Pilgrims Claim to Have Seen Marian Apparition at Ireland's Knock Shrine
People went to Ireland's Knock shrine on Saturday after a teenager claimed to have received a message that the Virgin Mary would appear and bless those who are present. The message spread on social media, prompting a mini-pilgrimage to the shrine.
The brouhaha began when a 14-year-old traveler revealed that he saw visions of the Virgin Mary at the shrine in Fatima. In an audio message online, the father gave an account of what his son saw and heard in Portugal last May. For two days, the boy saw Our Lady of Fatima and the visionaries, he said.
"The visionary from Medjugorje was speaking to him in Portuguese and (he) was able to understand every word out of her mouth," the father went on to say. He then announced that the Blessed Virgin will appear at 3:00 p.m. at Knock Shrine on June 10. He added that the Madonna will appear on the ground and will bless everyone on the ground.
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To recall, Pope Francis himself dismissed the alleged Marian apparition in Medjugorje as a manipulation after investigations by various Catholic commissions concluded nothing supernatural in the events. "This is not the Mother of Jesus," the pontiff said about the woman.
On the other hand, Knock shrine became a pilgrimage site after a housekeeper claimed to have seen visions on Aug. 21, 1879. She described what she saw as "a wonderful number of strange figures; one like the Blessed Virgin Mary and one like St. Joseph." But skeptics say what she saw were the effects of magic lanterns owned by a policeman during that time.
Last Saturday, thousands of people gathered at the shrine, but there were no miraculous sightings. A photo and video of the alleged apparition emerged online. But the footage didn't show anything out of the ordinary except the bright rays of the sun and floating clouds, although a woman was heard in the background turning emotional.
