Popular pilgrimage site Medjugorje, where Virgin Mary said to appear, gets tentative Vatican approval

The Vatican on Thursday issued a statement acknowledging that spiritual "fruits" had come from the site of controversial purported apparitions of the Virgin Mary — while also stopping short of saying these apparitions were supernatural in origin. 

In June 1981, a group of six young people in Medjugorje, a town in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, claimed to have experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary, the Associated Press reported.

In "The Queen of Peace," the title of a lengthy "note" published on Thursday by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the dicastery, and Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary for the doctrinal section, noted that many "positive fruits" have come from Medjugorje since the alleged apparitions began in 1981.  

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Since the alleged visions began, Medjugorje has become a major pilgrimage site — with well over a million pilgrims coming each year to the town of just over 2,000 residents. 

The Vatican gave its formal approval of pilgrimages to the site back in 2019, noted the website Vatican News.

Medjugorje, according to Thursday's note, has a "large number" of spiritual "fruits" emerging from pilgrimages to the site, including "abundant conversions, a frequent return to the sacraments (particularly, the Eucharist and Reconciliation), many vocations to priestly, religious and married life," and others. 

"The positive fruits are most evident in the promotion of a healthy practice of a life of faith, in accordance with the tradition of the Church," the note said.

"In the context of Medjugorje, this applies both to those who had been previously distant from the faith, as well as to those who had practiced the faith only superficially." 

In the original vision, the figure introduced herself as the "Queen of Peace" and has since become known as "Our Lady of Medjugorje." 

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In the decades since, a number of the original visionaries have reported continued and regular visions of the Virgin Mary. 

The messages transmitted in these visions are cataloged and published on the Medjugorje website. 

In the most recent published message, on Aug. 25, visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti reported hearing a prayer for peace.

The regularity of the alleged messages from the Virgin Mary, as well as the content of some of the messages that appeared to be contradictory to accepted doctrine, have resulted in Medjugorje being somewhat of a controversial devotion.

Additionally, some of the visionaries have become pilgrimage attractions themselves — raising questions as to whether this is appropriate. 

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These controversies were addressed in Thursday's note, with Fernandez and Matteo writing they "strongly advise" that pilgrims to Medjugorje go there with the goal of having "an encounter with Mary, the Queen of Peace, and – faithful to her love for her Son – to encounter Christ and listen to him through mediation on the Word, by participation in the Eucharist, and in Eucharistic Adoration," rather than meeting with the alleged visionaries. 

Unlike other well-known pilgrimage sites in Europe alleging Marian apparitions – Fatima, Portugal; Lourdes, France; and Knock, Ireland – the Vatican has never stated that the alleged apparitions in Medjugorje are authentic or "supernatural in origin." 

In Thursday's note, however, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith did approve a "nihil obstat" declaration from the local bishop in Bosnia regarding the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje.

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"Nihil obstat" is a Latin phase meaning "no objection." 

In this case, this means the faithful are "authorized to give their adherence in a prudent matter" but are not obliged to believe that the apparitions are happening or are authentic. 

"The nihil obstat indicates that the faithful can receive a positive encouragement for their Christian life through this spiritual proposal, and it authorizes public acts of devotion," the note said. 

"Such a determination is possible insofar as many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God," the note said. 

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But the note clarified that just because there have been positive things coming from Medjugorje, that does not mean that the visions are actually from the Virgin Mary. 

"Moreover, the positive assessment that most of the messages of Medjugorje are edifying does not imply a declaration that they have a direct supernatural origin," the note said.

"Consequently, when referring to 'messages' from Our Lady, one should always bear in mind that they are 'alleged messages,'" the note added. 

The Associated Press contributed reporting.