Private Revelation
Numerous books that allege private revelations have a disclaimer in the beginning that quotes an alleged saying of Pope Urban VIII. The disclaimer usually goes:
In cases which concern private revelations, it is better to believe than not to believe, for, if you believe, and it is proven true, you will be happy that you have believed, because our Holy Mother asked it. If you believe, and it should be proven false, you will receive all blessings as if it had been true, because you believed it to be true.
Whether or not Urban VIII said this is debated.
Pope Urban VIII did make a public statement about private revelations and their dissemination in the Catholic Church in his Constitution, Sanctissimus Dominus Noster of 13 March 1625.
Main article: Sanctissimus Dominus NosterRead more about this topic: Pope Urban VIII
Famous quotes containing the words private and/or revelation:
“In private life he was good-natured, chearful, social; inelegant in his manners, loose in his morals. He had a coarse, strong wit, which he was too free of for a man in his station, as it is always inconsistent with dignity. He was very able as a minister, but without a certain elevation of mind necessary for great good, or great mischief.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The differences between revolution in art and revolution in politics are enormous.... Revolution in art lies not in the will to destroy but in the revelation of what has already been destroyed. Art kills only the dead.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)