Beware this self-proclaimed mystic, warns CBCP head

The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has warned fellow prelates against a controversial “mystic” who claims to have received divine messages. “We should be extremely careful and also pastorally charitable to our people who are attracted to the teachings of Vassula Ryden,” CBCP president and Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles said in his Nov. 18 letter. A Greek Orthodox living in Switzerland, Ryden claims to be receiving messages from Jesus and Mary, and has documented their alleged messages in multiple volumes of a book.—TINA SANTOS