Posted on 09/21/2024 9:27:19 AM PDT by ebb tide
Despite the widely held belief that Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, is the site of the Virgin Mary’s appearances to six children beginning in 1981, the Catholic Church negates this claim based on its denunciation of Medjugorje in 1985 and again in 1991. For this reason, pilgrimages to the site were banned in 2013.
At the direction of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Carlo Viganò, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States issued a letter on October 21, 2013, stating that Catholics “are not permitted” to participate in any meetings that promote belief in the Medjugorje visions. In his letter that was sent to the bishops of America, Viganò said that “all should accept the declaration,” stating that, “On the basis of the research that has been done, it is not possible to state that there were apparitions or supernatural revelations.”
Vigano's statement was based on the verdict of the bishops of Yugoslavia concerning the events at Medjugorje. The Yugoslavian bishops declared on April 10, 1991:
“On the basis of studies it cannot be affirmed that supernatural apparitions and revelations are occurring.”
It was in 1982 that Bishop Pavao Žanić, the then bishop of Mostar-Duvno, established a commission to investigate the events at Medjugorje. By 1985, Žanić concluded the investigation, stating that "the apparitions of the Madonna in Medjugorje are not a reality."
On March 25, 1985, Bishop Žanić sent a letter to the pastor of the Medjugorje Church, Fr. Tomislav Pervan, in which he told him: “I demand from you that you remove the ‘visionaries’ from public display and put an end to their ‘visions’ in the parish church.”
Later, Žanić's successor, Bishop Ratko Perić, re-asserted the previous findings, declaring: "There have been no apparitions of Our Lady of Medjugorje" adding that "The position of the chancery of this diocese has been clear and decisive: There are no credible apparitions of the Virgin Mary."
In October 1993, Bishop Perić was interviewed by Fr. Ante Tonca Komadina who at the time was editor of the diocesan newspaper “Crkva na Kamenu.” Therein the bishop backed the 1991 decision of his predecessor, saying:
“When he [Bishop Žanić] heard the small fibs and large lies, insincerities, inexactitudes, and all sorts of fabricated stories from those who claimed that the Gospa was appearing to them, he became totally convinced that it was not a matter of supernatural apparitions of the Gospa. Then he started to bring out the truth and to expose the falsehoods.”
Bishop Perić then punctuated the interview with this statement concerning the Yugoslavian bishops’ 1991 declaration on Medjugorje:
“This is an exceptionally clear ecclesiastical ruling, and rebuttals the claims of all those who claim to have seen the Gospa everywhere and at any time since the year of 1981. The verdict of the Bishops’ Conference is for me an authoritative instruction, responsive, and binding.”
The April 1991 decision constituted the Church’s official position on Medjugorje, and should have been final, but in a direct breach of this and the CDF's 2013 decree on Medjugorje, Pope Francis decided to authorize pilgrimages Medjugorje in 2019 so that pilgrimages to the site would no longer be restricted as before.
The announcement was made on May 12, 2019, at the parish “shrine” in Medjugorje by Archbishop Luigi Pezzuto, the Apostolic Nuncio to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the Holy See’s special Apostolic Visitator.
The “ad interim” director of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, responding to journalists’ questions about the Vatican announcement, said, “Considering the considerable flow of people who go to Medjugorje and the abundant fruits of grace that have sprung from it, this authorization is part of the particular pastoral attention that the Holy Father intended to give to that reality, aimed at encouraging and promoting the fruits of good.”
The paradox of this authorization is that Medjugorje has no fruits to its credit and defies the Church’s previous position under Benedict XVI that the Virgin Mary never appeared at Medjugorje. It is based on nothing more than “the considerable flow of [confused] people who go to Medjugorje.” Had Francis and his progressivists not considered St. Augustine’s teaching that “wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it?”
Started by a Sex-Predator and Fake Mystic
From the very onset Medjugorje had every appearance of being fake, and in 2009 the Vatican issued a decree against Fr. Tomislav Vlasic—a fake mystic and sex-predator charged with abusing and impregnating a nun—who was the founder and central figure of the Medjugorje movement. He was punished and stripped of his priestly status on July 27, 2009, because of scandalous sexual immorality “aggravated by mystical motivations” (Bishop Andrea Gemma) and because he had continued with the Medjugorje movement in defiance of the 1991 episcopal decision in Yugoslavia.
In 1981, six children under the direction of Fr. Vlasic began making fraudulent claims of having seen the Virgin Mary. Of key significance was Vlasic’s involvement with the Charismatic Movement since this is what launched the Medjugorje craze. Just prior to meeting the Medjugorje “seers” in 1981, Vlasic was in Rome to participate in the International Charismatic Renewal Conference, and there he was told by Sr. Briege McKenna, a false prophetess, that he would become the head of a worldwide Marian movement with the help of the “Holy Spirit.”
