In a letter published on July 9, 2025, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, granted his nihil obstat – “nothing stands in the way,” in Latin – to the reported Marian apparitions on Mount Zvir in Slovakia.
While not affirming the supernatural authenticity of the “apparitions” on Mount Zvir in Slovakia, this decision allows public devotion, with some reservations.
Cardinal Fernández recognizes that most of the messages attributed to these apparitions of the Virgin Mary are “valuable calls to conversion.” He nevertheless warns against some of them “that could lead to confusion,” and asks the local religious authorities to publish a collection of the messages that does not include these “ambiguities.”
The letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is a response to a request from Archbishop Jonáš Maxim, Archbishop of Prešov (Slovakia) and Primate of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church. The Eastern Church he leads, which follows the Byzantine rite, has been attached to Rome since the 17th century and autonomous since 1818. It has more than 200,000 faithful, most of whom live in Slovakia.
The letter is translated into English at the Vatican web site and includes some of what Mary is reported to have said, including:
“Let Jesus free you. Let Jesus set you free. And do not let your Enemy limit your freedom for which Jesus shed so much blood. The free soul is the soul of a child” (5 December 1993).
Our Lady, who is full of grace, presents herself as happy: “I am happy” (5 December 1993). She also repeats this as an invitation to discover the true path to happiness, which begins with the recognition of being unconditionally loved:
“I love you as you are. [...] I love you! I love you! I want you to be happy, but this world will never make you happy” (7 August 1994).
The “apparitions”
It is on the territory of the Archieparchy of Prešov, on Mount Zvir — near the village of Litmanová — that the alleged apparitions took place. Two young girls, Ivetka Korčáková and Katka Češelková, claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary appear to them. They claim she gave them 83 messages between 1990 and 1995.
Since 2008, Mount Zvir has become an important place of pilgrimage for Slovak Catholics, particularly because of the presence of a spring that the Virgin Mary is said to have blessed.
In his letter, Cardinal Fernández states that his dicastery examined the messages said to have been transmitted by the Virgin Mary and discerned in them “valuable calls to conversion, along with a promise of happiness and inner freedom.” He believes that “the general value of the alleged messages” justifies granting the nihil obstat. Nevertheless, he warns against the “ambiguities” of certain messages.
Three messages in particular are targeted. In one of them, Mary allegedly stated that a specific person could not be forgiven. In another, she declared that almost all the inhabitants of the Gulf — in the context of the war then underway — were damned. Lastly, she supposedly stated that “the cause of all sickness is sin.”
Considering that these statements “cannot be considered acceptable,” the dicastery asks the archbishop of Prešov to ensure the “publishing a compilation of the messages that excludes those few statements that could lead to confusion and disturb the faith of ordinary people.”
Further details to come on the norms concerning apparitions
The letter recalls that the nihil obstat issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “does not imply recognition of the supernatural authenticity of the alleged apparitions” (emphasis added). This is in accordance with the norms established on May 17, 2024, for evaluating this type of supernatural phenomenon. The nihil obstat establishes, however, that “public devotion” is “safe” for the faithful.
On July 3, Cardinal Fernández announced that his dicastery was preparing a new document on Marian apparitions to clarify their reception after noting “recurring problems.” This text, which began to be drafted during the pontificate of Francis, should be published in a few months, provided it is approved by Pope Leo XIV.
Since the publication of the new norms in May 2024, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has ruled on alleged apparitions in Italy (Trevignano Romano, Brescia, Madonna dello Scoglio, Maccio, Maria Valtorta), France (Estelle Faguette), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Croatia (Medjugorje), Spain (Chandavila), India (Vailankanni), and Puerto Rico.
