Living Our Faith Marian apparitions

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This week’s topic:

Over the past 500 years, the number of reported Marian apparitions is somewhere in the thousands, although the Vatican has authenticated fewer than 20.

A statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried through the crowd May 12 at the Marian shrine of Fatima in central Portugal. Over the past 500 years, the number of reported Marian apparitions is somewhere in the thousands, although the Vatican has authenticated fewer than 20. (CNS photo/Rafael Marchante, Reuters)
A statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried through the crowd May 12 at the Marian shrine of Fatima in central Portugal. Over the past 500 years, the number of reported Marian apparitions is somewhere in the thousands, although the Vatican has authenticated fewer than 20. (CNS photo/Rafael Marchante, Reuters)

Such a wide gap indicates how the official church exercises not just caution but vigorous detective work in its investigations.

Mary’s apparitions call us to believe in Christ.