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Pope Benedict XVI waves to the faithful - Source: Reuters
The Vatican has opened an investigation into reported
apparitions of the Virgin Mary at the small town of Medjugorje in
southern Bosnia which have drawn more than 30 million pilgrims and
divided the Catholic Church.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Church's top
doctrinal body, has named an international commission of inquiry
headed by Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini, a confidant of former
Pope John Paul, the Vatican said.
Since six children first reported visions of the Virgin Mary on a
hillside near Medjugorje in 1981 - reminiscent of famous
apparitions in the French town of Lourdes and Fatima in Portugal -
Catholics have debated whether the visions were a modern-day
miracle, wishful thinking or an elaborate fraud.
"This commission, composed of cardinals, bishops, theologians and
experts, will work in a confidential manner and submit the result
of its investigation to the Congregation," the Vatican said in a
statement.
Unlike Fatima or Lourdes, the Vatican has not officially recognised
the apparitions in the small town, some 100 km southwest of
Sarajevo, and claims about it are controversial.
Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar, the nearest city in Bosnia, warned
Catholics last year against uncritical belief in the Medjugorje
sightings and issued a series of restrictions on the parish.
In July, Pope Benedict defrocked Rev Tomislav Vlasic, a Franciscan
priest who served as a former "spiritual director" to the six
visionaries, after a year-long probe into charges he exaggerated
the apparitions and had fathered a child with a nun.
Months later, Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, a close ally of
Benedict, stirred controversy with a well-publicised visit to the
shrine in December that drew a public reproach from Peric.
Schoenborn, who issued a letter of apology, had insisted his visit
there was private.
Despite clashes between the Franciscan priests running the site and
the Vatican, which expelled 10 of them from the order for promoting
the site in defiance of its warnings, the village became a
pilgrimage destination, giving many visitors a renewed sense of
spirituality and locals a steady source of revenue.
The 1992-95 Bosnian war disrupted the flow of pilgrims, but with
three now middle-aged locals still reporting visions, thousands
still flock to the town every year.
