1. I've done a couple of posts on Fatima:
Now I'd like to revisit the issue of Marian apparitions using a different example. Recently I was reading Bishop Barron's Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith (2011). At some point I may comment the whole book, but for now I'll focus on one thing. On pp108-13, Barron rehearses the story of Mary appearing to Juan Diego, then provides evidence for the authenticity of the apparition.
Assuming that Barron's information is accurate, I agree with him that this was a supernatural event. It defies naturalistic explanation. The evidence he offers is quite impressive. Indeed, more impressive than Fatima.
Admittedly, I haven't researched the issue, in part because my own position doesn't require me to debunk it, and in part because I'm not sure the Internet has good sources to investigate a claim like that. (By "debunk," I mean a naturalistic explanation.)
2. However, I can concede all that without it shifting me even slightly in the direction of Catholicism. Why?
To begin with, not all supernatural events are from God. The locus classicus is Deut 13:1-5. That principle or prediction is reaffirmed no fewer than three times in the NT: Mt 24:24 (par. Mk 13:22), 2 Thes 2:9, & Rev 13:13-15. We also have similar statements by St. Paul (Gal 1:8; 2 Cor 11:14).
3. But I'd like to anticipate an objection. What if I'm wrong? If I attribute a Marian apparition to the dark side when, in fact, it's genuine, am I committed the unforgivable sin (Mt 12:31-32, par. Mk 3:28-29; Lk 12:10)?
i) One response is that it's quite a stretch to extend that to Marian apparitions. I'm not attributing the miracles of Jesus to the dark side.
ii) However, a Catholic apologist might respond that my attitude is analogous to the unforgivable sin, which concerns the general principle of attributing divine miracles to the dark side.
iii) Okay, so what about that?Unlike the Jewish leaders, I didn't witness the purported apparition with my own eyes. So my epistemic position is different from theirs.
iv) In addition, motivation makes a difference. The Jewish leaders were motivated by malice and ill-will. That's very different from an innocent mistake.
v) For that matter, doubting a Marian apparition doesn't require you to ascribe the apparition to the dark side. You can simply suspend judgment. You make allowance for the possibility that it emanates from the dark side. By contrast, the Jewish leaders didn't withhold judgment regarding Jesus.
vi) Apropos (v), even the Catholic church takes the position that purported private revelations lack the obligatory status of public revelation–from what I've read.
vii) God can't intend us to be so spooked by the threat of the unforgivable sin that we nullify repeated warnings about occult miracles. It would be quite coup for the Devil and the Antichrist if we had to credit every messenger with miraculous signs because we dare not consider the possibility that it had its source in evil spirits.
There are so many candidates. What if I'm wrong about Muhammad? What if I'm wrong about Swedenborg? What if I'm wrong about purported Mormon miracles? What if I'm wrong about Marian apparitions? We can't very well credit them all. And God can't intend the specter of the unforgivable sin to be a gun to our head so that we never take the occult into consideration. How else can we rule out false prophets or the Antichrist?
viii) Moreover, Catholics hardly have a monopoly on purported miracles and apparitions. As Barron knows, Latin American Pentecostals have made major inroads into Catholicism in South and Central America. Non-Catholics, including Protestants experienced purported miracles, angelic apparitions, grief apparitions, crisis apparitions, and visions of Jesus.
ix) Finally, you'd expect pre-Columbian Mexico to be a hotbed of evil spirits, with all the witchcraft and human sacrifice. So it wouldn't be surprising of an evil spirit appeared to Juan Diego. Once again, it isn't necessary to take a firm position on that. We can treat that as a live option.
4. But I'd like to anticipate another objection. Barron says the apparition had beneficial results. The mass conversion of Aztecs to Catholicism. And the dissolution of the Aztec religion.
i) To begin with, that's not all of a piece. The dissolution of the Aztec religion was a salutary result. But pilgrims making the journey to her shrine on their knees (p111) is only a good thing from a Catholic viewpoint.
ii) But if the apparition is not of God, why would God allow it? Because God is the kind of God who brings good out of evil. He permits the evil of the apparition, and the religious delusion that spawns, but he mitigates the evil.
Suppose an evil spirit appeared to Juan Diego. The evil spirit has malevolent intentions. But God thwarts that by using the apparition to abolish the atrocity of the Aztec religion. Think of how God manipulates Balaam. Or how the Devil engineers the Crucifixion, only to that that explode in his face.
5. The cult of Mary
i) When I read about Marian apparitions, even one as well-attested as Juan Diego, I can't blank out the fact that from my study, Catholicism has been falsified by multiple lines of evidence.
ii) Regarding the cult of Mary in particular, that has no justification in Scripture or historical evidence. We see a legend growing right before our eyes. And the cult of Mary massively diverts devotion away from Jesus to "Mary". And not the historical Mary, but a theological construct based on folk theology and post hoc rationalizations.
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