Pilgrims attend Masses at Medjugorje's St. James Church during the day and the evening Mass is celebrated outdoors to accommodate huge crowds.

They climb rocky Podbrdo — Apparition Hill — bearing a statue of Our Lady, marking where she allegedly appeared. Pilgrims also climb up Mount Križevac, praying the Stations of the Cross, journeying to the huge cross nearly 40 feet tall built by villagers in the early 20th century.

They fill the lines at all the confessionals, as the Sacrament of Penance is offered daily.

Franciscan priests have administered to the needs of the souls of the Croatian people in the parish and region with its Mediterranean climate and fertile plains for farmers and vineyards since the 13th century.

They have been closely involved with the visionaries and pilgrims from the start of the apparitions.

The visionaries

The six visionaries are Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, Ivan Dragicevic, Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic, Jakov Colo, Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo, and Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez.

Always called "the visionaries," they are now adults.

While Vicka, Ivan, and Marija still reportedly receive a daily apparition at the specific time of 6:40 p.m., the others do so now only on particular dates.

Mirjana allegedly receives apparitions once a month — plus once a year on March 18, her birthday — with Ivanka reporting once a year on June 25, the anniversary of the first apparition, and Jakov once a year on Christmas Day.

The message

Our Lady came to Medjugorje to show the faithful the way to peace and help convert lives so as to return to God, according to the visionaries, including to bring people to her son, Jesus.

Early in the apparitions, she reportedly identified herself as the "Queen of Peace."

"Dear children, this is the reason for my presence among you for such a long time: to lead you on the path of Jesus. I want to save you and, through you, to save the whole world.

"Many people now live without faith; some don't even want to hear about Jesus, but they still want peace and satisfaction!

"Children, here is the reason why I need your prayer: Prayer is the only way to save the human race" (July 30, 1987). Read more

• First published by the National Catholic News Agency
• Joseph Pronechen is a staff writer with the National Catholic Register; his articles have appeared in numerous publications

By issuing a decree of nihil obstat (literally "nothing stands in the way"), the Holy See "authorises prudent adherence" to the messages of Medjugorje but has not formally recognised the reality of the visions.

The ruling, issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), encourages devotion while urging caution regarding the messages from alleged visionaries.

In 1981, six children from Medjugorje claimed to have received messages from the Virgin Mary. These visions sparked a global phenomenon, with millions of pilgrims visiting the site.

Although the Vatican now permits public devotion, it maintains a neutral stance on the supernatural nature of the events.

The Vatican's decision highlights the spiritual fruits of Medjugorje such as conversions, renewed faith and an increased return to the sacraments.

Faithful are free to believe or not

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the DDF, noted that the pilgrimages have brought many positive changes. These include more profound spiritual commitment and numerous vocations to religious life.

However he emphasised that these benefits come from the pilgrims' experiences rather than direct interaction with the alleged visionaries.

"The upcoming messages will need to be analysed and, for now, they should not be considered true" Fernández said at a press conference.

Cardinal Fernandez added that the messages, when published, must be accompanied by a note from the DDF specifying that the faithful are free to believe or not.

Profoundly Catholic

While the Vatican appreciates the spiritual value of Medjugorje, it also cautions the faithful against certain messages. It said that positive experiences "occur mainly in the context of pilgrimages to the places of the original events, rather than during encounters with the 'visionaries' to witness the presumed apparitions".

Some of these messages, particularly those involving strict instructions on practical matters, are deemed "misleading" and not of divine origin. The DDF warned that certain phrases, such as "my plan" and "my project", attributed to Mary in the visions could create confusion over Christ's central role in salvation.

Despite the precautions and reservations, the DDF declared that the essential experiences of the past 40 years at Medjugorje were "profoundly Catholic".

"We see that God is doing good things" Cardinal Fernandez added.

Sources

New York Post

La Croix International

CathNews New Zealand

The story is a fantastical tale that has captivated the Italian imagination for over a year. It involves fraud charges, an apparent miraculous multiplication of gnocchi, and priests conducting secret investigations into the alleged supernatural events.

The drama is centred in the small Italian town of Trevignano Romano, home to roughly 6,000 people and located near the shore of Lake Bracciano, about 40 minutes north of Rome.

There, a Sicilian woman named Gisella Cardia has a statue of the Madonna she bought in Medjugorje several years ago. Cardia claims the Madonna has been bleeding from the eyes since 2016 and has been giving her private revelations since then.

Read More

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) announced on 23 October they were throwing him out of the church.

In 2009 Vlasic was accused of teaching false doctrine, manipulating consciences, disobeying ecclesiastical authority, and of committing acts of sexual misconduct.

These incidents occurred during the 1980s when he acted as ‘spiritual advisor' to six people in the town of Medjugorje, in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. The six said they experienced visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

A document signed at the time by the then-CDF prefect, the late Cardinal William Levada, also accused Vlasic of adultery. The priest had had a child with a woman in 1987.

