Sentence Correction

Hi,

the answer is A) claimed to have PP is better than D) claimed to V?

Also, after the underline, "they say has continued to appear to ...." why the tense is changed??? so confusing..


390. In June, 1981, six teenagers in the village of Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, who they say has continued to appear to them over the ensuing years.
(A) claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, who
(B) claimed to have visions of the Virgin Mary, whom
(C) claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, whom
(D) claimed to have visions of the Virgin Mary, who
(E) had claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary, whom

E is too confusing and wordy; the use of the past perfect tense is critical hence eliminate B and D which don't use it; the use of the word "whom" is faulty hence choice is A

Why "claimed to have had the vision" A) is better than D) "claimed to have the visiton"??? Also, why the tense after the sentence is present??

The sentence may be broken in 2 parts:
The 1st one: You need the past participle tense since this is something that it happened for the first time in In June, 1981, this particular action has ended.
The second one is an unfinished action since it is still going on

pls elaborate who vs whom here.

Isn't visions the subject and Mary the object?