After more than four decades of investigation into alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office will hold a news conference Thursday on the “spiritual experience” at the Marian site.
The alleged visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Medjugorje would have occurred to six children beginning on June 24, 1981, originally on the top of a hill near the city.
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Since they began, Mary’s alleged events and messages have been a source of controversy and division, as fame of the phenomena spread despite statements by local bishops and Vatican authorities that there was no confirmation of their authenticity.
However, devotees continued to flock to the area, even when pilgrimages organized by the Church were prohibited. They were later allowed after a papal envoy found evidence of spiritual fruits for those who visited them.
More than 40 years after they first claimed to have been visited by Mary, the supposed psychics say that they continue receiving messages from the Virginwhich convey a desire for peace for the world, a call to conversion, prayer and fasting, and certain secrets about events that will take place in the future.
Below is a timeline of the Catholic Church’s investigations and decisions regarding Medjugorje:
April 10, 1991: After local bishops formed three different commissions to study the phenomenon in Medjugorje beginning in January 1982, the episcopal conference of what was then Yugoslavia ruled that “based on the studies carried out so far, it cannot be stated that supernatural apparitions and revelations are occurring” in Medjugorje.
March 23, 1996: Affirming the indications of the bishops of Yugoslavia, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Tarcisio Bertone, says in a response to a letter from a French bishop that official pilgrimages to Medjugorje as a place of authentic Marian apparitions, organized at the diocesan or parish level, are not permitted.
March 17, 2010: At the request of the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pope Benedict XVI creates a commission chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini to investigate the supernatural nature of the events at Medjugorje. The commission includes approximately 20 cardinals, bishops and experts.
January 17, 2014: After almost four years of investigations into the doctrinal and disciplinary aspects of the Medjugorje apparitions, the commission formed in 2010 complete your work and submit a documentthe so-called “Ruini report”, to the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
June 6, 2015: Pope Francis visits Bosnia and Herzegovina, but refrains from stopping in Medjugorje. During the press conference on the papal plane back to Rome, the Pope said that the Vatican’s investigation into the apparitions was almost complete.
Sometime in 2016: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the direction of Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, reads and discusses the findings of the “Ruini report.” The opinions of members of the congregation are sent to Pope Francis.
February 11, 2017: Pope Francis appoints Polish archbishop Henryk Hoser papal envoy to Medjugorje “with the aim of deepening the knowledge of the pastoral situation there and, above all, of the needs of the faithful who make pilgrimages.” A Vatican spokesperson clarifies that the archbishop’s mandate is pastoral and not doctrinal in nature.
Two months after his appointment as special envoy, Bishop Hoser tells reporters that the site has many genuine expressions of faith, and that many vocations are found there. However, he clarifies that the final determination of the authenticity of the apparitions remains to be seen.
May 13, 2017: Pope Francis talk about the commission formed by Benedict XVI in 2010 and the so-called “Ruini report” during a press conference aboard the papal plane returning from Fátima (Portugal). He says that He personally suspects the apparitions, since they seem to turn the Blessed Virgin Mary into a “Head of the Telegraph Office” who delivers daily messages.
May 17, 2017: A report in the “Vatican Insider” section of the Italian periodical La Stampa says the commission’s 2010-2014 “Ruini report” found a difference between the first seven alleged apparitions from June 24 to July 3, 1981 and those that followed. The vote on the first seven supposed visions gave a mostly favorable opinion of supernaturality.
According to La Stampathe majority of the commission members also expressed the opinion that the spiritual fruits of Medjugorje were positive or mostly positive. On the supernatural character of the alleged after-visions, the majority of the commission members said that no opinion could be expressed and two members voted against.
December 7, 2017: Mons. Hoser he told Catholic media outlet Aleteia that while the Pope will make a final decision on the authenticity of the alleged visions in Medjugorje, “today, dioceses and other institutions can organize official pilgrimages. “It’s not a problem anymore.”
May 31, 2018: Pope Francis name again to Bishop Hoser, Archbishop Emeritus of Warsaw-Prague, apostolic visitor to Medjugorje, with the task of overseeing the pastoral needs of the site for an undetermined period of time. This appointment follows the archbishop’s previous role as papal envoy.
May 12, 2019: Pope Francis formally authorizes Catholics to organize pilgrimages to Medjugorje in recognition of the “abundant fruits of grace” that have arisen from visits to the sanctuary, although the Church has not yet issued a verdict on the authenticity of the alleged apparitions.
August 14, 2021: Mons. Hoser dies in a hospital in Warsaw (Poland), after a long and serious illness. He was 78 years old.
November 27, 2021: Pope Francis appoints Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, a long-time Vatican diplomat, as special apostolic visitor of the parish community of Medjugorje for an indefinite period, after the death of Bishop Hoser.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Hannah Brockhaus
Hannah Brockhaus is Rome correspondent for Catholic News Agency. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a bachelor’s degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.