The priest had been reduced to the lay state by a decree of Benedict XVI. Vlasic had asked to be released from his priestly obligations following the investigation by the CDF.

He was also relieved of his religious vows and excluded from the Franciscan Order.

Don Adriano Bianchi, Director of the Office for Social Communications for the Diocese of Brescia announced that the CDF had issued the decree of excommunication formally on 15 July this year.

He said: "The serious canonical penal provision was imposed on him due to the fact that unfortunately, during these years, Mr Vlasic has never complied with the prohibitions imposed on him in the canonical penal precept issued against him by the same Congregation, on 10 March 2009, under penalty of excommunication reserved for the Holy See.

"In fact, in all these years, in the Diocese of Brescia and in other places, he has continued to carry out apostolic activities towards individuals and groups, both through conferences and through information technology; he continued to declare himself a religious and a priest of the Catholic Church.

"Because of this penalty of excommunication, Mr Vlasic is prohibited from taking part in any way as a minister in the celebration of the Eucharist or any other ceremony of public worship, from celebrating sacraments or sacraments and from receiving the sacraments, from exercising functions, in offices or ministries or any ecclesiastical assignments, or to place acts of government."

Sources

La Croix International

Independent Catholic News

Catholic News Agency

"With regard to the international phenomenology, they are very similar," Hoser says.

"These [Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje] are certainly the three greatest pilgrimage sites. Here [at Medjugorje] we have two and a half million pilgrims a year."

Hoser's comparison of Medjugorje with Lourdes and Fatima has raised hopes that official confirmation of Medjugorje as may be possible.

"Lourdes is a great shrine based on the dogmatical truth about the Immaculate Conception and it tells us about the identity of the Mother of God, Hoser says.

"Fatima gives us a look at the contemporary history of the world, the current as well as the future."

Medjugorje's most important characteristic is "the power of grace" he says.

Between these three sites, Hoser says "there is a kind of spiritual solidarity and bondage."

"The power of grace that is felt here, the power of God's words here proclaimed, make us witnesses to many radical transformations that are happening here.

Hoser notes Medjugorje has become "the confessional of the world" .

It offers 35 confessionals with priests hearing confessions in seven different languages, with "a constant line of penitents at all hours."

Many priests say the confessions make them believe there's a supernatural grace in Medjugorje.

In regard to the apparitions of Our Lady some citizens have allegedly experienced over the past 30 years since they were children, Hoser says the Church's position continues to be "let's wait and see."

"In general terms, the message of peace that emerges from the Medjugorje phenomenon is always valid," he says.

Source

• Crux Now
• Total Croatia News
• Image: kirche-und-leben.de

The local bishop has made it plain he does not believe the apparitions are of Our Lady, while an apostolic visitor has been appointed to oversee the pastoral needs at the site.

Medjugorje has become a place of pilgrimage since six children claimed to have seen Our Lady there in 1981.

According to the children, the apparitions contained a message of peace for the world, a call to conversion, prayer and fasting, and secrets surrounding events to be fulfilled in the future.

Three of the children say the apparitions have continued almost daily since their first occurrence.

Now adults, they say they continue to receive apparitions every afternoon. This is apparently because not all the "secrets" intended for them have been revealed.

The apostolic visitor overseeing the town's pastoral needs is Archbishop Henryk Hoser. He began his work in Medjugorje on Sunday.

In his first homily on the apparitions, Hoser said "the fundamental question" about Medjugorje is why so many people go there every year.

He said the answer is that they go "to meet someone: to meet God, to meet Christ, to meet His Mother."

Hoser noted the church approves of and encourages Marian devotion because it develops "in harmonic subordination" to the worship of Christ.

In his view, the devotion at Medjugorje achieves this.

However, the local bishop, Ratko Peri, has told Hoser that after carrying out several investigations, he does not consider as credible any ‘apparition,' any message, [or] any secret."

The Vatican has not taken a position on the six sightings of the alleged apparitions to six children, but the archbishop told media earlier that those which emerged in the first seven days of 1981 could be proclaimed as credible.

A special commission has been probing the credibility of such claims since 2011 but Pope Francis has yet to issue a final decision on its report.

Source

• La Croix
• Catholic News Agency
• Image:The Catholic Sun
  

He also says he thinks the apparitions of Our Lady which appeared in the town in 1981 might be recognised by the Vatican later this year

Although he expressed an opinion about the Vatican's likely recognition of the apparitions, Hoser points out that his task at Medjugorje was not to make a judgement on the apparitions' authenticity.

He says role was to evaluate whether the town's pastoral ministry was proper and consistent with the doctrine and teaching of the Church, as well as effective and well organized.

"I concluded that this is the case," Hoser says.

In relation to the authenticity of the apparitions, however, he says "... let us not forget the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has submitted the entire documentation to the State Secretariat of the Holy See which is now working on the issue,".

