The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a note today after a long investigation into the alleged apparitions that began in 1981 in the Bosnia and Herzegovina town. Nothing is said about their supernatural nature, but the Vatican recognises the good produced in the lives of so many people. "We now welcome these messages not as private revelations,” said Card Fernandez, “but only as edifying texts that can stimulate a true and beautiful spiritual experience".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Prefect of Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Card Victor Manuel Fernandez, and the Secretary of the Dicastery, Mgr Armando Matteo, today held a long press conference in the Vatican presenting “The Queen of Peace”, a document about the “spiritual experience connected to Medjugorje”.

In it, the Church recognises the "abundant and widespread" fruits that have grown around the devotion to Our Lady venerated as Queen of Peace in Medjugorje, the town in Bosnia and Herzegovina where alleged Marian apparitions began in 1981, becoming since then the destination of many pilgrimages.

The Church officially asserts its “nulla osta” for this spiritual experience and urges the faithful, "to appreciate and share the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal.” However, this “does not imply that the alleged supernatural events are declared authentic. Instead, it only highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful ‘in the midst’ of this spiritual phenomenon of Medjugorje.”

The note starts by saying that, “The time has come to conclude a long and complex history that has surrounded the spiritual phenomena of Medjugorje. It is a history in which bishops, theologians, commissions, and analysts have expressed a series of divergent opinions.”

In line with the orientation established by the new Norms for proceeding in the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena, promulgated last May, the document on Medjugorje, approved by Pope Francis on 28 August, does not pronounce itself on the supernatural character of the apparitions.

"I expressly asked the pope if it was necessary to do so and his answer was that the nulla osta is sufficient," Fernandez said. For this reason, the note focuses on the spiritual life that has flourished around devotion to the Queen of Peace and on the messages spread in recent years, concluding that “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.”

It is, however, “necessary to clarify some points of possible confusion that can lead some small groups to distort the valuable proposition of this spiritual experience, especially if the messages are read partially.”

The note stresses that the "nulla osta" does not imply, "a judgment about the moral life of the alleged visionaries." For Card Fernandez, the investigation of Medjugorje is not "a trial of their heroic virtues," as some objections raised during the long examination of the alleged apparitions seemed to suggest.

Among the spiritual fruits born of this experience, the document mentions "the promotion of a healthy practice of a life of faith " in accordance with the tradition of the Church; the "abundant conversions" of people who have discovered or rediscovered the faith; the return to confession and sacramental communion, the numerous vocations, the “many reconciliations between spouses, and the renewal of marriage and family life.”

On the messages attributed to Our Lady – which were examined by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith – Card Fernandez said that “most of them have a beautiful content that can stimulate the faithful to conversion, to grow in the encounter with Christ, to be builders of peace in the world. That is, they re-propose with other words closer to the simple language of our people, the encouragements and exhortations that come from the Gospel."

Some messages, he added, "may contain phrases that are not precise from an academic point of view, phrases that are not exactly from St Thomas Aquinas. On the other hand, when one recognises the action of the Holy Spirit in the midst of a spiritual experience, it does not mean that everything that belongs to that experience is free from imprecision, imperfection or possible confusion."

"We now welcome these messages not as private revelations, because we do not have any certainty that they are messages from Our Lady,” said Card Fernandez, “but only as edifying texts that can stimulate a true and beautiful spiritual experience.”

These messages "should be accepted and evaluated as a whole", starting from their centre: the invitation to forgiveness as the way to peace, the call to conversion, and not to underestimate the gravity of evil and sin.

According to what the alleged visionaries report, it is Our Lady herself who recommends: “Do not go in search of extraordinary things. Instead, take the Gospel, read it, and everything will be clear to you”.

The "clarifications" that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith deems necessary also go in this direction, as invitations to relativise those passages in which the Virgin seems to give “orders about specific dates, places, and practicalities and when she makes decisions about ordinary matters.”

"Some messages can only be explained starting from the personal desires of the alleged visionaries,” Card Fernandez explained. “But it is reasonable that the faithful, making use of prudence and common sense, do not take seriously or do not listen to these details."

With respect to the special apostolic visitor for the parish of Medjugorje, a task performed by Archbishop Aldo Cavalli on behalf of Pope Francis since December 2021, the statement notes that, he “will continue to carry out the functions entrusted to him.”

Moreover, “In light of the clarifications offered above, he will then discern any future messages – or past messages that have not yet been published – and should authorize them before any publication. Likewise, he will take such measures as he deems necessary and will guide pastoral discernment in response to new situations that may arise”.

To the bishops of the dioceses where the Queen of Peace of Medjugorje is venerated, the Vatican document addresses the invitation to “appreciate the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal, and even to promote its spread.”

Each diocesan bishop has the power “to assess prudently what is happening in his own territory and to make his own decision on the matter remains firmly in place.”

Finally, concerning those who travel to Medjugorje, it is to be made clear that “pilgrimages are not made to meet with alleged visionaries but to have an encounter with Mary, the Queen of Peace”.

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