The Vatican announced that it has formed a commission to look into the phenomenon of Medjugorje, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where six young people have said they have had visions of Mary since the early 1980’s.
A short communique issued by the Vatican press office indicated that, “An international investigative commission on Medjugorje has been constituted, under the presidency of Cardinal Camillo Ruini and dependent upon the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”
“Said commission — made up of cardinals, bishops, specialists and experts — will work privately, submitting the results of its work to the authority of the dicastery,” added the text.
Beginning in 1981, six children of Medjugorje, a hamlet of a few houses located 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Mostar, said they had seen the Blessed Virgin on a nearby hill. Since then, the hamlet has become part of the world circuit of pilgrimages, drawing at least 15 million people. Prayer meetings and associations of all kinds have started worldwide. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, noted today that initially a diocesan commission existed to investigate the apparitions.
In its statement on Medjugorje of April 10, 1991, the episcopate explained that nothing of the supernatural could be confirmed in what was happening. It also pointed out the need to assist at the pastoral level, under the responsibility of the parish priest and the local bishop, all those who come to pray in this place.
VATICAN CITY, (Zenit.org)