The release of the 1951 decree is expected to put to rest the persistent skepticism demonstrated by Marian devotees on the authenticity of the Vatican decree about its findings on the alleged apparition to the late Teresa Castillo at the Carmelite Monastery in Lipa City in 1948.

On Tuesday, Lipa Archbishop Gilbert Garcera revealed that the 1951 Vatican decree has been released by its Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) at the instance of Most Reverend Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

On March 29, 1951, then Pope Pius XII approved the ruling rejecting the apparition to be true. The ruling was authenticated by Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the current DDF prefect under Pope Francis.

Originally written in Italian, the 1951 decree read:

S.O. 226/49

28th day of May 1951

By order of the Most Holy Father’s will:

The apostolic delegate is to authorize the apostolic administrator to issue a document from the Curia, in which is declared that the events of LIpa, after serious examination, turns out not to have a supernatural origin and character.

In audience with his Holiness

Thursday, 29th day of March 1951

Certified authentic:

Victor Cardinal Fernandez, prefect

On various occasions before this, the Vatican ’s doctrinal body has appealed to Filipino bishops to “dissuade” any activities that would contradict the 1951 official ruling of the Church on the supposed apparition.

Last year, Garcera banned activities commemorating the 75th anniversary of the alleged apparition that allegedly took place on September 12, 1948.

"I, therefore, officially communicate to all of you, our dear faithful, that in filial devotion to the Holy See there can be no observance of the 75th anniversary of the alleged apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lipa on September 12, 2023, under any form," Garcia said.

The debate on the issue continued notwithstanding Vatican’s appeal to devotees.

It will recalled that now retired Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Harriet Demetriou filed a court case against Dominican exorcist Fr. Winston Cabading for allegedly discrediting the 1948 event.

Briefly detained sometime May following the filing of a case of offending religious feelings, Cabading supposedly rejected the LIpa apparition as false.

Demetriou questioned the authenticity of the Vatican decree issued on March 29, 1951 that declared the apparition to be “not supernatural”.