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DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH

Considerations about the Spiritual Experience on Mount Zvir (Litmanová, Slovakia)

“Let Jesus set you free.”

To His Excellency Rev.
Msgr. Jonáš Maxim, M.S.U.,
Archbishop of Prešov
For Catholics of the Byzantine rite

Dear Brother,

You explained to us that, amidst the Marian devotion inspired by the alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Litmanová between 1990 and 1995, “the sincere and profound confessions in that place are countless and there is no lack of conversions as well.” You recounted how the site has grown over the years due to the increasing number of pilgrims (as noted in your letter dated 5 February 2025). Moreover, you expressed your appreciation for the “many spiritual fruits obtained by the pilgrims who continue to visit the site, even though the ‘apparitions’ ended thirty years ago.” Finally, you proposed the decision of nihil obstat “to accompany the phenomenon in question in a pastoral manner” (your letter dated 27 May 2025).

Analysis of the alleged messages reveals valuable calls for conversion, along with a promise of happiness and inner freedom, which is Christ’s work in our hearts:

“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 appeals that are made in various messages aim to encourage people by demonstrating that the way of the Gospel is not complicated. Rather, it makes life simpler, such as when, in the silence of our hearts, Christ revives us and simplifies our existence:

“I would like to ask you, as your Mother, to begin to live simply, to think simply, and to act simply. Seek out the silence so that the Spirit of Christ may be born anew within you” (5 June 1994). “He always wants you to be simpler” (8 March 1992).                                  

Yet, this simplicity must not be mistaken for superficiality, because the simplicity of the Gospel way leads us to the depths of life and to the inexhaustible riches of divine love: 

“Dear children, you experience things very superficially; it is precisely because you do not go into the depths that you cannot feel peace and joy” (4 June 1995).

By finding our joy and peace in the Lord, we become “peace” for others: “may you become peace” (9 July 1995), “so that then you may be able to spread peace” (6 September 1992). This call to true happiness—which is a result of knowing that we are loved by God—reappears as a means for evangelization:

“Be happy because God loves you and you are very important to him, and transmit this joy to others, so that they too can believe, through your joy, that God loves us” (9 October 1994).

The phrase, “you are very important to him,” helps to understand how the light of God’s love enables us to recognize our dignity. Elsewhere, Our Lady says, “When I look at you, I see God in each of you. You are a great reflection of God” (9 July 1995). The call to accept God’s love is constant: “Never oppose the grace of your Lord who loves you greatly” (8 August 1993).

This also implies a call to engage fully in walking the path of responding to the Lord’s initiative. First, we must freely accept the Lord’s love: “Accept the graces prepared for you today” (8 August 1993). Next, we must embark on a process of transformation: “In the name of our Holy God, I ask you: change your lives, give your old lives to my heart and begin to learn from my Son” (5 September 1993). Ultimately, it is about imitating Christ, who gives himself out of love: “Jesus sacrificed himself for the people, why don’t people sacrifice themselves as Jesus did so many years ago[?] People have so many things, whatever they want, and they would kill each other just to have more of these material things. Jesus himself taught us that we must love one another and forgive one another” (18 November 1990).

Loving our brothers and sisters becomes the ultimate expression of our response and fulfillment:

“I rejoice immensely for each of your sacrifices you have offered out of love for others [...] The mission of each of you is to love, because life is made for this and only love will be able to give fullness to your lives” (5 February 1995).

At the same time, within these alleged messages, we do find some ambiguities and unclear aspects. However, this must be discerned in the light of what the Doctrinal Commission explained well in its April 20 2011 report: “The [alleged visionaries] testify that during a meeting, Mary conveyed to them a message [that] they later publicly interpreted” and that “the communication was through a particular internal mode,” which the recipient “could not even name and therefore the final verbal expression of the messages is a [stylization] and interpretation of the [alleged visionary].” Indeed, when asked what language she used to communicate with Our Lady, Ivetka replied, “We do not use any language when we talk” (8 August 1993).

This fact allows one to accept the general value of the alleged messages. At the same time, some (a few) of them still require clarification, such as one message that suggests a specific person may not be forgiven or that nearly all people in one part of the world are condemned (24 February 1991), or another message stating “the cause of all sickness is sin” (2 December 1990); such messages cannot be considered acceptable and, therefore, are not appropriate for publication. However, assuming that they are only limited and confused expressions of an internal experience, they could be correctly understood when viewed in the context of the other messages. As finding Christ’s love brings us happiness, so closing ourselves off from his love destroys our lives, renders them a failure, and becomes a source of suffering.

These considerations allow the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to accept your proposal to proceed with the declaration of “nihil obstat” for the Marian devotion that arose on Mount Zvir. Although this declaration does not imply recognition of the supernatural authenticity of the alleged apparitions, it nevertheless permits the approval of public devotion and informs the faithful that they can safely approach this spiritual offering, it they so wish, and that the basic contents of the alleged messages can help us live the Gospel of Christ. At the same time, we entrust Your Excellency with the task of publishing a compilation of the messages that excludes those few statements that could lead to confusion and disturb the faith of ordinary people.

With much esteem and warm regards in the Lord and in the Most Blessed Mary.

Víctor Manuel Card. Fernández
Prefect