Pope Names Bishop Cavina Visitor for Medjugorje
The Holy See replaces Archbishop Cavalli, who turned 80, and entrusts pastoral care of pilgrims to a new apostolic visitor.
On October 31, 2026, the Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Aldo Cavalli from the office of Special Apostolic Visitor for the parish of Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has appointed Bishop Francesco Cavina, bishop emeritus of Carpi, in his place for an indefinite period and ad nutum Sanctae Sedis—at the pleasure of the Holy See.
The bulletin gave no reason for the change. Cavalli, a career nuncio, turned 80 on October 18. Pope Francis had named him to the post in November 2021 as successor to Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the first visitor, who had held the office since 2018 and died in August 2021.
Pastoral Mission, Not a Judgment on Apparitions
Cavalli’s charge was not to rule on the alleged apparitions but to accompany pilgrims pastorally. In a January 2025 interview he called Medjugorje "a place of grace" and put the number of visitors in the previous year at about two million.
Bishop Cavina was born in Faenza on February 17, 1955, and was ordained a priest in Imola on May 15, 1980. He served for about fifteen years as an official in the Secretariat of State’s Section for Relations with States. Benedict XVI named him bishop of Carpi on November 14, 2011; he took possession of the diocese on February 5, 2012. Pope Francis accepted his resignation on June 26, 2019, with regret noted at the time, and appointed Archbishop Erio Castellucci apostolic administrator. Cavina left Carpi amid media accusations of mixing ecclesial and political affairs—accusations that were never investigated or publicly clarified.
What Rome Has Already Settled for Pilgrims
As background for the new appointment, Pope Francis authorized official pilgrimages to Medjugorje in 2019. In September 2024 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith granted a nihil obstat to the parish’s "spiritual experience," with the Pope’s explicit backing. That decision authorizes public worship; it does not declare the apparitions supernatural. The Dicastery warned against alleged visionaries and messages it considers confusing or misleading.
The appointment of Bishop Cavina keeps Medjugorje under direct papal oversight while the Church continues to care for the multitudes who come seeking conversion, prayer, and the sacraments—without confusing pastoral welcome with a definitive judgment on private revelations still awaiting the Church’s full discernment.