Vatican approves the apparitions of Our Lady of Sorrows of Chandavila

The Vatican has given the green light to the devotion linked to the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows at the Chandavila Sanctuary in Badajoz, Extremadura (Spain), in 1945.

In one letter published on August 22 entitled “A light for Spain” and addressed to the Archbishop of Mérida-Badajoz, Mons. José Rodríguez Carballo, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Víctor Fernández, has declared the “nothing stands in the way” (nothing hinders), previously proposed by the Spanish archbishop.

Based on the new norms for the study of apparitions in the Catholic Churchthe cardinal thus authorizes the adherence of the faithful to this devotion and allows its dissemination, although without expressing “any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon.”

What happened in 1945 in Extremadura?

As the cardinal recalls in his letter, the young women Marcelina Barroso Expósito, 10 years old, and Afra Brígido Blanco, 17, lived separately spiritual experiences in the spring of 1945.

On the one hand, Marcelina narrated that, at first, “she saw a dark shape in the sky, which at other times was outlined more clearly as the Virgin of Sorrows, with a black cloak full of stars, on a chestnut tree.”

According to the cardinal, “the profound experience of this girl, more than the vision, was having felt the hug and the kiss that the Virgin gave her on the forehead.”

“This assurance of the affectionate closeness of the Virgin is perhaps the most beautiful message. Although as the days went by, both she and Afra identified her figure as the Virgin of Sorrows, what stands out most is a presence of the Virgin that instills comfort, encouragement, confidence.

Furthermore, he specifies that when the Virgin asks Marcelina to “walk on her knees through a stretch of dry chestnut hedgehogs, thorns and sharp stones, she does not do it to cause him suffering. On the contrary, she asks him for confidence in the face of that challenge: ‘Do not be afraid, nothing will happen to you.’”

This call from the Virgin to trust in her love, continues Cardinal Fernández, “gave this poor and suffering girl hope and an experience of feeling dignified.”

At the same time, he highlights that “it was an experience of beauty, because the Virgin appeared surrounded by luminous constellations, like those that could be admired at night in the clear sky of the small towns of Extremadura.”

After the alleged visions, according to the Vatican authority, “the two girls led a discreet life without fanfare.”

Both dedicated themselves to works of charity, especially caring for sick, elderly or orphaned people, and thus transmitting, “to people immersed in pain, that sweet consolation of the Virgin’s love that they had experienced.”

“There is nothing to object”

In this way, Cardinal Fernández determines that “there is nothing that can be objected to this beautiful devotion, which presents the same simplicity that we can see in Mary of Nazareth, our Blessed Mother.”

In this sense, he highlights that there are many positive aspects that indicate an action of the Holy Spirit “in so many pilgrims who come, both from Spain and Portugal, in the conversions, healings and other precious signs in this place.”

For this reason, the Dicastery “gladly gives its consent” for Archbishop Mons. Rodríguez Carballo to proceed with the declaration of the “nothing stands in the way” proposed, “so that the Chandavila Sanctuary, heir to a rich history of simplicity, of few words and much devotion, continues to offer the faithful who want to come closer, an area of ​​inner peace, consolation and conversion.”