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.

Beth Racine had just come out of church after confession in Medjugorje and was leaning against a wall when something caught her eye. A disc covered the sun. She saw swirling colors to the sides — red on one side and white on the other — that made her think of the image of Divine Mercy.

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 at an otherwise unremarkable village in southern Bosnia.

The Vatican has approved Marian devotion at Medjugorje without pronouncing on the authenticity of alleged apparitions, emphasizing positive spiritual fruits.

In June 1981, six children aged 10 to 16 claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared to them on a hilltop near the town.

Since the alleged visions, Medjugorje has evolved into a significant pilgrimage destination, attracting over a million visitors each year to the town, which has a population of just over 2,000.

Pope Francis has expressed some doubts on the messages, commenting in 2013 on the Virgin Mary’s particularly chatty nature at Medjugorje.