Pope Francis casts doubt on Virgin Mary apparitions at Bosnian pilgrimage site

Pope Francis has doubts about supposed daily apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje in Bosnia. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

Pope Francis on Saturday expressed serious doubts regarding reported daily apparitions of the Virgin at Medjugorje in Bosnia, a site which attracts a million pilgrims annually.

In June 1981, six Bosnian children and teenagers said they had witnessed the appearance of the Virgin in the southern town, and allege she continues to visit to this day.

The woman they saw “is not the mother of Jesus,” the Pope said Saturday aboard the papal plane on his return from a trip to Portugal, where he canonised two young shepherds who had visions of the Virgin 100 years ago.