VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Thursday gave the green light for Catholics to continue flocking to a southern Bosnian village where children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary, offering 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.