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The Vatican Commmission on Medjugorje handed over to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Granting Medjugorje the status of an approved Catholic shrine is among the recommendations that the Vatican Commmission on Medjugorje handed over to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on January 17, Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo told the Croatian news portal Dnevnik.

Cardinal Puljic, a member of the international investigative Commission since it was formed in 2010, says that a “verdict” from Pope Francis on the case of Medjugorje can be expected later this year.

The Medjuogroje Commission was initiated by Pope Benedict XVI almost four years ago, on March 17, 2010. He entrusted the work to Cardinal Camilio Ruini (in the foreground).

“The Commission has submitted the results of our work to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” Puljic said. “We worked on this for four years as an international Commission. The Congregation will consider our findings and make a proposal to the Pope, and then the Pope will decide how to handle it. This year we can expect the final word from the Holy Father.” The cardinal said pilgrims are still free to visit Medjugorje, upholding what has been the status quo since the bishops of then-Yugoslavia decided to allow visits in April 1991.

“The Commission is not opposed to Medjugorje as a place of faith where faithful pilgrims gather,” Cardinal Puljic said.

The Medjugorje inquiry commission was set up in March 2010 under the direction of an Italian cardinal, Camillo Ruini, who for many years was the vicar of Pope John Paul II for the city of Rome. Fr. Federico Lombardi in mid-January confirmed that the commission had held its last meeting and the results of the inquiry would now be examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Prefect Archbishop Gerhard Müller.

The material includes interviews with the six seers and other witnesses, expert reports, and theological reflections on the messages. The report will now be studied alongside other documentation the Congregation has gathered over the course of the years.

According to Vatican Insider, the Commission focused on the first phase of apparitions to determine if there was evidence of any tricks, hoaxes or abuse of popular credulity. No such evidence was found.

However, it is proving difficult for the Church to form a definitive verdict on the supernatural nature of a phenomenon that is still ongoing.

Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Of the six seers who reported apparitions in June 1981, when they were still children or in their teens, three claim that they still see daily apparitions of the “Queen of Peace” at the same time every afternoon, wherever they happen to be. These seers are: Vicka (who lives in Medjugorje), Marija (who lives in Monza, Italy) and Ivan (who lives in the US but returns to his homeland often). A fourth seer, Mirjana, sees an apparition on the second day of each month.