Private Revelation and the status of the Church

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fatimite13

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Hello friends and Easter blessings to you and yours,

In some various private revelations (I know we are not bound to believe them) there is mentioned either a time of 2 Popes, one good and one not so much or a time of a bad Pope. I’m not talking about a sinful Pope but a heretical Pope per se. I believe in the Papacy but my question regards private revelation. 1. Can we pick and choose from the same private revelation what we like and dislike? 2. Could the revelations be interpreted improperly? 3. If the Pope made a decision which would seem heretical and some people accepted it, would their soul be in danger because they knew the prophecy but rejected it? I’m having a hard time wording my question but I hope someone can help me. Thank you!
 
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fatimite13 said:
  1. Can we pick and choose from the same private revelation what we like and dislike?
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If it’s an approved private revelation, then you could do that because you’re not required to believe any of it, so you could choose to believe 100 percent of it, 50 percent of it, 10 percent of it, etc. But it seems very self-serving to express belief only in the parts of the revelation that you “like”.

If it’s an unapproved private revelation, then maybe ask yourself why you are even following it much less cherry-picking parts of it to like and dislike. There’s a possibility that the Church won’t even approve it so I wouldn’t get too attached to any of it.
  1. Could the revelations be interpreted improperly?
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By who, you? Sure they could. If you mean “by the Magisterium” or “by the Pope” or “by the Bishop” or “by a theologian in a writing with Church or Bishop approval” then it’s more likely that the interpretation they present is correct because a lot of study and discussion likely went into it before the interpretation reached you yourself.
  1. If the Pope made a decision which would seem heretical and some people accepted it, would their soul be in danger because they knew the prophecy but rejected it?
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You’re assuming the Pope commits heresy somehow in interpreting private revelations. I don’t know what private revelation you’re thinking of, but it’s a bad path for you to go down thinking that Popes commit heresy. You should probably turn away from the whole thing and just go read Scripture instead. We trust in God to guide the Pope to lead his Church.

It’s unfortunate that people are so obsessed with private revelations, in which we don’t have to believe, that they’d accuse a Pope of committing heresy over them. That to me is very wrong.
 
fatimite13 said:
In some various private revelations (I know we are not bound to believe them) there is mentioned either a time of 2 Popes, one good and one not so much or a time of a bad Pope.
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By the way, I don’t know what you’re referring to, but if these private revelations are not approved at least by a Bishop, you’re not allowed to post material from them here, per the forum rules.
 
Thank you very much for your (name removed by moderator)ut! The revelation I’m thinking of refers to Anne Catherine Emmerich and her two Pope prophecy. I’m trusting more in the Pope than a private revelation and I believe A.C.E in her visions of the lives of Jesus and Mary, which is why I ask the pick and choose question.
 
We’ve been over Anne Catherine Emmerich on here before. On the one hand, it is true that Anne is a beati and thus it would seem that her revelations are approved. On the other hand, her revelations were written down by Clemens Brentano and there is significant evidence that he may have embellished them himself and basically didn’t strictly confine himself to transcribing what she said. Therefore, the Vatican did not consider her private revelations when deciding to make her a beati, as it is not clear at all what she may have contributed vs. what Brentano contributed. I do not put much stock in her alleged private revelations for that reason: not because Anne wasn’t a holy person, but because her transcriber unfortunately muddied the waters beyond repair.
 
Very interesting, I wasn’t sure what to make of her and I’ll be very careful in saying this but I feel she is also a weapon per se that some traditionalists use so I wasn’t sure where to go with that but I’m grateful for your answer!
 
Some Catholics will always try to use private revelations as a “weapon”. I don’t think that tactic is confined to just traditionalists. I have met “fans” of apparitions who are this side of New Agey.

For myself, I try to confine myself to private revelations that are approved or are at least “approved for faith expression” which means one can read the revelations and practice some associated devotion, but the Church hasn’t yet pronounced on whether the revelation itself is worthy of belief. Then, I figure if the fruit of the private revelation is good - leading me closer to God, so I pray more, do more penance for sinners or for souls in Purgatory, get some positive insight into my relationship with God, then it’s good. If, on the other hand, the revelation is creating anxiety or seeming to lead people away from God or away from the Church, I do not see that as good fruit, and I avoid it. Anxiety comes from the Devil. Jesus, Mary, and the saints do not create anxiety. They tell us to trust in Jesus and not worry.
 
You’re correct, I just being a former traditionalist myself used that category but I agree both sides do so. I really appreciate your comment to help clear things up for me, especially how Our Lord and Our Lady do not create anxiety. That means a lot to me. God bless you!
 
Regardless of it being a private revelation, in the context of the vision the first Pope is Pope St. Boniface IV while the second Pope is some future Pope. What she describes as the Church being oppressed and lacking liberty and episodes of idolatry clearly do not apply to the present Pope.
 
I have a further question with thankfulness for everyone’s responses. I agree and am appreciative of everyone so far who I’ve communicated with but my scruples beg the question. How can we be as questionable about revelations in general when there prophecies do come true ie there being two popes?
 
As more and more people show more and more fanaticism to certain private revelations, I am reminded more and more that we need not believe a single one of them.

Some are indeed beautiful and edifying - but when you see otherwise faithful Catholics terrified at some of the revelations, it is time to draw back and consider the basics, the big picture once again.
 
fatimite13 said:
my scruples beg the question. How can we be as questionable about revelations in general when there prophecies do come true ie there being two popes?
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If you have a scrupulosity problem, please discuss with your priest and do not post these types of scrupulous questions here.

We are discouraged from responding to scrupulous inquiries on this forum, because it may make the person’s scruples worse, and the person is supposed to be working on his scrupulosity problem in person with his priest.
 
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I understand and appreciate that, I have a pretty good handle on my scruples but I’m just wondering about this question because it is complex.
 
It is quite simply put often not the revelations themselves which are the issue but our interpretation of them. Much the same as Scripture and why the Church doesn’t encourage us to just decide on our own what scriptural passages mean. We have the Church for both.
 
It is not difficult to read an alleged prophecy and find correlations in our own time, our past, etc. This is the nature of the human mind, to recognize patterns.

Unless they are approved by the Church, I pay no attention to private revelations. Of the approved revelations, I read them, but I do not hyper analyze every detail of their revelations.
 
po18guy said:
when you see otherwise faithful Catholics terrified at some of the revelations, it is time to draw back
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If they’re being terrified at an unapproved revelation, they need to stop reading it.

If they’re being terrified of an approved revelation, they need to ask themselves why they are feeling afraid and why they lack trust in Jesus. They are like the apostles in the boat in the storm with Jesus asleep in the stern.

It seems likely that such people are frightened of something to begin with, and are drawn to a revelation that seems to confim or validate their fears.
 
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