soul, demon, or imagination 6 accounts on this question

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