“The problem of the visionaries...”
Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 1:59 pm
In December 2017, the Pope’s envoy to Medjugorje, Monsignor Henryk Hoser gave an interview to the Italian news outlet Il Giornale.
It centered around an earlier announcement by the the archbishop emeritus of Warsaw-Praague that pilgrimages to Medjugorje organised at diocesan level are now permitted.
In the interview he clarified his earlier statement:
“It is true what I said, although perhaps it was a bit exaggerated in tone [when reported], but it is absolutely authentic that pilgrimages of prayer can be organised in Medjugorje without any problem, provided they are spiritual and do not concern the apparitions of Our Lady to the seers”.
Responding to another question later in the interview Hoser used the phrase “Because the problem of the visionaries is not yet solved.”
What could this problem be, I wonder?
Was Hoser suggesting that the visionaries themselves were the problem or, instead, that the visionaries have a problem which needs resolving?
It may be that the visionaries do not have a problem, and that the problem belongs to the Vatican in how to resolve the Medjugorje issue, especially the claims of ongoing apparitions and messages.
It seems clear that for Pope Francis, these claims present him with a problem at a personal level. He has said so. So it’s unlikely he will pronounce the claims of continuing apparitions as legit.
So this scenario perhaps presents the Pope with a further problem. Should he take on board the findings and judgement of the Commission which expressed doubt about the claims of continuing apparitions, to confirm and support his own doubts and pronounce on this? If he does, will it place him and the Church in opposition to some or all of the seers’ claims that Our Lady continues to appear to them?
And if, as anticipated, the apparitions of the first seven days are deemed supernatural, will this not further confuse the faithful, particularly if the visionaries continue to declare they receive apparitions?
For myself, I can’t see a solution to the ‘problem of the visionaries’ simply because I don’t know what the ‘problem’ is. But the fact that the restriction on pilgrimages organised at diocesan level has been lifted (with a proviso), tells me that Pope Francis does not have a problem with Medjugorje as a recognised place of pilgrimage and spiritual benefit. As Hoser remarked at the end of his interview, he found in Medjugorje “a correct cult, Christocentric” and “did not find strange or unknown aspects from the Church.”
It centered around an earlier announcement by the the archbishop emeritus of Warsaw-Praague that pilgrimages to Medjugorje organised at diocesan level are now permitted.
In the interview he clarified his earlier statement:
“It is true what I said, although perhaps it was a bit exaggerated in tone [when reported], but it is absolutely authentic that pilgrimages of prayer can be organised in Medjugorje without any problem, provided they are spiritual and do not concern the apparitions of Our Lady to the seers”.
Responding to another question later in the interview Hoser used the phrase “Because the problem of the visionaries is not yet solved.”
What could this problem be, I wonder?
Was Hoser suggesting that the visionaries themselves were the problem or, instead, that the visionaries have a problem which needs resolving?
It may be that the visionaries do not have a problem, and that the problem belongs to the Vatican in how to resolve the Medjugorje issue, especially the claims of ongoing apparitions and messages.
It seems clear that for Pope Francis, these claims present him with a problem at a personal level. He has said so. So it’s unlikely he will pronounce the claims of continuing apparitions as legit.
So this scenario perhaps presents the Pope with a further problem. Should he take on board the findings and judgement of the Commission which expressed doubt about the claims of continuing apparitions, to confirm and support his own doubts and pronounce on this? If he does, will it place him and the Church in opposition to some or all of the seers’ claims that Our Lady continues to appear to them?
And if, as anticipated, the apparitions of the first seven days are deemed supernatural, will this not further confuse the faithful, particularly if the visionaries continue to declare they receive apparitions?
For myself, I can’t see a solution to the ‘problem of the visionaries’ simply because I don’t know what the ‘problem’ is. But the fact that the restriction on pilgrimages organised at diocesan level has been lifted (with a proviso), tells me that Pope Francis does not have a problem with Medjugorje as a recognised place of pilgrimage and spiritual benefit. As Hoser remarked at the end of his interview, he found in Medjugorje “a correct cult, Christocentric” and “did not find strange or unknown aspects from the Church.”