At this famous Marian shrine, one of the most popular in Europe, the Italian bishop succeeds his compatriot Bishop Aldo Cavalli, who is retiring.
The site has had an "apostolic visitor" since 2018, when Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the retired archbishop of Warsaw-Praga, Poland, to that role.
Archbishop Hoser had first gone to the Bosnian town as Francis' personal envoy, to study the pastoral needs of the townspeople and the thousands of pilgrims who flock to the site each year.
The archbishop died in 2021 at age 78 of Covid, during the height of the pandemic in Poland.
Bishop Cavina is 71 years old and trained as a canonist. He previously worked in the Secretariat of State within the Section for Relations with States.
Appointed Bishop of Carpi by Benedict XVI in 2011, he resigned in 2019 to put an end to serious tensions within the diocese, with Bishop Cavina being accused by some of exerting too much influence over local politics.
Bishop Aldo Cavalli, aged 80, has had a long career in the service of the Catholic Church. He has served notably as papal nuncio to Angola, Chile, Colombia, Malta, and the Netherlands. Pope Francis entrusted him with the role of special apostolic visitor to Medjugorje in 2021, some months after Archbishop Hoser's death.
A popular but controversial shrine
On September 19, 2024, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that it would authorize worship at the Medjugorje shrine, while explaining that any future "messages" from the alleged Marian apparitions would have to be approved before publication.
This move to place the site under supervision brought to a close more than 40 years of controversy dating back to the first reported apparitions to six children in 1981.
The Medjugorje shrine, whose fame has spread throughout the world, has provoked conflicting views within the Catholic hierarchy. In addition to warnings from various local bishops – the site is situated within the Diocese of Mostar – an investigative commission set up during the pontificate of Benedict XVI had expressed reservations, particularly regarding the authenticity of the phenomenon and the personal lives of the so-called visionaries.
While the Catholic Church officially authorized pilgrimages in 2019, Pope Francis admitted his doubts about the idea of a Virgin Mary who resembles a "post office manager," supposedly showing up at the same time each day.
The visionaries of Medjugorje say they continue to receive apparitions of the Mother of Jesus to this day, some of them on a daily basis.