What is the Latest About Medjugorje?

On 19 September 2024, the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a “nihil obstat” for the alleged ongoing apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  For supporters and devotees of Medjugorje, the Vatican’s decision is the best that could have happened under the revised Vatican criteria for evaluating alleged supernatural phenomena.  

 
Our Blessed Mother’s appearances at Medjugorje are among the most well-known of the Marian apparitions of modern times and certainly the most significant of the last fifty years.  Since June 1981, six young people in this small village in the Bosnia-Herzegovina region of the Balkans have received numerous messages of dire warnings about the future of humanity, ie. the End Times.  Our Blessed Mother’s appearances at Medjugorje are an urgent call for humanity to return to God before the fulfillment of the End Times.  It is a call to prayer, penance, fasting, reading the Bible and receiving the Holy Eucharist.  Early in her appearances to them, Our Blessed Mother informed the six seers / visionaries that they would each receive ten secrets about the coming events.  Three of the seers have received all ten secrets; the other three have received nine secrets.  The ninth and tenth secrets pertain to serious chastisements for the world’s sins.  Being that they are secrets, little has been publicly revealed about the exact content of the ten secrets.  Three of the visionaries still receive daily apparitions of Our Blessed Mother, one receives an apparition monthly and on her birthday, and two receive apparitions annually.

 
There are a number of websites that discuss Medjugorje.  I recommend this recent article by Joseph Pronechen for an overview of Medjugorje  https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259393/medjugorje-what-catholics-should-know-about-the-alleged-marian-apparitions  

These alleged apparitions at Medjugorje have generated a great deal of controversy with several local bishops in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a number of other prominent Catholic leaders having denied their authenticity.  

 
With alleged supernatural phenomena, the Vatican takes a very cautious and prudent process in evaluating their authenticity.  Back in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed a special commission headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini to investigate the Medjugorje apparitions.  In May 2017, the Ruini Commission recommended that the first seven apparitions be deemed authentic and of supernatural nature.     

(See https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/36051/medjugorje-the-findings-of-the-ruini-report   )  

From 1978 until May 2024, the Vatican employed three classifications for alleged supernatural:  

1) constat de supernaturalitate (it is established supernatural)

2) constat de non supernaturalitate (it is established not supernatural)

3) non constat de supernaturalitate (it is not established supernatural)

 
Then on 17 May 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope Francis I issued a major revision to the supernatural classifications.  Under the new “Norms” for evaluating alleged supernatural phenomena, there are now six new classifications ranging from “nihil obstat” (no objection) to “Declaratio de non supernaturalitate” (not supernatural).  

 
(See the Vatican website https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2024/05/17/240517h.html 

and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website https://www.usccb.org/news/2024/vatican-publishes-new-norms-discern-alleged-supernatural-phenomena   ) 

 
The significance of these changes is that 1) the Vatican and the Church will no longer formally approve alleged supernatural phenomena as being supernatural and 2) the Vatican has ended the local bishops’ authority to approve supernatural phenomena.  

On 19 September 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released its decision on Medjugorje.  Their decision was approved by Pope Francis I.  The Dicastery granted Medjugorje a “nihil obstat.”  Under the new Norms, the “nihil obstat” means:

  “Without expressing any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon itself, many signs of the action of the Holy Spirit are acknowledged ‘in the midst’ of a given spiritual experience, and no aspects that are particularly critical or risky have been detected, at least so far.”  

Thus, the faithful may continue to make pilgrimages to the apparitions’ site and may participate in public acts of devotion associated with the Medjugorje phenomenon.  The Dicastery also encourages the faithful to encounter Mary, Queen of Peace (the Marian title most frequently associated with Medjugorje) and her Son Our Savior through mediation on the Gospel, receiving the Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration.  (The full text of the Dicastery declaration can be found here  https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2024/09/19/0704/01411.html#en  )

 
(See also Catholic News Agency https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259377/medjugorje-vatican-gives-green-light-to-marian-devotion-but-says-some-issues-need-clarifying  )

 
In their lengthy explanation of Medjugorje, the Dicastery summarized the history of the apparitions and even quoted from several of Our Blessed Mother’s messages.  The Dicastery also acknowledged the numerous spiritual fruits that have occurred as a result of Medjugorje experiences.   The Dicastery critiqued several of the alleged messages.  The Dicastery also stated that the faithful are not required to believe in or be devoted to the alleged events and messages associated with Medjugorje.  

Significantly, the Dicastery emphasized several times that they were not approving the apparitions as being supernatural.   The Dicastery stated:  “Evaluating the abundant and widespread fruits, which are so beautiful and positive, 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. For this reason, all are invited to appreciate and share the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal (cf. Norms, par. 17).”

 
Even if the Vatican did not formally approve Medjugorje as being supernatural, their 19 September 2024 decision on Medjugorje is very significant.  Five of the six new classifications for supernatural phenomena are negative, albeit in varying degrees.  The ‘nihil obstat’ is the only classification with a positive decision.  With this decision, the Vatican is encouraging devotion, even if it is not formally approving it as supernatural.