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Pope defrocks priest over 'visions' of the Virgin Mary
The Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 27th July 2009 | Simon Caldwell

Posted on 07/27/2009 7:24:15 AM PDT by DTA

Pope defrocks priest over 'visions' of the Virgin Mary

The Pope has defrocked the priest at the centre of claims that the Virgin Mary has been appearing in the Bosnian town of Medjugorje. The Vatican stripped Father Tomislav Vladic of his priest status after an investigation into growing concerns over the alleged apparitions. Father Vlasic was named as the 'creator' of the phenomenon by Pavao Zanic, the local bishop at the time the apparitions began in 1981.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: benedictxvi; catholic; dismissed; hoax; medjugorje; medjugorjehoax
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To: Arthur McGowan

Is it considered offensive? Or just inaccurate?


21 posted on 07/27/2009 8:19:53 AM PDT by DManA
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To: whofreak
>this is appalling ... When I was a young girl she led me when the cheerleaders made fun of me

Real cheerleaders or
images of cheerleaders
that appeared to you?

22 posted on 07/27/2009 8:21:13 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: Salvation
Did you get a chance to read the note on ex-Fr. Vlasic from Dennis Nolan linked at post #9? Denis Nolan and his wife have been involved with the apparitions for quite awhile and have a ministry to spread the news (interestingly enough centered from the University of Notre Dame where at least one good thing has been occurring for quite some time with the annual Medjugorje conference held there by Queen of Peace Ministries).
23 posted on 07/27/2009 8:22:37 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: DTA

I have no dog in this fight but I’m curious. Is the case against the authenticity of these sightings circumstantial or did investigators go there and look and not see her?


24 posted on 07/27/2009 8:23:10 AM PDT by DManA
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To: theFIRMbss

“Real cheerleaders or
images of cheerleaders
that appeared to you?”

Pardon me, Sir. I was under the impression that personal attacks were not allowed here.

“NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts.”

I will pray to the Blessed Virgin for your soul which is in peril. After a billion years of torture you will have a different song to sing, won’t you? And that will be just the beginning.

Why can’t Bible believing conservatives like you see beyond the physical?


25 posted on 07/27/2009 8:35:42 AM PDT by whofreak
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To: DManA
>Is the case against the authenticity of these sightings circumstantial or did investigators go there and look and not see her?

There aren't details
of the investigation.
Three commissions, though.

Father Vlasic was suspended last year by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith amid an inquiry into his conduct after three commissions failed to find evidence to support the visionaries' claims.

The shrine's kind of lame,
however the article
says the town does well:

This represents a massive blow to millions of Medjugorje followers worldwide who were hoping that the Vatican would one day legitimise the controversial shrine.

The seers have grown wealthy as a result of their claims – and so has their town, which has boomed as a result of the ‘Madonna gold rush’.

Some today own smart executive houses with immaculate gardens, double garages and security gates, and one has a tennis court.

They also own expensive cars and have married, one of them, Ivan Dragicevic, to an American former beauty queen.

26 posted on 07/27/2009 8:38:28 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: whofreak

Welcome to FReerepublic!


27 posted on 07/27/2009 8:39:13 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: whofreak
>Mary lives...When I was a young girl she led me when the cheerleaders made fun of me
>>Real cheerleaders or images of cheerleaders that appeared to you?
>>>Pardon me, Sir. I was under the impression that personal attacks were not allowed here



28 posted on 07/27/2009 8:44:08 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: Servant of the Cross
Thanks for the link.

It looks like Fr. Vlasic is being removed from the cure of souls for his 'spiritual marriage' with a self-described German mystic. He hasn't had anything to do with the Medjugorje visionaries for about 20 years.

But one thing still baffles me. How could the Daily Mail get this story so wrong?

29 posted on 07/27/2009 8:47:51 AM PDT by agere_contra
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To: Servant of the Cross

Dear Servant of the Cross,

Please accept my apologies for talking so much here. It’s just that I get so upset when people think they can... I just can’t say it... make fun of Mary.

I am new here. I love Mary. I swear on my Mother’s grave, I love Mary.

Could you men try not to hurt my feelings. I am a conservative and I am on your side. There is no reason for you to try and hurt my feelings even though I am ugly. You can’t see me. Why do you care?

