PARIS -- A Roman Catholic bishop said yesterday that the church has officially recognized that the Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl.

Monsignor Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri said he recognized the "supernatural origin" of the apparitions to Benoite Rencurel from 1664 to 1718.

Officials at Notre-Dame-du-Laus church in the Alps say the Virgin Mary asked Rencurel to build a church and a house. The sanctuary today welcomes 120,000 pilgrims a year.

-- The Associated Press