Throughout the history of the Church, men and women of every age and social condition have claimed to have received visions or messages from the Virgin Mary. These phenomena, known as Marian apparitions, form one of the most fascinating —and also most delicate— chapters in the history of Christian spirituality.

The Church’s stance towards apparitions is, on principle, cautious and rigorous. A diocesan commission of inquiry examines the facts for years: the testimonies, the life of the seers and the spiritual fruits produced. Only at the end of this process may the bishop —or, in exceptional cases, the Holy See— declare the events «worthy of belief» (constat de supernaturalitate), which does not mean that the faithful are obliged to believe in them, but that the Church finds no contradiction with the faith.

Among the most significant approved apparitions are: Guadalupe (Mexico, 1531), where the Virgin appeared to the Indian Juan Diego, leaving her image imprinted on his tilma; Lourdes (France, 1858), where Bernadette Soubirous saw the Lady 18 times in the grotto of Massabielle; Fátima (Portugal, 1917), with the three little shepherds who received the celebrated «Secrets» and the prodigious «Miracle of the Sun»; Beauraing and Banneux (Belgium, 1932–1933), two apparitions of the same period approved in 1949.

The case of Medjugorje (Bosnia-Herzegovina, since 1981) remains under official study by the Holy See. In 2024 the spread of the Medjugorje prayer was authorised, though without any pronouncement on the supernatural character of the events. Millions of pilgrims continue to visit this place every year.

In this section we gather the principal accounts and analyses of Marian apparitions around the world, both those approved and those awaiting the Church’s definitive discernment. Each page includes history, context, the Virgin’s messages and the current state of the process of ecclesiastical recognition.