DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH “The Only Cross of Salvation.”: "Letter to the Bishop of Bayeux- Lisieux Regarding the Alleged Apparitions of Our Lord Jesus Christ"

by Pope Leo XIV

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has also supported the efforts of the Bishops of Bayeux-Lisieux in the difficult task of addressing the issues that have continued to generate confusion. And, in the higher interest of the good of the faithful, the Dicastery has encouraged a continued vigilance over the phenomenon of the alleged apparitions, while also urging that any possible setting up of crosses be brought back into the context of a sound devotion to the Holy Cross.
Recently, after an in-depth examination of the phenomenon in question, Your Excellency judged it necessary to proceed with further discernment of the events connected with the Haute-Butte of Dozulé, to bring the entire matter to a conclusive resolution. To this end, in accordance with The Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, par. 22, Your Excellency proposed—as the conclusion of this discernment—to issue a declaratio de non supernaturalitate , by which the Dicastery would authorize you to make a definitive declaration that the phenomenon of the alleged apparitions of Dozulé is not of supernatural that is, that it does not have an authentic divine source.

18 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2025

About the author

The first Augustinian Pope, Leo XIV is the second Roman Pontiff - after Pope Francis - from the Americas. Unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, however, the former Robert Francis Prevost is from the northern part of the continent, though he spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected head of the Augustinians for two consecutive terms. In Peru, he served as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015-2023. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023 and was elected to the papacy after Francis' death on May 8, 2025. His papal name, Leo, was chosen in honor of Pope Leo XIII.