For 30 years, a small group of "visionaries" have claimed that the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared twice each month in the town of Medjugorje, on the southwestern edge of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the alleged apparitions have attracted an estimated 30 million pilgrims since they began on June 24, 1981, two successive bishops of the diocese of Mostar-Duvno, in which Medjugorje lies, have ruled that the phenomenon is not confirmed to be of supernatural origin (non constat de supernaturalitate) and have attempted to restrict pilgrimages to the site. Their judgment has been supported by the Bishops' Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which issued an official statement in April 1991 that Vinko Cardinal Puljic, the archbishop of Sarajevo, recalled in November 2009 when he declared that "The doctrinal issue of the Medjugorje phenomenon is resolved."
Cardinal Puljic, however, acknowledges that the phenomenon has "pastoral significance," because "The Medjugorje phenomenon is not only gathering faithful from Bosnia, but from all over the world, and in places where people gather to pray, God gives his blessing." That does not mean that the alleged apparitions are real but simply that wise bishops need to deal with the consequences of the alleged apparitions in a pastoral manner.
Their attempts to do so, however, have repeatedly been complicated by forces from outside the area who believe the alleged apparitions to be real. His Excellency Ratko Peric, the current bishop of Mostar-Duvno, highlighted one such case on January 2, 2010, when he released a statement regarding a visit by Austrian cardinal Christoph Schönborn to Medjugorje.
And now, another respected voice has weighed in: Fr. Gabriele Amorth, often called "the Vatican's exorcist."
Father Amorth has received much publicity since his publication in 1999 of An Exorcist Tells His Story (compare prices) and its 2002 sequel, An Exorcist: More Stories (compare prices). An exorcist for the diocese of Rome (not technically, therefore, "the Vatican's exorcist"), Father Amorth seems a very holy and brave man. His actions as an exorcist place him on the front lines of the spiritual battle with the forces of evil, and that remains true even if he has, on occasion, exaggerated the number of exorcisms he has performed. (Father Amorth claims to have performed 70,000 exorcisms between 1986 and 2010, or approximately eight per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year.)
What his actions as an exorcist do not do, however, is give him a special insight into what is or is not occurring at Medjugorje, much less a special competence to speak about it, much less the proper authority to make pronouncements on the validity of the apparitions.
That authority lies, as it always has, with the local bishop, and his judgment remains the canonical statement on the events at Medjugorje, unless and until the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which convened a special commission in March 2010 to examine the alleged apparitions, pronounces otherwise.
In other words, anything Father Amorth says about Medjugorje has as much weight as anything I might say about it. He may believe that the local bishop is wrong in his judgment, but the Church says that it is the local bishop, and not Father Amorth or I, who has the authority to make that judgment.
And the Church does so for good reason: Catholics who start distrusting/mistrusting the Church and trusting instead in the claims of private revelation are treading on very dangerous ground. And that ground, alas, is ground that Father Amorth knows all too well—which makes his comments all the more out of place, and therefore disturbing.
Information on Approved Marian Apparitions:
- The 94th Anniversary of the Apparitions at Fatima
- Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes
- First Approved Marian Apparition in the United States
- Catholic Blogs: Speramus-We Hope Meliora (dedicated to spreading the message of Our Lady of Fatima)
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Not sure the point of this article. You seem to place yourself above Cardinal Schonborn, and Father Amorth as if you know more about Medjugorje than they do. You write as if they are uniformed.
The facts are:
The Vatican has removed the Bishop’s authority over Medjugorje . The Vatican is currently involved in an investigation over the events at Medjugorje. This article is filled with biased inaccurate information.
“You seem to place yourself above Cardinal Schonborn, and Father Amorth as if you know more about Medjugorje than they do.”
Not at all. As I stated in the article, Church law is clear: The local ordinary has the authority to rule on the validity of apparitions, not Cardinal Schönborn, Father Amorth, or myself.
The Vatican has not “removed the Bishop’s authority over Medjugorje.” The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has convened a commission to discuss the phenomenon. There are four possible results of that commission:
It may never release any judgment on the apparitions. In that case, the judgment of the local bishop will stand.
It may uphold the judgment of the local bishop.
It may decide that the local bishop erred, and rule the apparitions constat de non supernaturalitate—in other words, confirm them to be of nonsupernatural origin. (Bishop Peric and his predecessor went with the more mild judgment that they are not confirmed to be of supernatural origin.)
It may decide that the local bishop erred, and rule the apparitions constat de supernaturalitate—in other words, confirm them to be of supernatural origin.
If the CDF decides anything other than the final option, Ryan, will you accept its judgment?
