Amsterdam in the post-war: the context of the apparitions

On March 25, 1945, a few weeks after the end of the Second World War in Europe, a 39-year-old woman from Amsterdam, Ida Peerdeman, experienced the first in a long series of visions. Europe is destroyed. The Netherlands had just survived the "Invernal Hunger" of 1944- 1945, in which more than 20,000 Dutch people died of hunger under Nazi occupation. Amsterdam had suffered five years of brutal occupation and mass deportation of its Jewish population.

In this context of devastation and desperate search for meaning, Ida Peerdeman's visions offer a message of hope and universal reach. The figure that appeared to her was presented as "the Lady" - not initially as the Virgin Mary, although the messages identified her with her - and announced to her difficult times but also a special role of Mary in the history of humanity.

The 56 apparitions were extended until 31 May 1959. During those fourteen years, Ida Peerdeman received messages, prophetic visions and the petition that a specific prayer be prayed and that an image of Mary be spread determined by the visions themselves.

The image: the Lady on the world

One of the most concrete requests of the apparitions was the propagation of a given image. The Lady who appeared to Ida Peerdeman showed him how she wanted to be represented: standing on the globe, between the Cross and sheep, with the feet that crushed a snake, and with rays of light that emanated from her open hands.

This image - which the devotees faithfully reproduced in pictures and pictures - contains several precise theological elements. The position on the earth globe underlines the universality of Mary's motherhood over all nations. The Cross on the side expresses Mary's participation in the Redeeming. The sheep on the other side symbolize the peoples of the earth entrusted to their care. The light rays of the hands evoke the image of the miraculous medal (1830) and emphasize the mediating role of Mary.

The prayer proposed in the apparitions was approved by some bishops for private use: "Lady of all Nations, who once were Mary, come to our side. Nations suffer misery, confusion and anguish. The Paraclito is coming. It leads all peoples under the protection of Mary. All peoples to the Good Shepherd. Amen."

The fifth Marian dogma: the most controversial petition

The most discussed - and theologically more complex - aspect of the Amsterdam apparitions is the petition for a new Marian dogma: that the Pope solemnly defines Mary as "Corredentora, Mediatrix of All Graces and Advocate." The devotees of Amsterdam call this eventual definition "the fifth Marian dogma," in reference to the four Marian dogmas already defined (divine motherhood, perpetual virginity, Immaculate Conception, Asuncion).

The petition of the fifth dogma has generated intense theological debate during decades. Their defenders argue that the titles "Corredentora" and "Mediatrix" have a solid basis in the western theological tradition and have already been used by the potatoes, including John Paul II. Their serious criticisms, within the Church, argue that these titles - if defined inadequately - could give the impression that Mary cooperates in the reformation independently of Christ, which would be contrary to faith.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has stated in its documents that the theological question is not the content of the titles itself - which can be formulated in an orthodox way - but the desirability of a new dogmatic definition and the exact formulation that should be used. This debate remains open in theological circles, although the negative judgment on the apparitions clearly distinguishes it from the theological question about the Marian titles.

"The question of whether Mary can be called Corredentora, Mediatrix and Advocate is a legitimate theological question that deserves serene study. The question of whether the apparitions of Amsterdam are supernatural is a different question, with a response already given by the Church." - Distinction clarifying contemporary marine theologians

The long process of ecclesiastical discernment

The discernment of the apparitions of Amsterdam has been one of the longest and most complicated ecclesiastical processes in recent Marian history. Its complexity is due to several factors: the high number of apparitions (56), the importance of the dogmatic petition contained in the messages, the huge number of devotees around the world, and the differences between the judgments of different ecclesiastical authorities over time.

The first Episcopal Commission of the Netherlands, in the 1950s, issued a negative judgment on the supernatural character of visions. In 1974, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - then presided over by Cardinal Seper - issued a definitive negative judgment, approved by Pope Paul VI. This negative trial should have closed the case.

However, in 2002, the Bishop of Haarlem- Amsterdam, Bishop Josef Punt, recognized the supernatural character of the apparitions in a pastoral act that caused great confusion among the faithful, as it contradicted the negative judgment of Rome in 1974. This local recognition is an explosion of devotion to the Lady of All Nations throughout the world, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where millions of people began to venerate the image.

The final trial of 2024

In July 2024, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Public Faith updated final judgment on the apparitions of Amsterdam, with the express approval of Pope Francis. The document confirmed the "negative" character of the judgment on the supernatural origin of the apparitions, that is, that the Church cannot claim to be of divine origin.

At the same time, the document indicated that devotion to Mary under the title "Lady of All Nations" could continue, since the elements of faith contained in the image and in prayer are theologically correct, even if their origin is not supernatural. In other words, the image is good and the prayer is good, but it cannot be said that the Virgin Mary asked them in supernatural apparitions.

