Pope Leo meets with the participants in the conference “Mysticism, Mystical Phenomena, and Holiness,” organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and emphasizes the importance of evaluating carefully candidates for sainthood, especially those who have experienced mystical phenomena.
By Isabella H. de Carvalho
“What matters most, and what must be especially emphasized in examining candidates for sainthood, is their complete and constant conformity to the will of God,” Pope Leo XIV said on Thursday, November 13, while calling for prudence and balanced evaluation when analysing the lives of possible saints, especially those who have experienced mystical phenomena.
The Pope was addressing the participants in the conference “Mysticism, Mystical Phenomena, and Holiness,” organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints from November 10 to 13, in a meeting at the Vatican.
“With constant commitment, the Magisterium, theology, and spiritual authors have also provided criteria for distinguishing authentic spiritual phenomena, which can occur in an atmosphere of prayer and sincere search for God, from manifestations that can be deceptive,” the Pope said.
“In order not to fall into a superstitious illusion, it is necessary to evaluate such events with prudence, through humble discernment in accordance with the teaching of the Church.”
The true aim is always communion with God
The Pope said that the relationship between mystical phenomena and holiness “is one of the most beautiful dimensions of the experience of faith” and he thanked the conference participants for their work in enhancing this field, but also “for shedding light on some aspects that require discernment.”
“Through theological reflection, preaching, and catechesis, the Church has recognized for centuries that at the heart of mystical life lies the awareness of an intimate union of love with God,” Pope Leo explained.
He highlighted that mysticism is an “event of grace” that “manifests itself in the fruits it produces” and quoted in this regard the Gospel of Luke that says “a good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit.”
Mysticism, he continued, “is therefore characterized as an experience that transcends mere rational knowledge, not because of the merit of those who experience it, but because of a spiritual gift that can manifest itself in different ways.” He mentioned, as examples, certain phenomena experienced by some saints, such as luminous visions, intense darkness, afflictions, or ecstasy.
However, the Pope insisted that these “exceptional events remain secondary and non-essential to mysticism and holiness itself: they may be signs of it, as singular charisms, but the true aim is and always remains communion with God.” He quoted St. Augustine, who said in his Confessions that God is “higher than my highest and more inward than my innermost self” (“interior intimo meo et superior summo meo”).
The importance of balance when evaluating the lives of saints
Pope Leo highlighted that “the extraordinary phenomena that may characterize the mystical experience are not indispensable conditions for recognizing the holiness of a faithful.” These events may “strengthen the virtues not as individual privileges, but insofar as they are directed toward the edification of the whole Church, the mystical Body of Christ,” he continued.
He thus called for balance when evaluating the lives of possible saints: “just as one should not promote causes of canonization solely on the basis of exceptional phenomena, so too should care be taken not to penalize them if such phenomena characterize the lives of the Servants of God.”
“At the heart of discernment” on a faithful’s life, the Pope reiterated, “lies listening to their reputation for holiness and examining their perfect virtue, as expressions of ecclesial communion and intimate union with God.”
He also encouraged those who carry out the “valuable service” of working on causes of canonizations, “to imitate the Saints and thus cultivate the vocation that unites us all as baptized members of the one people of God.”
The Pope then concluded by quoting the mystic St. Teresa of Avila who said that “supreme perfection” was found not in “great raptures, in visions and in the spirit of prophecy, but rather in the perfect conformity of our will with God’s, so that we desire, and firmly, what we know to be His will, accepting with the same joy both the sweet and the bitter, as He wills.” Pope Leo also added that these words correspond to the experience of another mystic close to her, St. John of the Cross.
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