As soon as reports of “apparitions” began emerging from Medjugorje, Vlasic left his assignment at Čapljina for Medjugorje without the permission of his bishop (in violation of Canon 127) and became the spiritual director of the six children. From thence Vlasic would direct the seers on what they were to say in their messages. In 1984 he even wrote to Pope John Paul II to say that he was the one “who through divine providence guides the seers of Medjugorje.”
Hence the children were merely pawns to echo Vlasic's fake messages in order to stir up mischief and assist his efforts to undermine the bishop of Medjugorje, which is what the Medjugorje “visions” really amounted to. Vlasic was opposed to legitimate Church authority and was afire with the Charismatics, and on this foundation was established the Medjugorje movement that would undermine Žanić and give rise to this worldwide cult that would bewitch the faithful with a “new gospel.”
The false spiritism of Medjugorje is manifest with its “laying of hands” and “speaking in tongues,” which clearly speaks of its sorcery. And while promoters of this movement often cite Medjugorje’s work of “conversion” they’re forgetting that Medjugorje does not convert people to Catholicism but to a new pacifist religion.
Rooted in the Charismatics
Medjugorje is all about the Charismatic Renewal, a *diabolical sect wherein the devil presents himself as the Holy Spirit to lure Catholics away from the institutionalized Church. The Charismatic Movement was condemned by Pope Paul VI in 1969 when he denounced “the illusion of a free and charismatic Christianity” which “does not build, but demolishes” and he later warned that if this thinking gained ascendency in the Church it would constitute a direct attack on “the very existence of the Church … extinguishing the real flame of Pentecost, disregarding the thought of Christ and the whole of tradition.” (May 17, 1972)
Medjugorje is simply a tool to advance the Charismatics, which coincides with the so-called renewal of our time to scrap tradition and press toward a new Pentecost. This is why Medjugorje does not resemble any other Marian apparition of history. It only uses the name of Mary to push a Protestant and fake “Pentecostal” movement.
Accordingly, Medjugorje teaches that we do not pray to Mary but that we pray with her, as if she were our sister or equal. Under the pretext of honoring Mary, they denigrate her and maintain the Protestant idea of going directly to Jesus without her intercession, which is contrary to Catholic teaching.
Heretical
Medjugorje also promotes the idea that God works through other religions, which is heresy. God does not abide in other religions, as expressed by the Church’s dogmatic teaching that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church (extra ecclesiam nulla salus). To profess otherwise places one outside the Church should he have sufficient knowledge of this beforehand.
Hence Medjugorje is an insidious attack on Catholic faith and morals. The fruits speak for themselves, which include a falling away from the sacraments, a departure from tradition, contempt for the priesthood, the illusion of being a common priesthood empowered with “the spirit,” attendance at interfaith worship, promiscuous behavior, and the illusion of unconditional mercy and forgiveness in spite of sin. "By their fruits you shall know them." (Mt. 7:20)
Needless to say, Medjugorje is not Catholic but is a wing of the New Age network that simply uses the name of Mary to gain the confidence of unsuspecting Catholics for the purpose of selling them on fake spiritism. Their babbling in tongues is not a “charism of the spirit” but a vile manifestation of the devil who controls this movement through deluded Catholics. It can best be described as demonism, for which reason Bishop Andrea Gemma, Rome’s top exorcist for years, described the Medjugorje visions as the “work of the devil.”
We should also note that as early as 1985, Cardinal Ratzinger (later Benedict XVI) banned pilgrimages to Medjugorje, seeing its spurious nature and the havoc it has wrought among the faithful. This too should have been sufficient grounds for putting an end to Medjugorje but instead it has grown into the sinister Renew tree with its forbidden fruit to lure the unwary down the path of deception.
Francis Defies the Church's Denunciation of Medjugorje
If Ratzinger’s action in 1985 wasn’t enough to bury the Medjugorje sham, the 1991 declaration of the Yugoslavian bishops should have clinched it. Why then has Pope Francis suddenly come out and resurrected the “dead men’s bones” of Medjugorje? On Tuesday, September 17, Francis approved devotion to Medjugorje, saying that "it only highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful 'in the midst' of this spiritual phenomenon of Medjugorje."
He cites the "positive fruits" of Medjugorje in blatant contradiction of the fact that the fruits have been consistently rotten. For its fruits have been a rejection of the priesthood and a falling away from the sacraments and a fostering of heresy and ecumenical interfaith worship, which are condemned by the Church.
Francis cites the “good fruits" of Medjugorje only because he considers dissent from holy tradition to be good. Eleven years of antichurch activity including his bowing to Pachamama and indigenous 'gods' and his furious attempts to halt the Traditional Latin Mass have certainly proved this. Hence, faithful Catholics should not allow his irresponsible action to sway their conviction about Medjugorje.
