, unity and
interfaith dialogue in the world.
Positive Following Father James Fannan, Fathers Rene Laurentin, Robert Faricy, and Michael O'Carroll as well as Archbishop
Frane Franić, who are major promoters of
Our Lady of Medjugorje, also actively support Rydén through their public statements and publications. Supporters Fr. Edward O'Connor and Niels Hvidt believe that God is using Rydén's messages to "consolidate his church" and bring it into unity, which they feel is the main theme of her books. From 2002 to 2004 a dialogue took place at the request of Cardinal Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It led to a written exchange of critical questions to which Vassula Rydén answered in writing and then a careful statement to Catholic bishops that Vassula Rydén had provided "useful clarifications regarding her marital situation, as well as some difficulties which in the aforesaid Notification were suggested towards her writings and her participation in the sacraments" (http://www.vassula-cdf.org/clarificationsNU/NUindex.html#13). Subsequently, on November 28, 2005, Bishop Felix Toppo, S.J., D.D., granted the Nihil Obstat and on November 28, 2005, Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles, STL, DD, granted the Imprimatur to the TLIG books which indicate that a given book contains nothing that is contrary to Catholic doctrine.
Negative In the Catholic Church In 1995, Dermine wrote a book,
Vassula Rydén: indagine critica (Vassula Rydén: critical inquiry), analyzing Rydén's first six books. Dermine described Rydén's early works as promoting a
New Age-type spirituality including
millennialism and pan-Christian ecumenicism, preceded by a time in which the
antichrist dominated the Church. He said these ideas were heretical to Roman Catholicism, and that Rydén stopped putting them in her writings after warnings from the Church, a factor which demonstrates that they are her own thoughts, not those of spirits. He showed how Rydén's
automatic writings were said by her to be from a variety of sources: guardian angels, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, God, and several Christian saints. Dermine noted that Rydén found some of her own messages to be false; she cancelled these ones. He wrote that Rydén explained away the problem by saying that God told her she could change any messages that she felt did not work. Dermine said that the whole body of Rydén's writings could be dismissed on the basis of this supposed revelation. More damning than that was Dermine's assessment that Rydén's automatic writing was directed not by Jesus or God but by the Devil. Dermine wrote that automatic writing has never been part of Christian mysticism and divine revelation, but it has been connected with
demonic possession. , head of the Vatican's
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which decided against her in 1995 Some skeptics have noted how the revelations have changed with time and have alleged that this was in order to conform more with church doctrine. The CDF stated that the "attentive examination of the entire question" had brought up "a number of basic elements that must be considered negative in the light of Catholic doctrine" as well as "several doctrinal errors". In November 1996, the CDF issued a press release, stating that the Notification "retains all its force" and "was approved by the competent authorities and will be published in the
Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official organ of the Holy See". It instructed Catholics "not to regard the messages of Vassula Ryden as divine revelations, but only as her personal meditations". In 1999, the Argentine organization
Servicio Para el Esclarecimiento en Sectas (Foundation S.P.E.S.), formed to investigate new religious movements and sects, published a two-part bulletin critical of Rydén and her followers, authored by Mónica de López Roda. De López Roda described how Rydén's mission appeared to be the unification of all Christian churches under a non-hierarchical
ecumenicism; a spiritual Christianity devoid of doctrinal differences. She said that the positive words from Rydén provoked division among Christians because of questions about whether the messages were fake. In September 2005, the spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland warned people against going to Rydén's conference in Edinburgh. Referring to the 1995 Notification, he said Rydén "certainly did not" operate with the approval of the Church and that "the advice to Catholics is not to attend her gatherings due to the suspect nature of her alleged revelations, which contain doctrinal errors." in a letter dated January 25, 2007, the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada, following continued requests for clarifications on the writings and activities of Rydén, wrote to the Catholic hierarchy around the world stating that "the Notification of 1995 remains valid as a doctrinal judgment" of the writings, which should be seen as her own personal meditations and that Catholics should not take part in prayer groups established by Rydén. Cardinal Grech reviewed
Heaven is Real But So is Hell: An Eyewitness Account of What is to Come in 2014 and said it was an
autobiography and
apologia in the
apocalyptic genre. Grech said that he does not know the origin of Rydén's visions but that if they bring more people to God then "there is no reason to reject them outright." The Synodical Committee for Matters of Heresy of the
Church of Cyprus announced on January 13, 2012, that Rydén's "teachings are heretical, and her claims that she communicates directly with Christ are fantastical and outside of the spirit of the experience of our Church." == Lawsuit against critical website ==