The Vatican is preparing to release a document giving guidance on how to discern supernatural phenomena. 

The Holy See Press Office announced the upcoming document will be published May 17 with a live-streamed press conference featuring Prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández.

Fernández has previously said the dicastery is “in the process of finalizing a new text with clear guidelines and norms for the discernment of apparitions and other phenomena,” according to the National Catholic Register.

The last time the Vatican doctrinal office released guidance on apparitions was in 1978 under Pope Paul VI. That document, “Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceedings in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations,” was released due to the increased influence of mass media.

The Miracle of Fátima in 1917 is perhaps the most well-documented apparition in the modern day. After an alleged series of appearances by the Virgin Mary to several peasant children that promised a public miracle, tens of thousands of people in Fátima, Portugal claimed to witness the sun move erratically across the sky and produce radiant colors for several minutes.

The Catholic Church recognized the “supernatural” aspect of the event in 1930. Pope Pius XII formally approved the Fátima apparitions a decade later.

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