Consecration Vows Have Not Been Approved by the Catholic Church

As the consecration vow movement continues to spread throughout the Catholic Church, numerous websites have appeared making claims like, "These vows have Ecclesiastical Approval!" Other sites have been saying, "We have the Pope's approval and endorsement!" or "Our vows are approved by Popes and the greatest of all Saints!"

Are consecration vows dangerous New Age techniques that have crept into the Church? Or do they really have the Church's approval? To uncover the truth about the Church's alleged approval of consecration vows, it will be necessary to study what the Church says about private revelations versus public decrees.

According to the Catechism, "Christian faith cannot accept revelations that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such revelations."¹ The Catechism also says, "No new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ."²

In other words, God has already given the Church everything she needs to know about the salvation of souls. Everything that God wanted to declare to humanity has already been delivered through the Incarnate Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded in Sacred Scripture. When the Catechism says, "No new public revelation is to be expected," it means that the Church cannot accept any alternative forms of salvation.

Does this mean that Catholics don't have the right to practice contemplative prayer to discern the Lord's will for their lives? Of course not, because Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me."³ Catholics have an obligation to serve the Lord Jesus, and in order to do so, they need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and carefully discern God's will for their lives. When a man asks the Lord, "How do you want me to serve you?" he may receive a calling to embark on a mission trip. If the Lord is directing the man on a mission trip, that would be considered a private revelation.

According to the Catechism, "Throughout the ages, there have been so-called private revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith."⁴ In other words, private revelations apply to individuals or individual situations, and public decrees apply to the entire Church.

If our beloved Pope John Paul II received a revelation from the Blessed Mother directing him to consecrate his soul into the Immaculata's possession and power, it would be considered a private revelation. If a Sacred Assembly of Bishops formed an Ecumenical Council under Pope John Paul's guidance and issued a decree for the selling of souls to the Immaculata, it would be considered de fide definita, and would apply to all Catholics.

At this point in the Church's history, there have been no official public decrees for consecration vows. The Catholic Church has not granted the faithful permission to sell their souls or to entrust their salvation to the Immaculata or the Queen of Heaven. If the Blessed Mother appeared to Saint Louis de Montfort and instructed him to write a book entitled A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, then everything written in the book would be considered a private revelation.

Because Saint Louis de Montfort's consecration vows have not been approved by the Church, why are some Catholics claiming the vows have the Church's approval? One possible reason is that Saint Louis de Montfort's name was mentioned four times in three different articles by Pope John Paul as follows:

 

Crossing the Threshold of Hope

In October of 1993, Pope John Paul II was scheduled to conduct a television interview with a reporter named Vittorio Messori. In preparation for the interview, a list of questions was prepared for the Pope to answer. Even though the television interview was cancelled, Pope John Paul II saved the reporter's questions and answered them on paper over the following months. Some of the questions that Vittorio Messori wanted to ask the Pope are as follows:

Does God really exist?
If God exists, why is he hiding?
Is Jesus the Son of God?
Why is there so much evil in the world?

Our beloved Pope John Paul answered the reporter's questions to the best of his ability. His answers were later published in the book entitled Crossing the Threshold of Hope. In this book, under a chapter entitled "The Mother of God," Pope John Paul II describes the meaning of Totus Tuus by saying,

"During the Second World War, while I was employed as a factory worker, I came to be attracted to Marian devotion. At first, it seemed to me that I should distance myself a bit from the Marian devotion of my childhood, in order to focus more on Christ. Thanks to Saint Louis of Montfort, I came to understand that true devotion to the Mother of God is actually Christocentric, indeed, it is very profoundly rooted in the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity, and the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption."⁵

This same statement can be found on the Vatican website for the definition of Totus Tuus.⁶ This is the only mention of Saint Louis de Montfort in the book, which does not address consecration vows. The rest of the chapter talks about the Pope's childhood devotions in his hometown parish in Wadowice as he prayed before Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and the pilgrimages he made to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, and his devotion to Jasna Gora, an icon of the Black Madonna.

 

Redemptoris Mater

In March 25, 1987, Pope John Paul II released an "Encyclical on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church." The purpose for this document was to introduce a Marian year for the Church and to "promote a new and more careful reading" of what the Second Vatican Council said about the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this document, Saint Louis de Montfort is mentioned as a saint who "proposes consecration to Christ through the hands of Mary as an effective means for Christians to live faithfully their baptismal commitments."⁷

This is the only mention of Saint Louis de Montfort in the encyclical, which does not address consecration vows.

 

Rosarium Virginis Mariae

On October 16, 2002, Pope John Paul II released an apostolic letter entitled "Rosarium Virginis Mariae." In this document, Saint Louis de Montfort is mentioned as a saint "who discovered in the Rosary a genuine path to growth in holiness," and also as a saint who desired to be more perfectly "conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus Christ."⁸ These are the only two references to Saint Louis de Montfort, and this apostolic letter does not address consecration vows.

The purpose of Rosarium Virginis Mariae was to introduce a new decade for the Rosary called the Mysteries of Light and to help Catholics understand the proper way to pray the Rosary as a meditation on the life of Christ. In this document, Pope John Paul II warns Catholics about the dangers that can occur when the Rosary is improperly prayed by saying, "There is a risk that the Rosary would not only fail to produce the intended spiritual effects, but even that the beads, with which it is usually said, could come to be regarded as some kind of amulet or magic object, thereby radically distorting their meaning and function."⁹

So what happens when Catholics pray the Rosary without any desire to be more fully conformed and united to Jesus Christ, as Saint Louis proposed? Or even worse, what happens when the beads of the Rosary are distorted into what Pope John Paul II calls "some kind of amulet or magic object?"

To find out, please continue to the next section: Consecration Vows Have Harmful Effects on Spirit-filled Catholics.