Gulf Pine Catholic

Volume 42, Issue 2 www.gulfpinecatholic.com September 27, 2024 G ulf P ine C atholic Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Biloxi Vatican sees spiritual value of Medjugorje, doesn’t judge it supernatural BY CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY ( CNS ) -- With some prudence, Catholics can benefit spiritually from the messages and spir- itual practices associated with the alleged apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. “This does not imply a declaration of the supernatural character of the phenomenon,” nor does it mean that the tens of thousands of alleged mes- sages from Mary published by the supposed “seers” are authentic, the dicastery said in a long “Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje,” released Sept. 19. With the approval of Pope Francis, the dicastery did, however, recognize “the abundant and widespread fruits, which are so beautiful and positive,” associated with devotion to Mary, Queen of Peace, and with pilgrimages to Medjugorje. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, dicastery pre- fect, presented the note at a news conference Sept. 19. He said he had not met with the alleged visionaries, but that once the notification was prepared, he wrote to the six of them with some “suggestions” about the future. He provided no further details. The cardinal also showed reporters the official “nihil obstat” -- a declaration of no objection -- issued by Bishop Petar Palic of Mostar-Duvno, the diocese where Medjugorje is located, authorizing public devo- tion there to Mary, Queen of Peace. While it is possible that a pope could go further and make a declaration about whether the alleged apparitions and messages have a supernatural origin, Cardinal Fernández said he asked Pope Francis if he wanted to move in that direction and the pope said, “Not at all.” The devotions in Medjugorje began after six young people, aged 10 to 16, said Mary began appear- ing to them in June 1981. Three of them say they still have apparitions of Mary each day, while the other three have them only on special occasions. The Vatican’s positive judgment of the spiritual experience connected to Medjugorje highlighted: “abundant conversions; a frequent return to the sacra- ments, particularly, the Eucharist and reconciliation; many vocations to priestly, religious and married life; a deepening of the life of faith; a more intense practice of prayer; many reconciliations between spouses; and the renewal of marriage and family life.” “It should be noted that such experiences occur above all in the context of pilgrimages to the places associated with the original events rather than in meeting with the ‘visionaries’ to be present for the alleged apparitions,” the dicastery added. The 10,000-word notification looked in-depth at hundreds of the “alleged messages,” highlighting the positive, orthodox character of most of them while cau- tioning that some contain questionable theological affirmations or appear to be more a reflection of the young people’s thoughts than what the church would expect from Mary. Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, the resi- dent apostolic visitor to Medjugorje, is charged with determining whether to allow the publication of alleged mes- sages revealed in the future or alleged messages from the past that have not yet been published, the notification said. At the news conference, Cardinal Fernández said the wording of some of the messages is “not exactly from St. Thomas Aquinas.” As an example, he pointed to one about the faithful depart- ed being happy when Masses are cele- brated for them, a statement which could give the impression that even those in purgatory can be happy. A key principle in the church’s evaluation of phenomena like Medjugorje, the note said, is that “when one recogniz- es an action of the Holy Spirit in the midst of a spiri- tual experience, it does not mean that everything belonging to that experience is thereby free from all imprecisions, imperfections, and areas of possible confusion.” Affirming the spiritual value of an alleged appari- tion or a specific devotion, it said, does not exclude the possibility of “some error of a natural order, not due to bad intentions, but to the subjective perception of the phenomenon.” For example, it said so many of the messages have Mary allegedly insisting people listen to her that they can give the impression that the alleged messages are more important than the Bible. SEE MEDJUGORJE VATICAN, PAGE 18 Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaks at a news conference at the Vatican Sept. 19 on the dicastery’s ruling on the alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. CNS photo/Justin McLellan