This indeed should strengthen their belief that Medjugorje is the “work of the devil” to destroy the work of God. Let us not forget that the true prelates of Rome took the ax to Medjugorje seeing its scandalous character and that it had no worthy fruits to its credit. Moreover, no additional investigation of Medjugorje has taken place since 1991, so Rome's negative verdict of 2013 remains a closed book. Let Catholics everywhere abide by this decision for the greater liberty and exaltation of the Church.
*With this, it is an anti-priest movement where lay people boastfully see themselves as imbued with priestly powers to lay hands cast out devils, which serves as cover for their own possession. Christ spoke of such people when He said: “Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:22, 23)
Ping
Wow. JUST wow.
I wondered how come that scoundrel running the CDF was so touchy-feely (a pun?! I’ll take it!) about it in his recent press-release. Now it makes a bit of sense, though that’s not the least bit comforting.
Medjugorje also promotes the idea that God works through other religions, which is heresy.
Francis thy name is Medjugorje.
It has never been a Vatican approved apparition. Still isn’t.
People used to try to get me to go. No. One came back saying wow. I didn’t realize it was not an approved apparition. She stopped going
Many go numerous times
It is not Vatican approved. Silliness
No apparition site can ever be approved by the Vatican if it is active This is logical
Same as there are no living saints.
Every Medjugorje enthusiast I have ever met has struck me as being obsessive on that subject. Not bad folks, but not the sort of people one would enjoy being seated next to at a dinner.
Is this place a shrine with a gift shop or a gift shop with a shrine?
Back in the 1980s I knew a lot of people who went to Medjugorje. They all related a spiritually positive experience. One of them gave me a rosary which I still have, but I was never inspired enough to make the trip myself.
“Medjugorje also promotes the idea that God works through other religions, which is heresy. God does not abide in other religions, as expressed by the Church’s dogmatic teaching that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church (extra ecclesiam nulla salus). To profess otherwise places one outside the Church should he have sufficient knowledge of this beforehand.”
Will someone please inform the Pope?
Same
I think because it is active. There’s a connection they sense
They go to Fatima and Lourdes but they don’t keep going back. We went to Banneaux and Beaurang in Belgium. Both approved. Empty. The locals don’t even know. But there they are. Photos of JPII thee
No one obsesses. But medjugorje forget it.
I think it’s like St Paul warned about. People demand to see signs
This places in Belgium were apparition sites from the 1930’s. They are on both sides-surrounding/overlooking the Bastogne forest which is interesting when watching Band of Brothers
Keeping in mind back then Yugoslavia was still Communist, it stands to reason the government encouraged it to bring in the tourist dollars.
They get inspiration but it’s not an approved site. That means it could be the Blessed Mother or it might not be or might be dangerous
Look at Abp Vigano statement above.
It would be unthinkable to have this conversation among the faithful about the veracity of her visits some 40 years after they began; a miracle (or miracles) would have taken place long ago. That one hasn't been publicized immediately calls this into question.
I don’t know the truth on this matter, but I do know that God works in mysterious ways to bring salvation to sinners. If even one person has been brought to salvation via the Medjugorje visions, whether they are fake or real.... then it may have been a good thing.
The charismatic movement has been around a lot longer than the Medjugorje visions have been, so the damage to believers’ salvation was being done all along. That said, if Francis approves of Medjugorje, I would tend toward believing the ‘it’s fake’ narrative. Fake Pope Francis can’t get next to ANY truth. Also, I trust Vigano’s take, which is apparently in direct contrast to Francis’s, so....
Back in the 90s, I was into the messages from supposed apparitions. Medjugorie one of them. I traveled to hear a lady speak who claimed the Virgin Mary was talking to her. One of the points she was to give out was “People need to store food for the tribulation that’s upon mankind.”
Some time later one of the Medjugorie visionaries came to Dallas and we went to hear him speak. Well, a message he was given was, “Tell the people not to store food for the upcoming troubling times. God will provide.”
Both cannot be true at the same time. One or both were not messages from heaven. After this I lost interest in ongoing heavenly communications.
Sounds like something the commies would do.
Correct in what you just said. Glad I didn’t go.
Same reason many towns in the US suddenly find UFO visitations near them. It brings in Tourist $$$$.
I lived at Roswell NM and Aztec NM and nary a word about UFOs till the air base closed and Roswell lost it’s main source of income.
At Aztec, never a word about it at all. Now Eureka Springs AR is getting in on the UFO craze.
“Same as there are no living saints.”
I’m alive. All born-again Christians are saints.
When Paul wrote his epistles, they were addressed “to the saints who are in (Philippi, Colossae, Corinth”, etc.). I Corinthians 16:1 mentions the saints in Galatia. He wasn’t writing to a bunch of ghosts. He was writing to the Body Of Christ in those churches.
Shaking chicken bones over someone and saying, “ABRACADABRA! You’re a saint!” doesn’t actually make him/her a saint.
"Two men say they're Jesus, one of 'em must be wrong..."
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