Bishop Helmut Dieser

The Catholic Church in Germany has opened a formal investigation into alleged Marian apparitions in a village that has attracted pilgrims for more than two decades. The Diocese of Aachen announced that Bishop Helmut Dieser has appointed a four-member commission to examine claims of supernatural phenomena reported in Sievernich, a village in North Rhine-Westphalia that […] The Catholic Church in Germany has opened a formal investigation into alleged Marian apparitions in a village that has attracted pilgrims for more than two decades. The Diocese of Aachen announced that Bishop Helmut Dieser has appointed a four-member commission to examine claims of supernatural phenomena reported in Sievernich, a village in North Rhine-Westphalia that became known among devotees of private revelations after a local woman said she had seen the Virgin Mary there. The commission will work under new norms issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for evaluating alleged supernatural phenomena. It is chaired by Stefan Mückl, a canon lawyer based in Rome. The inquiry will focus on claims made by Manuela Strack, a mother from nearby Düren, who reported seeing the Virgin Mary in St John the Baptist Church in Sievernich from 2000 onwards. According to accounts published by supporters of the apparitions, Strack said the Virgin appeared dressed in white with a long veil and delivered messages calling for conversion, prayer and penance. Among the themes repeatedly attributed to the alleged apparitions was a call for Catholics “to repent, to make sacrifices and to do penance”. The messages also urged the faithful to “have frequent recourse to the sacrament of penance and to receive Our Lord worthily in the Eucharist”. Other messages encouraged perpetual prayer, humility and fidelity to the Church. One account states that the Virgin wished Catholics “to adore Him in fervent prayer” and that “we are to pray unceasingly”. The reported apparitions soon drew growing numbers of pilgrims to the village, situated between Cologne and Aachen. Several hundred people travelled to Sievernich in October 2002 when Strack announced what was described at the time as the final scheduled apparition. Although the monthly apparitions subsequently ended, Strack later claimed that further encounters with the Virgin continued until October 2005. Supporters of the alleged revelations say messages were also received from Jesus, St Michael the Archangel, St Teresa of Ávila, Padre Pio, Pope Pius XII and other figures. One of the more unusual claims associated with the site concerns a message reportedly received on 7 October 2002 in which the Virgin is said to have told Strack: “I herewith hand over to you the keys of my beloved divine Son Jesus Christ.” According to published accounts, the visionary was instructed to remain silent because “you will not be believed, yet everything will come to pass in this way”. Supporters later claimed that the contents of the alleged revelation were passed to Rome. The apparitions were also accompanied by calls for the construction of a spiritual centre in Sievernich. In a message attributed to Jesus on 19 May 2003, He is reported to have said: “This place is set aside for Me and My Mother. I want people to construct a centre here, which will serve the Church, My Body, and thus Me.” Another message attributed to the Virgin states: “I desire the construction of a faith centre in this place. This is my wish and the wish of my Son Jesus.” The original series of apparitions appeared to conclude in 2005, but the claims resumed in November 2018 when Strack reported an apparition of the Infant Jesus of Prague. Since then, she has continued to report alleged visions and locutions involving Jesus, the Child Jesus, St Michael the Archangel, St Charbel, St Joan of Arc and other saints. Messages attributed to those figures have continued to be published during 2025 and 2026. The Diocese of Aachen said the newly established commission will examine the reported events and messages and assess their significance. The decision marks the first formal diocesan investigation into the Sievernich claims under the Vatican’s revised norms, which were introduced to provide bishops with clearer procedures for evaluating alleged apparitions and other extraordinary religious phenomena.