Oh, I wish there was a young man who loved me. Of course I do. Perhaps I’ll take a job teaching in High School. I have two Bachelor’s Degrees in History and Social Sciences.

Please don’t be mean to me. I am new.


30 posted on 07/27/2009 8:53:32 AM PDT by whofreak
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To: DTA

“Father Vlasic was named as the ‘creator’ of the phenomenon by Pavao Zanic...”

Perhaps he was pickled at the time.


31 posted on 07/27/2009 9:03:48 AM PDT by verity
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To: whofreak
>There is no reason for you to try and hurt my feelings even though I am ugly

If you are ugly
nobody here's gonna care.
In fact, in the world

no one will care much.
In fact Frank Zappa once said
to the cute people:

"I have an important message to deliver to all the cute people all over the world. If you're out there and you're cute, maybe you're beautiful. I just want to tell you somethin' — there's more of us UGLY #$$###!@#$ than you are, hey, so watch out."
32 posted on 07/27/2009 9:05:46 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: Dasaji; DieHard the Hunter

Check out the comments after the original article. What a parade of ignorance.

All of the major apparitions of Mary (like those at Lourdes, Fatima, Lasallette, and Tepeyac/Mexico City) have been to lay people, not priests and certainly not popes. Anyone who knew even the tiniest smidgeon of the history, (as I said to Kathy of San Mateo), would know that.

Secondly, if the Church were fraudulent, it would not invite scientific investigation of its most famous relics, e.g. the shroud of Turin, the tilma of Guadalupe, the “Ubi est Petrus” remains at Rome, etc.

In 1947, the Vatican established the International Medical Commission to investigate claims of miraculous cures. Since its foundation, the Commission has examined 1300 files and presented 29 to the church, which recognised only 19 as miracles.

The Church is not credulous; one could say the Church is “professionally skeptical” of claims, because throughout the ages it has had to investigate tons of them, only to find that so many (98%) were dubious or unproveable.

I applaud the respect for reason I find in Catholicism.


33 posted on 07/27/2009 9:18:45 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious. " - George Orwell)
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To: theFIRMbss

Oh hell, FIRMbss,

I was just putting you on and you turned out to be a decent guy.

You know, I have a lot of relatives who are conservatives. They can’t defend their arguments. It’s a big Fail when they find push comes to shove, but you know what? They are decent people just like you.

I guess this is my end here, but I wanted to say how much I admire you. And, damn it, that High School joke of mine was funny.

Best wishes to you and yours, Sir.

Long may you run.

Wes


34 posted on 07/27/2009 9:20:05 AM PDT by whofreak
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To: whofreak
>I guess this is my end here

Stick around. This place
might surprise you even more
as you look around.

35 posted on 07/27/2009 9:25:56 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: DieHard the Hunter
Now I’m confused. What say you?

I think I'll hold off judgment until I read it in a more "Catholic" news source than the Daily Mail, first of all.

Secondly, I think I'd hold off judgment until after I consider the personal issues that Vladic had. It appears, all editorializing aside, that this is the reason for the laicization.

Third, I'd keep in mind the Madjugorje is not officially sanctioned by the Vatican...to this day...and is actively opposed by the local bishop. While that is not a guarantee of truth (after all, look at the reaction to Padre Pio during much of his life), it should still give all of us pause to use some serious discernment when considering what comes out from that location.

36 posted on 07/27/2009 9:39:57 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
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To: Salvation

I scrolled up and down, looking for it.

Then I realized: Oh. It’s not there.


37 posted on 07/27/2009 9:44:44 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: markomalley

Thankyou, Mark. I’m grateful for the response, which makes an eminent amount of sense. As usual.


38 posted on 07/27/2009 10:12:03 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: All

I hate to butt in... but I thought the Pope had “no authority” to intervene on anything!... That was why (implied) he (and his court in Rome) were not able to intervene on they children’s abuses here in the U.S.


39 posted on 07/27/2009 10:37:31 AM PDT by ElPatriota (The SILENCE of the Catholic Church on the war on family-values, is ** DEAFENING **)
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To: markomalley

Perfect.


40 posted on 07/27/2009 10:40:10 AM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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