[bluecross]

Is the Church rolling out its own message about the Medjugorje messages.

Two mentions of ‘messages’ this week by two Church officials close to any announcement we may expect from the Vatican on the outcome of the Medjugorje Commission.

The first was by Cardinal Müller, Prefect of the CDF, in an interview published last Monday in a Croatian newspaper.
http://crownofstars.blogspot.co.uk/2016 ... gorje.html

The second was by by Pope Francis three days later in his morning homily.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39529

Why am I sensing that the ground is being prepared for some kind of statement from the Vatican on the validity of the Medjugorje messages – at least those of latter years – and so the claims of apparitions?

Has the Vatican completed its analysis of ALL the Medjugorje messages and found some of them to be out of synch or incompatible with Church teaching?

Could it be that while recognising and protecting the ‘fruits’ of Medugorje the Church will attempt to steer the faithful clear of the various voices that impart the messages?

[ActionReq]

Is the Church rolling out its own message about the Medjugorje messages.

Has the Vatican completed its analysis of ALL the Medjugorje messages and found some of them to be out of synch or incompatible with Church teaching?

Could it be that while recognising and protecting the ‘fruits’ of Medugorje the Church will attempt to steer the faithful clear of the various voices that impart the messages?

Hi Bluecross,
I remember that a formal Spokesman said
that the result of the comission will be
leaked to the public.
Maybe this is that
way of leaking.

Saverio Gaeta continued in his statement to Rome Report in January 2013, “There is still some time left before they finish. (the 4th Commission) But there won't be a public declaration, because it's not the commission's duty to say anything to the public. The role of the commission is to give a reasonable explanation to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which will not be published officially, however it will likely be leaked.

[johntt]

Thanks, bluecross, for the Cardinal Muller news. This is useful information because it seems to confirm that the internal Vatican discussions on Medjugorje are completed and that any announcement only awaits Pope Francis' word.

I do not share your concern about what Pope Francis said in his morning homily. I personally don't think those words were about apparitions at all.

While I may be mistaken, I simply do not believe that Pope Francis could personally fail to recognize the authenticity of Medjugorje. Any concerns he will have will be in the area of trying to avoid divisions breaking out over any announcement.

[bluecross]

I suppose the question can be asked, John, which aspects of Medjugorje should be accepted as authentic – and by whom?

I’m thinking back to the unfortunate case of Tomislav Vlasic who, as a priest, promoted and encouraged the visionaries, yet later went off track and requested to be laicised and started promoting the existence of aliens.

I always remember one Franciscan priest pastoring at Medjugorje saying, “Medjugorje has its problems and difficulties.” He was inferring the presence of Our Lady doesn’t guarantee everything is hunky-dory.

Then there was the Bosnian conflict that broke out in 1991, ten years after Our Lady first appeared at Medjugorje. There isn’t a message that I’m aware of which warned of this specific event happening, yet we are told that ‘secrets’ will be announced at a later date with precise information as to what is to happen in the future.

I don’t doubt that pilgrims receive very special graces at Medjugorje. I have my own personal experiences to vouch for that and I encourage people to travel there.

But in the light of what has happened in the last couple of years with the restrictions on visionaries speaking and receiving apparitions in churches, and the bar put on Medjugorje events around the world promoting the visionaries and messages, then I feel that we have to understand why the Church is taking these steps after so many years.

Did the Church, or even the new regime under Pope Francis, sense a danger that the focus on visionaries, apparitions and messages could become a distraction to what is really happening at Medjugorje, especially the good fruits and return to the Sacraments by so many. Were the apparitions and visionaries becoming the kind of ‘show’ that Pope Francis spoke about in his homily this week?

This response to journalists by Pope Francis on his return from Sweden recently also gives a clue as to his thoughts on the ‘Charismatic’ element of Medjugorje.

Turning next to the Church’s relations with the Charismatic Renewal movement and Evangelical Christians, the Pope was asked for his thoughts ahead of a major event in Rome in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the former. In his reply he spoke about initiatives taken by him to strengthen and improve relations with the Charismatic Church and the Waldensian Church, both as Pope and when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. The Pope also revealed that whereas at first he forbade the Jesuits in Argentina to have anything to do with the Charismatic gatherings, he now believed “the opposite” as long as they were “done well.”

“Done well”... in other words “in agreement wth the teaching and belief of the Church”. This was the phrase used by Cardinal Kuharic in 1993, who headed up the Medjugorje Commission that resulted in the Zadar Declaration, when he said: “We bishops, after a three-year-long commission study, accept Medjugorje as a holy place, as a shrine. This means we have nothing against it if someone venerates the Mother of God in a manner also in agreement with the teaching and belief of the Church. Therefor we are leaving that to further study. The Church does not hurry.”

So while Medjugorje can be recognised as a holy place it doesn’t necessarily mean that all that happens there and is associated with the phenomenon is acceptable.

[Brahms&Liszt]

I wonder if nothing will be said from Rome until one way or another it is forced to; either because something like the first secret is revealed, or something convinces them it is false. Why change the way it has been done for 35 years? Its obvious from the commission that nothing was found to put a halt to the apparitions, so just let it run its course and see what transpires

[Medjugorjeprayers]

Thanks for sharing this BC! It's been a lot time since hearing anything...

I don't see Cardinal Müller's statement or the Pope's homily conflicting at all with Medjugorje.
If this were the case, they would also be condemning Fatima, Lourdes, Guadeloupe, Joan of Arc, or any other time in history where God has sent a message through his people. We (especially myself at times) have to remember what the Pope is telling us - the message is not an end but a means to bring us closer to God. As the Pope tells us, our hope is in God, not the message or the one who delivers it. God is the only one who can give us hope or anything else that is good.

This is what I would expect the Pope and Cardinal to say if the Church was going to rule positive on Medjugorje. In other words, Medjugorje has many fruits but don't get too carried away and forget where all these fruits are coming from.

[ActionReq]

At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his Passion, he took bread and, giving thanks, broke it (crick), and gave it to his disciples, saying:
TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT: FOR THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

Some priest break the bread at the "crick"
above. That is not allowed, so to speak
because the "Eucharist is not a show".
Some priests do it though.
However the Vatican says no, because
they don't want to convert the mass in
a show.
Medjugorje is maybe a bit too much like
"showtime". Some will condemn it
because of that.
Now you should take this example for
yourself and feel if you should want the
breaking of the bread as described above
or like the Vatican prescribes.
Then you can put yourself in their position
and understand the ones who condemn.

[Medjugorjeprayers]

If you have any time this week I highly recommend you listen to the following homily referred to me. I thought it was amazing and very timely to the recent news. Summed up, we should be living every moment as if it were our last in regards to our relationship with God. There is no guarantee that we will have tomorrow to change something. In other words, not matter what the secrets bring or any other event, as long as we are prepared spiritually, in good standing with God, there is no need to worry about the future. Mirjana really stressed this point in her book.

The first part of the audio is the Gospel reading and then the homily begins. Definitely worth a listen...

http://www.stcolumbacatholic.org/about/ ... 132016.mp3

[leo daly]

I don't think the Fr Vlasic issue will be a big problem as it was a long time ago and I don't think he influenced them after he stopped being P.P. The visionaries, if they were mislead, surely would have come to their senses by now, especially with Fr Slavko and Jozo guiding them.

Cheers
Leo.