Statue of Holy Mary at the site of her reported apparation
Local media
quoted on Friday Bosnian Cardinal Vinko Puljic saying that this will be
the first Vatican commission ever to visit Medjugorje.
In
1991, a Commission set up by the Bishopric Conference in the former
Yugoslavia visited the town, but ruled that nothing out of the ordinary
ever took place. The Vatican has never investigated the sightings, nor
has it recognized them.
Puljic stressed that no swift decision
should be expected as the commission will look separately into the
apparitions as well as into the work of local clerics. The process of
recognition of apparitions by the Vatican usually takes decades.
On
June 1981, six young parishioners from Medjugorje reported seeing a
white form with a child in her arms on one of the surrounding hills.
They interpreted this and other apparitions they reportedly witnessed
as the Holy Mary.
The story spread quickly and Medjugorje became
one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe, attracting millions
of visitors each year. The development has transformed the remote and
poor village into one of the most developed and rich small towns in the
country.
Though the Vatican’s lack of recognition has not
stopped the pilgrims, it has nearly created a split within the Roman
Catholic Church in Bosnia as local priests have continued providing
services in the Medjugorje church even when threatened with expulsion
from their order.
Mostar’s Bishop Ratko Perić, who is
responsible for the southern Bosnia region, still publicly denies any
apparitions in Medjugorje.
