Medjugorje to be investigated
I think it does not bode well for supporters of Medjugorje that it is being investigated now. Usually the Church waits until an apparition event has completed before moving to make any statement in favor or opposition. This is simply because if the Church approves the apparition and later statements by the visionaries conflict with Catholic teaching, then the Church would have to revise its statement (and would have egg on its face). The fact that they are moving before the apparitions have ended suggests that they have already heard enough to make a definitive judgement, and that the judgement is not going to be supportive of the apparitions.
But time will tell, and I hope and pray that all Catholics – both those supportive and opposed to Medjugorje – will submit to the authority of the Church in this matter.
The Church has, technically speaking, been investigating Medjugorje for some time now; for the local ordinary of the place and then later the pertinent episcopal conference have been conducting an investigation. The Congregation of the Doctine of the Faith has now taken over the invetigation ostensibly because, according to the Vatican spokesman, the bishops of the area have requested that it do so, since the episcopal conference in charge of the most recent phase of the investigation no longer exists.
I have no reason to doubt that the bishops have made this request. I would not be amazed to find, however, that the “request” was made at the suggestion of the Vatican. The phenomenon of Medjugorje is now the cause of significant tension (almost division) within the Church, even among bishops. Consider, for example, the effects of the recent visit of the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Schoenborn, to the place. A prompt judgment on the origin of the phenomenon is clearly desirable to relieve this tension, even if a negative judgment leads to tension of a different sort. I understand the CDF to be acting for this reason.
Do not underestimate the support that the phenomenon has within the walls of the Vatican. There will be real resistence to declaring the phenomenon to be something other than heavenly. We should all pray that the Holy Spirit guides the Commission to come to the right conclusion in this complex matter. The ramifications of accepting the phenomenon of Medjugorje as heavenly are not insignificant.
Peregrinus said… I have no reason to doubt that the bishops have made this request. I would not be amazed to find, however, that the “request” was made at the suggestion of the Vatican.
What should not be forgotten and also taken into account is that the Holy See did commission the BiH bishops’ conference to give study to the Medjugorje phenomenon in 1986. Cardinal Puljic, head of the conference announced this commission during a bishops’ conference meeting in Banja Luka July 14-16, 2006. The B&H was also asked to give particular attention to shrine status.
In a telephone conversation with Catholic News Service the Cardinal added: “The commission members have not been named yet. I am awaiting suggestions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But this commission will be under the (Bosnian & Herzegovina) bishops’ conference”
The cardinal said he did not expect the commission to be established until sometime in September (2006) because of the summer holidays.
When asked if the new commission was the idea of the doctrinal congregation or of the bishops’ conference, Cardinal Puljic said, “I would rather not answer that question.”
Cardinal Puljic announced the future formation of the commission during the bishops’ July 12-14 (2006) meeting in Banja Luka.
An official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed on July 25 that the commission would operate under the auspices of the Bosnian bishops’ conference, although the congregation would suggest the names of some commission members.
However, after that, all went quiet.
Two years later, in an interview with the Croatian newspaper Vecernij list, published March 21, 2008, Cardinal Vinko Puljic was asked this question by Ivan Tolj:
“The recently published interview with the Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of the Holy See, that the case Medjugorje should be re-examined, inspired various speculations. Has the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina discussed this matter, and is it true that Medjugorje shall be officially examined once again?”
The Cardinal responded: “Our Bishops’ Conference has not discussed this matter, because the phenomenon of Medjugorje does not come within our competence. At the moment when the Holy See takes the decision and gives a task, we shall think about what to do. This is why it is not necessary to speculate, unless concrete instructions come. After the work of the Commission, the Bishops’ Conference has already decided to accompany the phenomenon pastorally. This is nothing new, but the implementation of the first decision of the Bishops’ Conference about the phenomenon Medjugorje.”
Cardinal Vinko Puljic’s spokesman, Monsignor Mato Zovkic, later confirmed that the matter of Medjugorje has been handed back to the Vatican and that the national commission no longer plans to take action and will wait until it receives direct instructions from the Vatican. “I can confirm it. This is our viewpoint.” said the Monsignor
He added: “the situation is that people keep coming to Medjugorje, they feel something nice, and they are reconciled sacramentally. The Vatican seems to be very interested and so this should be respected.”
There is an obvious local reason why the Commission given to the BiH BC by the Holy See did not get off the ground and we don’t have to look further than Mostar.
But from all of this we can see that Rome is the driving force behind the call for a continued enquiry into Medjugorje. It always has been ever since the CDF and Cardinal Ratzinger removed the matter from the hands of the previous Mostar bishop and gave the Commission to the Yugoslavia bishops’ conference.
If the Holy See wanted to close down Medjugorje it would have done so years ago and allowed the local bishop to proceed with his negative judgment.
The Holy See, in my opinion, will not declare one way or another on Medjugorje until after the apparitions have ended, and that could be for many years to come – perhaps after the lifetime of the visionaries.
Part of one of the so-called ‘secrets’ – the third – is supposed to reveal absolute proof of Our Lady’s visitations at Medjugorje. This secret is also supposed to revealed within the lifetime of the visionary Mirjana. If I was Rome I would just sit tight and wait and let this claim prove itself or not. If the claim is proved correct, then the Holy See will just be left to dot the i’s and cross the t’s without having had to run the risk of making a mistake with any declaration in favour or against.
Thank you for your time. Peace.
We were in Banja Luka a few years back. Medugorje was never mentioned among the Catholics we met there.
When I asked the priest we knew what the Bishop thought of it, I was told that he would hold the Church’s view, which I assumed to mean Bishop Komarica would be in agreement with the Bishops of Mostar-Duvno.
Rather cryptic. I got the feeling that this was not a subject to be discussed in polite company.