More than likely…I have said in the past on my site in response to this question. I will stop writing about Medjugorje.
The possibility remains that if the Vatican can not explain the events in a satisfactory manner I will continue to view the events with wonder and curiosity. Something I recommend you do now before a decision is made.
Also I think it is important to menetion that Cardinal Schonborn is the Editorial Editor of the Catholic Catechism – the authority on Church rules. I recommend you take his lead on Medjugojre. You will find it quite interesting and good for the soul
If I am not mistaken, the apparitions in Fatima were also denied by their bishop in the beginning. It took a long time for Fatima to be considered “real”. When the time is right, it will all be made clear.
Europeans seem to have a very different concept of “exorcism” from priests in America. In the U.S., an exorcism is performed by a team – and only after the candidate has been evaluated to rule out other explanations for the possibly diabolical phenomena leading to the exorcism.
After talking with an exorcist from Madrid, last year, it appears that priests in Europe practice exorcisms very much of the sort akin to the exorcisms we observe in, say, a baptismal rite.
Trust me – that is the ONLY way an exorcist could perform as many exorcisms as Fr. Amorth claims to do. He’d never be able to conduct the intense sort of exorcism reserved for exorcists here in the U.S. on that sort of schedule.
Somehow, knowing this, and knowing an American exorcist and a bit about his work, I don’t have quite the awe of Fr. Amorth that I formerly did, so his opinion of Medjugorge just doesn’t impress me one way or the other.
I must admit that I am a bit or more disturbed that Father Amorth would “weigh in” on Church affairs in such a way that causes mistrust in the Authority that Christ Jesus has given to His Bishops to protect the sheep. It is confusing however when we expereince our Bishops making bad calls so much latey. We want to Gree with Fr. Amorth …it is sooo tempting! ( I myself being a revert because of a Medjugorie expereince. ) When we read about such big hitters of Church teaching such as Fr Corapi falling, and how so many Bishops seem to have protected pedophiles rather than the sheep, I worry about Bishops falling and I worry about the possibility of Fr Amorth possibly unknowingly himself being led by a demon who wished to further undermine the Faith of the people. To water the seeds of anarchy that have been sown by scandals in the Church and in Her universities. I keep hearing the words of one of the psalms……. “a thousand fall on my left, ten thousand on my right “…. And this reminds me to keep the eyes of my heart on Jesus who is The Way and the Truth…the only one who cannot ever lie or deceive me, or be influenced by evil forces. I trust NO MAN. I am sickened by Man…sickened.
Typo…..We want to “agree” with Fr. Amorth…not Gree with him
,….darn auto correct …errrrrh!
Respectfully …. would anyone have showed up to Fatima if they listened to the Church ?
As far as respecting authority ….. how many sexual abuse cases would have never occured if more people were not shunned for expressing an opinon (you seem to place yourself above Cardinal ….). Attacking the person vs. the issue is a HUGE mistake.
God bless you
As a “priestly” victim survivor ( he was appointed Bishop before
his death in appropriate AGONY before My Jesus ), I am both
disgusted and TOTALLY DISTRUSTING with ALL BISHOPS and their Parroting rotten priests. Frankly, NONE of them have even the
slightest credibility with me A Catholic Convert @ age 14, yet the
poverty stricken state of my 2 brothers & I made us vulnerable to a Pedophile-Sadist Priest who raped each of us repeatedly. Take
your Pretense modern Magisterium and shove it!! YOU, a leader
of the laity are EVEN MORE GUILTY than those rats! I am a
devout Roman Catholic—Neither you nor they ARE. I don’t think
YOU AND THEY EVEN BELIEVE IN JESUS, but rather are ROTTEN
CRIMINALS. I continue in the Church FOR THE EUCHARIST and
NOTHING ELSE. May The Master Jesus reserve an EXTREMELY
HOT PLACE IN HELL FOR YOU AND THEM. May GOD THE FATHER DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!!
My brother, be at peace, and let our Master handle all those demonic forces who have infiltrated and pillaged His pasture. I promise you , He is watching and He is JUST towards the evil ones and merciful to His little sheep.
keep being the lamb of the Master Shepherd, Jesus and stay close to Him, as you so wisely do in The Eucharist. But do not tak on God’s wrath….I exhort you to go to confession ….knowing it is not the priest, but Jesus who takes away your sins, and confess to him the curse you wrote here. We may not damn anyone to hell, I understand your outburst but …please do not entertain the anger in your heart, even though you have the worldly right to be so wounded! Let Jesus take your wounds and turn them into a powerful force of love for others in your place.
