The Vatican has made a decision, but not really. They basically say they don't believe the so called witnesses have seen (and still keep seeing) and talked to the virgin Mary, but the place can still keep their business and make money and send it to papa.
Quote:They Said the Virgin Mary Appeared. The Vatican Is Finally Weighing In.
In June 1981, six children between the ages of 10 and 16 claimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to them on a stony hilltop near the village of Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The children said she had shared messages of peace and prayer with them.
The visionaries, as the group became known, say that the Virgin has been returning to Medjugorje (pronounced mehd-JOO-gor-ee-yeh) ever since. Their claim has drawn millions of the faithful from around the world, transforming the once tranquil farming village into a major pilgrimage site.
Millions of believers say they have found spiritual solace in Medjugorje, with dozens of reports of miraculous healings, conversions and religious callings. Others dismiss the sightings as a hoax.
Acknowledging the “positive encouragement for their Christian life” that many pilgrims receive at Medjugorje, the Vatican has decided to authorize public worship there.
But the document, signed by Víctor Manuel Fernández, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, stressed that its decision was not meant to verify the presence of a supernatural phenomenon at the site.
Given that apparitions or other sightings are private experiences for individuals, the church does not require the faithful to accept the authenticity of such sightings. In this case, the document states that “the faithful are not obliged to believe in it.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/world...tican.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
