VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis has approved a Catholic spiritual devotion centred in Medjugorje, a town in Bosnia that has been steeped in controversy over whether the Virgin Mary appears to local people, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The Vatican issued a long-awaited note on the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It did not say the apparitions were authentic but acknowledged spiritual fruit.

The Vatican said Thursday it recognised the shrine of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, without commenting on the Virgin's "alleged messages" to the faithful, who have gathered there in the millions for more than 40 years.

Catholic worshipers who claim to have seen and spoken to the Virgin Mary at a Bosnian landmark received mixed messages from the Vatican on Thursday after the Church refused to say whether their visions were real — while still supporting worship at the site.

In 1981, children and teenagers reported seeing visions of Mary on a hill in the village of Međugorje in southern Bosnia. View on euronews