The president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI), the Franciscan Stefano Cecchin, has declared himself an «enemy of apparitions that speak of God’s punishment» during an intervention in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he participated in a gathering dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the defense of life.
The statements were made by Cecchin at the end of the conference Mary and the Defense of Life, during an explanation prior to the anointing of attendees who wished to receive it with an oil presented as sacramental.
«I am an enemy of apparitions that speak of God’s punishment. God does not want to punish, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, God wants to save everyone,» the religious affirmed.
Cecchin added that «punishment, fear, is the work of the Devil» and linked his statement to Christ’s sacrifice: «Christ died to cancel our sin, Christ died to heal our diseases, and Christ died to make peace, to convert enemies.»
A position expressed previously
This is not the first time Cecchin has publicly expressed a position of this kind. In May 2023, when asked about messages attributed to certain apparitions that announce punishments, he maintained that «God is love, therefore God does not punish.»
The Franciscan then argued that suffering comes from distancing oneself from God and stated that «punishment comes from Satan,» an interpretation he has now explicitly reiterated by declaring himself an «enemy» of apparitions that present messages about divine punishment.
Cecchin also made other controversial statements in October 2023, when he maintained in an interview that «certain images of Mary as an obedient, enslaved, submissive woman are no longer understandable today, nor can they be received.»
Read also: The «obedient and submissive» Mary cannot be received today, says the head of Marian Apparitions