But in line with new Vatican criteria in place this year, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the positive “spiritual fruits” stemming from the Medjugorje experience more than justified allowing the faithful to organize pilgrimages there and permit public acts of devotion.

The Vatican is providing its long-awaited assessment on one of the more contested aspects of Roman Catholicism in recent years: the reported “apparitions” of the Virgin Mary in

After decades, and controversy, the Vatican has authorized public worship at a shrine in Bosnia, where a once tranquil village has become a major pilgrimage site.