(19 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Medjugorje, Bosnia – 19 Sept 2024
1. Pilgrims at “Hill of Apparitions”
2. Pilgrims at shrine, touching Jesus statue
3. Pilgrims around Virgin Mary statue
4. Various of pilgrims at site praying
5. Muddy feet of pilgrim (who commonly walk barefoot on site)
6. Various of people praying
7. Wide of hill
8. Woman praying
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Laura, pilgrim from Mexico:
“Every time I get the communion, it’s the same…why just here I feel that and not the other way? So it changed my way to see the communion. And with the Virgin, I don’t know, I always feel like she is really good mother and she always, like, hugs you every time you go with her. Even if the weather is not good. I was looking for something to grow spiritually and I feel like I’m growing spiritually. I feel like more peace.”
10. Various of pilgrims on hill
11. Various of people walking barefoot
12. Virgin Mary statue on a hill
STORYLINE:
Catholic pilgrims who come to Medjugorje in southern Bosnia have to climb the so-called "hill of apparitions", or Podbrdo, where children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary in 1981.
Ever since then, there has been an ongoing debate as to the authenticity of the apparitions.
The Vatican on Thursday gave the green light for Catholics to continue flocking to the site a southern Bosnian village where children reported seeing the visions.
In doing so, the Vatican offered its approval for devotion at one of the most contested sites of Roman Catholic practice in recent years.
In a detailed analysis after nearly 15 years of study, the Vatican’s doctrine office didn’t declare that the reported apparitions in Medjugorje were authentic or of supernatural origin.
And it flagged concerns about contradictions in some of the “messages” the alleged visionaries say they have received over the years.
But in line with new Vatican criteria in place this year, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the positive “spiritual fruits” stemming from the Medjugorje experience more than justified allowing the faithful to organize pilgrimages there and permit public acts of devotion.
The decision overrules years of doubts about the veracity of the alleged apparitions by the region’s past diocesan bishops and Vatican experts.
And it ignores current concerns about the economic interests that have turned Medjugorje into a thriving destination for religious tourists.
Last year alone, 1.7 million Eucharistic wafers were distributed during Masses there, according to statistics published on the site’s website, a rough estimate of the numbers of Catholics who visited.
But with Pope Francis’ blessing, the doctrine office decided that “the abundant and widespread fruits, which are so beautiful and positive,” justified its decision.
It said doing so “highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful in the midst of this spiritual phenomenon.”
In 1981, six children and teenagers reported seeing visions of the Madonna on a hill in the village of Medjugorje, located in the wine-making region of southern Bosnia.
Some of those original “seers” have claimed the visions have occurred regularly since then, even daily, and that Mary sends them messages.
By some counts, the Virgin Mary has appeared to the “seers” more than 40,000 times since 1981.
AP Video shot by Almir Alic
Production by Eldar Emric
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