They Said the Virgin Mary Appeared. The Vatican Is Finally Weighing In.

After decades, and controversy, the Vatican has authorized public worship at a shrine in Bosnia, where a once tranquil village has become a major pilgrimage site.

In June 1981, six children between the ages of 10 and 16 claimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to them on a stony hilltop near the village of Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The children said she had shared messages of peace and prayer with them.

The visionaries, as the group became known, say that the Virgin has been returning to Medjugorje (pronounced mehd-JOO-gor-ee-yeh) ever since. Their claim has drawn millions of the faithful from around the world, transforming the once tranquil farming village into a major pilgrimage site.

From the outset, though, the alleged apparitions have polarized Roman Catholic opinion. Millions of believers say they have found spiritual solace in Medjugorje, with dozens of reports of miraculous healings, conversions and religious callings. Others dismiss the sightings as a hoax, in part because they have continued so long and occurred with clockwork regularity.

After years of commissions, analyses and pronouncements from the Vatican and local officials, the Vatican issued a document on Thursday “to conclude a long and complex history that has surrounded the spiritual phenomena of Medjugorje.”

The Vatican Weighs In

Acknowledging the “positive encouragement for their Christian life” that many pilgrims receive at Medjugorje, the Vatican has decided to authorize public worship there.

But the document, signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, stressed that its decision was not meant to verify the presence of a supernatural phenomenon at the site.

Given that apparitions or other sightings are private experiences for individuals, the church does not require the faithful to accept the authenticity of such sightings. In this case, the document states that “the faithful are not obliged to believe in it.”

Citing some of the messages the Virgin Mary is said to have delivered at Medjugorje over the decades, the Vatican said that while most were “edifying,” that did not mean “that they have a direct supernatural origin.” Consequently, they should be identified as “alleged messages” delivered through the visionaries.

The church’s evaluation of “the abundant and widespread fruits, which are so beautiful and positive, does not imply that the alleged supernatural events are declared authentic,” the document states. But the spiritual phenomena at Medjugorje act “for the good of the faithful,” it says.

Cardinal Fernández said on Thursday that the past three popes had acknowledged the fruits of Medjugorje, in that way showing “great respect toward a devotion that is diffuse throughout the world.”

But he said that Pope Francis had no intention of addressing the question of the possible supernatural nature of the alleged apparitions. The pope told him that he thought the Vatican clearance for public worship was sufficient and that “there is no need to go beyond this statement,” Cardinal Fernández said.

David Murgia, an author and journalist who has written two books about Medjugorje, said that the new document would disappoint those who wanted clarity from the Vatican about the alleged apparitions.

“People go to Medjugorje because they think the Virgin appears in real time,” he said. “I think it’s absurd that you tell me that the consequences are good, but not if the origin is real.”

He added: “It’s like saying that fruit is good, but we don’t know if the tree exists.”

The Road to the Decision

Several investigations into the origins of the apparitions have been inconclusive.

Two early investigations led by the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno in Bosnia and one carried out by the former Bishops’ Conference of Yugoslavia failed to provide definitive conclusions. One of Pope Benedict XVI’s top cardinals led a commission to examine the apparitions, but its findings were never published.

The Vatican said its conclusions on Medjugorje were based on new, comprehensive guidelines for evaluating visions of the Virgin Mary and other supernatural, faith-based phenomena that it issued last May.

According to the new rules, the church will no longer issue declarations that accept the supernatural origin of such phenomena, as the Vatican had at Fátima, in Portugal; and Lourdes, in France, two important shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Instead, after assessing the event and finding no “negative elements in it,” the church can issue a citation saying that nothing should stop a local bishop from recognizing the benefits of such “spiritual phenomena,” or even promoting them.

That’s what the Vatican has decided for Medjugorje.

“Those new rules were written solely so the Vatican could say something about Medjugorje,” Mr. Murgia said.

Lingering Controversy?

Skeptics of the Medjugorje phenomenon have accused some of those involved of exploiting the visions for financial gain.

There have been other issues as well, including “a long conflict,” between local prelates dating from before the presumed apparitions but also exacerbated by them. Cardinal Fernández also acknowledged during the news conference that a priest who had been close to the visionaries in the early years was later defrocked for “moral and sexual” failings.

Though official statistics are unavailable, it is certain that many millions of pilgrims — about a million a year, the Vatican said on Thursday — have visited Medjugorje, where once quiet streets are now lined with hotels and other visitor accommodation. The number of priests who celebrate there and the number of communion hosts distributed are continually tallied and updated by the parish.

The bishop of Mostar-Duvno has issued a decree upholding the Vatican’s opinion. Cardinal Fernández said that with the Vatican clearance, a shrine could now be built in Medjugorje. “It’s a possibility, but no decision has been taken,” he said.

After the Vatican clearance, the parish of Medjugorje will no longer automatically publish messages on its website that it says come from the Virgin. A Vatican official in Medjugorje will now oversee and authorize the publication of messages, in discussion with the local bishop, and, if necessary, with the Vatican doctrinal office.

Some critics have questioned the content of some of the messages, however. The Vatican acknowledged these concerns in its document, noting that a few messages “could be tied to the desires or interests of the presumed visionaries or other persons.”

But the Vatican pointed out that the vast majority of the messages — there have been thousands — contained “great value and express the constant teachings of the Gospel.”

As for the visionaries themselves, the document notes that the Vatican makes no “judgment about the moral life of the alleged visionaries.”

It also added, “May the people who go to Medjugorje be strongly advised that pilgrimages are not made to meet with alleged visionaries,” but to have a spiritual experience and to participate in a Mass.

As the alleged messages are continuing, the Vatican’s clearance “doesn’t resolve everything for the future, it is open to developments in time and space,” Cardinal Fernández said.