DEVOTION arising from alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje has been approved by Pope Francis, without a ruling on whether they are of supernatural origin.
The town in Bosnia-Herzegovina has become a place of pilgrimage since six children, aged ten to 17, first reported that they had seen the Virgin Mary while herding sheep, in June 1981. The diocese, of Mostar-Duvno, has refused to recognise the site, and a ban on organised pilgrimages was lifted only in May 2019, under a papal decree.
The new Note about the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje, from the Doctrinal Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, is the latest development in more than 40 years of investigation and debate. It concludes that people are “authorized to give it their adherence in a prudent manner”, while stating that this “does not imply a declaration of the supernatural character of the phenomenon in question”, and that people are “not obliged to believe in it”.
The determination is possible, it says, “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 evaluation “only highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful ‘in the midst’ of this spiritual phenomenon of Medjugorje. For this reason, all are invited to appreciate and share the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal.”
The note, approved by Pope Francis on 28 August, according to Crux magazine, follows the Dicastery’s publication in May of Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, which avoids definitive rulings on the authenticity of such episodes, introducing instead six “prudential conclusions”, including guidance for bishops on whether to encourage devotions (News, 24 May). The Medjugorie phenomenon is assessed as Nihil obstat (no objection is raised).
Among the “positive fruits” listed in the Dicastery’s assessment are conversions; a return to the sacraments; vocations to priestly, religious, and married life; and reconciliations between spouses. This fruit has become “distinct from the experience of the alleged visionaries, who are no longer seen as the central mediators of the ‘Medjugorje phenomenon’,” the note says.
Since the 1981 apparitions, some of the original seers report experiencing further appearances, and the note considers the alleged messages conveyed in the light of the Church’s teaching. The assessment that “most of the messages of Medjugorje are edifying does not imply a declaration that they have a direct supernatural origin”, it says. “One should always bear in mind that they are ‘alleged messages’.”
While the messages “overall possess great value and express the constant teachings of the Gospel in different words”, a few “stray from these positive and edifying contents and even seem to go so far as to contradict them”. In some messages, the note observes, “Our Lady seems to show some irritation because some of her instructions were not followed” and warns about “threatening signs and the possibility of no longer appearing”. In others, she “seems to want to exercise control over the details of the parish’s spiritual and pastoral journey”. A minority of messages, it says, are “explained solely from the personal desires of the alleged visionaries”.
Although 42,000 apparitions have been reported at Medjugorje, bishops in the area have expressed doubts. A ban on organised pilgrimages was issued by the Yugoslav Episcopal Conference in 1984, although a Commission of the Conference ruled in 1991 that those gathering at the site required “attention and pastoral care”, and it agreed to issue “suitable liturgical-pastoral directives”.
In 1998, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that private pilgrimages were permitted, and that the position of the Ordinary of Medjugorje (that the phenomenon was of non-supernatural origin) was not its own. In 2015, Pope Francis took upon himself all decisions regarding Medjugorje, and, in 2019, a disposition by the Pope was made public, according to which “it is possible to organize pilgrimages to Medjugorje, provided that care is taken to avoid them being interpreted as an authentication of the events.”
The new note invites bishops to “appreciate the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal, and even to promote its spread”, but emphasises that “the power of each Diocesan Bishop to assess prudently what is happening in his own territory and to make his own decision on the matter remains firmly in place.”
In 2021, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Aldo Cavalli as the new Apostolic Visitor to the parish of Medjugorje. The position is described by the Vatican as “exclusively pastoral”. The new note instructs him to discern any future messages in the light of the note’s clarifications, and to authorise them before publication.