If I don't believe an officially recognized miracle or apparition, am I a bad Catholic?

🔥The question: “If I have doubts about Lourdes or Fatima, am I rejecting the Church's teaching?”

🛡️The Church's answer: Catholic faith believes the public revelation completed in Jesus Christ. Private revelations and devotions the Church has approved can help you live the Gospel better, but they don't build a new foundation for faith and they aren't new doctrine binding on every believer. You can respect what an official document actually judged and still ask about the limits of the evidence, and you are free not to follow a particular devotion.

📜What the Church has actually recognized: Mocking a judgment that something is “worthy of belief and beneficial for devotion,” or declaring it false, is different from not accepting it as an obligatory article of faith. We shouldn't force our conscience or our devotions on one another.

🎨An analogy — a window helps the light, but it isn't the foundation of the house

A beautiful window lets you see the sunlight better, but it isn't the foundation holding the house up. An approved private revelation can help you look toward the Gospel, but it isn't a new foundation replacing Christ.

🧐If they press further: “May I tell children about miracle stories?” — Tell them while distinguishing official judgments from tradition and guesswork, and allow questions. Never tell a child that to cure an illness they should only pray, and never frighten them with the idea that not believing brings punishment.

✨In one sentence: “The center of Catholic faith is Christ. An approved private revelation can help, but it isn't a new gospel that compels belief.”