Find a holy priest…they are out there….ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit to find you one. You need someone to listen to you and help to heal your wounds. I wish I could do that for you. I am praying for you right now. I ask Our Mother to wrap her mantle around you. I love you little brother, go in peace!
I feel for you my friend considering how hurt you’ve been all these years, but i’d like to challenge you to be a real Catholic and let go of those Feelings, you’ve bottled it up for so long it’s going to eat you in…don’t let it!!! that’s making Satan enjoy much more than he did through that Priest…there’s so much hatred in you from your comments…it will do you good if you take the first step to try and forgive and then…finally let go of all those hatred…there are good Shepherds out there who may be able to guide you, pray some novenas to prepare you…i’m praying for you right now…i love you my dear friend…
Dear Mr. Patty,
Someone has been posting scurrilous comments about our forum host and signing your name.
I thought you’d like to know.
Regards,
Ken
I have been to Medjugorje Twice, and BELIEVE me, if Our Lady is not present, then I do not know. I wish I can share my last experiense there (October 2009) Her leading me, all by myself to Her Statue, Our Lady even helped me climbed the Cross mountain,(me being a smoker and at the 9th Station, I thought I was going to die, but to this day, I do not know how I got to the top, at the Cross, it was a wow, thank YOU GOD, and then I wont even mention by going down. Her appearance on my photos, you can see it clearly as day light. We, as a group and friends are going back next year, and I am still expecting miricles
This is very childish bickering.
In my opinion, the tone of this article is one that is attempting to devalue the opinion of a well respected priest, something I suspect you would only do if you disagreed with his opinion. I will trust only the Church’s declaration on this matter but I see no point in wasting time not looking into this until a declaration is made. Given what the local bishops have stated, I can understand one’s inclination to disregard Medjugorje until a definitive conclusion is made. You have to ask yourself, what if the Church approves the claims? Why is the Vatican even investigating it? The answer is because of the fruits and the voices of millions. Our voices are motivated by Truth Himself. Did not Saint Paul oppose Saint Peter to his face (Galatians 2)? Great saints can and will continue to be wrong occasionally. It is appropriate for any member of the Church to express an opinion until a matter is settled by the Magisterium. God chose Paul to confront Peter, not just a bishop but the pope. We Catholics cannot sit and wait for the Church on every concern. We are the voices that have led the Holy See to investigate miracles for canonization research. What if everyone remained silent, waiting for the decision on canonizing someone a saint? You would never have any canonizations then. People must be able to share the truth as they see it up until the Church declares definitively on a matter. Fr. Amorth is exhorting us to receive these extraordinary graces being offered through Our Lady of Medjugorje, in spite of a local bishop’s opinion on the apparitions. Is that any worse than Paul disagreeing with Peter?
If the Church declares against the claims, then I will have to check my personal convictions at the door and defer, but why would anyone miss this opportunity?
Thank you for responding to God’s call to spread God’s Word and defend the Church. I encourage you to pray with fasting and let’s pray for peace!
It doesn’t matter what experiences onre had at Medjugoirje. What matters is that the bishop says there’s problems. There’s Mary allegedly saying all faiths please her son and to ignore the bishop’s problem with Vlasic (I think it was), seers lying, somehow having her show up to somehow accreditize an apostolate at the desire of a seer, Franciscans countering the bishop, etc. The first bishop, when this was happening, first wanted to believe in it and his diocese could use the money, but he came to deny it, upon looking into it, and got villified. The pope could have picked a pro-medjugrje successor to him after his time there was over, but didn’t choose one or the other kind, but the chosen one came to not believe (I understand none outside Medjugorje buy it, either) and got vilified, too. Is this what Our Lady would allow? No.
It doesn’t matter if the bishop of Fatima doubted Fatima. If people went, they were wrong, too. It’sw the principle. The Church keeps us grounded, so we don’t get led astray. by Satan’s tricks. Abusive clergy do not represent The Faith, either. They represent “the world.”
It’s undeniable that people have been spiritually graced at Medjugorje, but remember that the Holy Eucharist is present in the Tabernacle at the church there. Whether or not the apparitions are real doesn’t matter, because the graces don’t come from the apparitions – they come from Christ, through the prayers of His holy Mother.
As being an experienced exorcist does not five Fr. Amorth special insight into validity of the events at Medjugorje, the author of this article doesn’t have any special insight either. At least Fr. Amorth has extensive hours recognizing and calling out the diabolical. Ave Maria.
Patricia, as “the author of this article,” I never claimed any “special insight” into “the validity of the events at Medjugorje.” Indeed, quite the opposite—I stated that the question of the validity of the events should be left up to the proper authorities, which does not include me, you, Cardinal Schönborn, or Father Amorth.