(ANSA-AP) - VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis says pilgrimages can
be organized to a Bosnian shrine where the Virgin Mary is
reported to have appeared, but the Vatican is stressing that no
decision has yet been taken on whether the apparitions in
Medjugorje are authentic.
Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Sunday that "care
must be taken to avoid interpreting these pilgrimages as
authentication" of the visions that six youths said they
experienced there in 1981. The Vatican says those events "still
require study by the Church."
Millions of Catholics have flocked to the site. But despite
years of study, the Vatican has never declared the visions as
authentic, unlike the phenomenon of visions of Mary at Fatima,
Portugal, or Lourdes, France, two other immensely popular
pilgrimage destinations. Local Bosnian bishops have questioned
the interests of the "seers." (ANSA-AP).
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