Filipino archbishop resigns after clash with Vatican on reported apparitions
February 06, 2017
Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa, the Philippines, has resigned, several months after he was the object of a reproval from the Vatican over his endorsement of reported apparitions.
Archbishop Arguelles had declared in September 2015 that reports of Marian apparitions to a Carmelite postulant in Lipa, which allegedly occurred in 1948, were “worthy of belief.” The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) soon issued a conflicting verdict, saying that the reported apparitions had been faked. The CDF ordered the dissolution of commissions investigating the phenomena, saying that the question had been settled. The CDF revealed that the reported apparitions had been studied earlier, and determined that deception had been involved; Pope Pius XII had endorsed that conclusion, the CDF said.
The resignation of Archbishop Arguelles was accepted by Pope Francis three years short of the prelate’s 75th birthday, the ordinary date for a bishop’s resignation. No public explanation of the early retirement was offered.
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