Vatican Rules “Our Lady of All Nations” Marian Apparitions Are Not Supernatural

The Vatican has made public a 1974 decision denying the authenticity of alleged Marian apparitions in Amsterdam.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a statement on July 11 that a 1974 ruling of not-supernatural was reached by the then-Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope Paul VI.

The apparitions were said to have begun in 1945 when Ida Peerdeman, a Dutch secretary, claimed that Mary appeared to her in her Amsterdam home. Peerdeman reported that Mary introduced herself as “The Lady of All Nations” and requested to be proclaimed as co-redemptrix, mediatrix, and advocate.

Although the alleged apparitions were declared non-supernatural by the local bishop in 1956, his successors later changed the judgment and approved their supernatural origin. In 2020, Bishop Johannes Hendriks of Haarlem-Amsterdam issued a pastoral letter after consultation with the dicastery, prohibiting devotion to the apparitions and citing the 1974 Vatican ruling.

The dicastery noted that it published the 1974 ruling because of “persistent doubts raised about the alleged apparitions and revelations.” 

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, cited the Amsterdam apparitions in his presentation of new norms for discerning alleged supernatural phenomena.

The norms say negative judgments are based on “concrete and proven facts and evidence.”

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