Is it true that to be a catholic

[uglygal]

you don’t have to accept private revelations, devotions and even apparitions (approved or not)?

For instance, you remain a catholic even if you don’t believe in Our Lady of Fatima, the 15 promises of the Rosary, the Divine Mercy diary and chaplet etc

 

[byers]

uglygaL…It has always been my understanding that as a Catholic you are under no obligation to accept any private revelations or apparitions even those that have been approved by the Church.

And by the way ‘approval’ just means that those investigating have found nothing against faith and morals or church doctrine.

 

[Linda_Marie]

That is correct. You are not required to believe any private revelations although you are free to believe any that are approved and free to follow any devotions which are a result of approved private revelations such as the First Fridays. Here is what the Catechism has to say.

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept “revelations” that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such “revelations”.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a1.htm#67

 

[puzzleannie]

you don’t have to accept private revelations, devotions and even apparitions (approved or not)?

For instance, you remain a catholic even if you don’t believe in Our Lady of Fatima, the 15 promises of the Rosary, the Divine Mercy diary and chaplet etc

yes this is true. if such messages, which have received approval from the local bishop where they occured or of the Pope, aid in your devotion, fine. If they detract from your devotion, not. and no none of them, not even the rosary, are required. all the prayer practices derived from them are private prayers. The method of prayer describes the rosary, namely meditation with the sacred scripture particular the principal events in the life of Christ, is however the best form of private prayer, and can be done with or without the help of the rosary beads and prayers themselves.