Criminologicalclinical and forensicpsychiatryc implications of the new rules of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith for the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena

Abstract

On May 19, 2024, the “Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena” deliberated by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Vatican City State on April 17, 2024, and approved by Pope Francis on May 4, 2024, came into effect. They replaced those approved confidentially by Paul VI on February 24, 1978, and officially published only 33 years later, in 2011. These real operational procedures of a legal nature also involve scientific contributions. In fact, the involvement of experts may be unavoidable for the formulation of a proper differential diagnosis and, so, a better "discernment": for example, the intervention of both medico-legal (e.g., in the analysis of organic findings), criminological (e.g., prevention of fraud, abuse of various kinds, etc., based on religious beliefs), and psychopathological-forensic (diagnosis of possible mental disorders, or simulation, in seers, etc.) are expressly required.