Scottish Catholic Observer

Fr Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See Press Office, said that the international commission investigating the events in Medjugorje held its last meeting on January 17. The commission, created by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), is presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini. The commission has reportedly completed its work and will submit the outcomes of its study to the congregation.

After the commission’s report is examined by the CDF, it will be given to the Pope who will have the final say, but this may take some time.

The commission, which has been working in strict secrecy since 2010, is made up of an international panel of cardinals, bishops, theologians and other experts who have been undertaking a detailed study of reports of Marian apparitions at Medjugorje, which began in 1981. These apparitions continue regularly to this day, according to the shrine’s six ‘seers,’ attracting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.

The local hierarchy has sought to discourage the ‘Medjugorje phenomenon’ which prompted the Vatican to carry out its own investigation. The Holy Father met Bosnian Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Sarajevo, at a private audience last Thursday.

The Vatican currently does not forbid anyone visiting Medjugorje, but visitors are asked not to engage in public celebrations that take for granted the authenticity of the apparitions.