The Bishop of Haarlem- Amsterdam, at the root of the judgment of 2024, revoked his recognition of 2002 and asked the faithful to accept the judgment of the universal Church with docility and peace. It was a moment of remarkable ecclesial humility: the same bishop who had opened the door to recognition had to close it with obedience when Rome spoke.

Ida Peerdeman: the woman behind the visions

Ida Peerdeman (29 de agosto de 1905 – 17 de junio de 1996) era secretaria y vivia con sus hermanas en Ámsterdam cuando comenzaron las visiones. Era una mujer sencilla, de fe solida y vida ordenada, sin historial de entusiasmos religiosos extraordinarios. Había crecido en una familia católica practicante en un país donde los católicos eran minoria respecto a los protestantes.

During the fourteen years of the apparitions (1945-1959), Ida maintained an ordinary life, working and living in his family home. He describes the visions with simplicity and without seeking public prominence. After the end of the apparitions in 1959, he continued to live in Amsterdam, with the same discretion as ever, until his death in 1996 at the age of 90.

Ida Peerdeman was never canonized or initiated a process of beatification. The Church does not treat her as a model of extraordinary holiness, but she does not consider her a liar. His case is in the category of subjective spiritual experiences whose supernatural origin cannot be affirmed.

The millions of devotees: a pastoral reality

Regardless of the ecclesiastical judgment about the supernatural origin of the apparitions, the pastoral reality is that millions of people throughout the world have found in devotion to the Lady of All Nations a way to approach Mary and God. In the Philippines, Nigeria, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea: entire communities prayed the prayer proposed in the visions and venerated the image.

The Church, with her negative judgment, does not seek to invalidate the grace that these people have been able to receive on their spiritual path. What he claims is that the origin of that devotion was not supernatural in the sense of a direct intervention of God or of the Virgin Mary. Devotion, purified from any affirmation of its supernatural origin, can continue as an expression of ordinary Marian piety.

The Bishop of Haarlem- Amsterdam, in his communiqué of 2024, invited the faithful not to abandon devotion to Mary but to live it in greater depth, without depending on the "mark" of the apparitions of Amsterdam. Mary remains the Mother of all nations even though she has not appeared in Amsterdam to ask.

• 1945First vision of Ida Peerdeman on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation. The figure calls itself "the Lady."
• 1945-195956 visions over 14 years. The messages call for the diffuse of the image and prayer, and the definition of the fifth dogma.
• 1956Primera comision episcopal holandesa: juicio negative provisional.
• 1959Last apparition, May 31.
• 1974The CDF issues definitive negative judgment, approved by Paul VI.
• 1996Ida Peerdeman's death in Amsterdam at the age of 90.
• 2002Bishop Punt recognizes the supernatural character of the apparitions: exploitation of world devotion.
• 2024The CDF publishes updated final negative judgment, approved by Francisco. The bishop revokes the 2002 recognition.

The Theological Question of the "Fifth dogma": Current Status

The petition of the fifth Marian dogma, which was one of the central contents of the visions of Amsterdam, remains a subject of serious theological debate within the Church, regardless of the judgment on the apparitions. Many eminent theologians - including some who were advisers to John Paul II - have studied the possibility of a new dogmatic definition of Mary's mediating role.

The official position of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been of prudence: the titles of "Corredentora," "Mediatrix" and "Abogada" express valid theological realities when they are correctly interpreted (i.e., in a subordinate sense and dependent on the one-way measurement of Christ), but a new dogmatic definition is neither necessary nor timely at this time. The Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council (Chapter VIII) has already dealt with these issues with the necessary depth and balance.

The Lady of All Nations: what remains

At the end of the long journey of this ecclesial discernment, what remains is the truth that underlies devotion, regardless of its origin: that Mary is the Mother of all the peoples of the earth; that her intercession is powerful and maternal; that she leads all her children to Christ; that the present times need her mediation and her example.

These truths do not depend on the apparitions of Amsterdam or any private apparitions. They are firmly founded on the Gospel, the Tradition of the Church and the documents of the Magisterium. The prayer "Lady of All Nations," with its theologically correct elements, can continue to retreat as an ordinary Marian prayer of piety.

And Mary's image on the earth balloon, between the Cross and the sheep of all nations, remains a valid and beautiful representation of Mary's universal motherhood - regardless of whether she asked for it in a supernatural apparition or whether it sprung from the piety and creativity of the faithful of Amsterdam in those terrible years of the post-war.

"I am the Mother of all men. All peoples are my children, come from wherever they come, believe what they believe. And I take them all to my Son." - Attributed to the Lady in the visions of Amsterdam