Is Akita Approved?

One commenter in the combox drew my attention to a piece by a Donal Foley which seems to suggest that the visions at Akita are not approved.  Foley is correct when he says that the Vatican has not approved the visions, however for an apparition to be officially approved, the recognition of the local bishop is all that is required.  Knock, for example, is in the same situation as Akita - never formally approved by the Holy See, though the visit of Pope John Paul II is taken by many to be an equivalent of Vatican approval. 

On the 22nd April 1984 the Bishop of Niigata (the diocese in which Akita is to be found) Bishop John Shojiro Ito approved devotion to Our Lady of Akita (see his pastoral letter here), and asked the Vatican to judge definitively, which it has not as of yet. Until the Vatican gives a negative judgement, which it has not yet, the decision of the local bishop is to be taken as the decision of the Church for now.    The process of authenticating visions is usually decentralised and the Vatican tends to let local bishops deal with the events.  Perhaps we think the Vatican has to approve visions rather than the local bishop - the situation with regard to Medjugorje is probably confusing people.  Medjugorje is a unique situation since there are issues there which require the Vatican to intervene.

For more information on approved and unapproved apparitions go to Miracle Hunter's website, which includes many official documents and statements.