Source

• Crux
• Total Croatia News
• vesti.mk

Servite Father Salvatore Perrella, president of the Pontifical Institute Marianum and a member of the commission now-retired Pope Benedict XVI established to study the Medjugorje case, said that although Pope Francis has not yet made a formal pronouncement on the presumed apparitions, "he thought it was a good idea to clear some of the fog."

The pope's remarks to journalists on May 13 on his flight from Portugal to Rome "were a surprise, but he told the truth," Father Perrella told Catholic News Service on May 18.

"For four years, the commission established by Pope Benedict investigated, interrogated, listened, studied and debated this phenomenon of the presumed apparitions of Mary" in a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"The commission did not make a definitive pronouncement," he said, but in discussing the apparitions that supposedly began June 24, 1981, and continue today, the commission opted to distinguish between what occurred in the first 10 days and what has occurred in the following three decades.

"The commission held as credible the first apparitions," he said. "Afterward, things became a little more complicated."

As a member of the papal commission, Father Perrella said he could not discuss specifics that had not already been revealed by Pope Francis to the media.

But he did not object to the suggestion that one of the complicating factors was the tension existing at the parish in Medjugorje between the Franciscans assigned there and the local bishop.

In some of the alleged messages, Mary sided with the Franciscans. Continue reading

Sources

• America article by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
• Image: National Geographic

He was referring to alleged apparitions of Our Lady who is said to have appeared 35 years ago to six children in Medjugorje.

Since then, three of the "children" claim she has been visiting them each day.

Whether the apparitions are authentic or not is the subject of a study Pope Benedict XVI set up in 2010.

Despite the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith casting doubt on the subsequent report, Francis referenced it when he gave his opinion about the visions' authenticity.

Francis said he knew he was being "naughty" but while he believes the original apparitions experienced at Medjugorje 35 years ago are worthy "of further study," he is suspicious three of the seers' ongoing visions.

They have reported continuous visions ever since 1981, with Our Lady delivering precise messages at pre-designated times.

Francis says such a regimented approach doesn't seem like Our Lady to him.

"I prefer the Lady Mother to the Madonna head of a telegraphic office that sends a message every day. These presumed apparitions do not have much value. That is my personal opinion."

He said the study report stresses the importance of distinguishing between the original apparitions, which were to children, and the ongoing visions.

He said it is also important to consider Medjugorje's pastoral and spiritual dimensions because "people go there and convert. People encounter God, change their lives."

Local bishops in Bosnia and Herzegovina where Medjugorje is located, say they have always had their doubts about the seers' reliability and integrity.

Skeptics say the visions are aimed at bringing religious tourists to the otherwise unremarkable rural spot.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Federal News Radio
• America Magazine
• Image: Medjugorje webiste

Bishop Ratko Peri's post comes hard on the heels of Polish Archbishop Henryk Hoser's visit to Medjugorje.

Hoser is in Medjugorje for Pope Francis to acquire "a deeper knowledge of the pastoral situation there, and, above all, of the needs of the faithful who go there on pilgrimage, and on the basis of this, to suggest possible pastoral initiatives for the future."

Peri says he has never believed Our Lady of Peace has been appearing to six visionaries from St James Church, Medjugorje since 1980.

In his view, the apparitions "are nothing more than a manipulation by the visionaries and priests who work in the Saint James church that doubles as a pilgrimage welcoming center".

Three visionaries claim Our Lady still visits them daily, while the others claim an annual visitation.

Bishop Peric says there have been three other investigations.

Two were from diocesan commissions: one from 1982-1984 and another from 1984-1986.

The third investigation was from the Yugoslavian bishops' conference. It took place between 1987 and 1990.

None of the investigations could affirm Our Lady's appearance.

Medjugorje is a Bosnia-Herzegovinan village. It was unknown until the alleged apparitions brought it to world attention.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Crux
• Image: www.magic-croatia.hr

Archbishop Henryk Hoser will not be investigating apparitions of Our Lady.

He is expected to finish his special posting by the middle of this year.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke stressed that the envoy's role was not that of an "apostolic visitation".

He said Hoser "won't enter into the merits of the Marian apparitions" which are "questions of doctrine" and so the "responsibility of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."

Burke said a 2010 to 2014 international commission that investigated the certain doctrinal and disciplinary aspects of the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje was a separate matter and still "under study".

"The Special Envoy of the Holy See will be in contact with the diocesan Bishop; the Franciscans, to whom the parish of Medjugorje is entrusted; and with the faithful" of Medjugorje," Burke said.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• National Catholic Register
• Image: Medjugorje

But a National Catholic Register article stated that this remains a hypothesis among others currently under consideration.

In a note to journalists on July 4, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said "in recent days rumours have been circulating about the possible appointment of an apostolic administrator for the Medjugorje shrine".

Such an administrator would "report directly to the Holy See".

Such a possibility is a "hypothetical subject for study among others", Fr Lombardi said.

He added "there has still been no decision" about it.

"And so it is premature to speak of it as a direction already taken, or as an imminent decision."

Over the past few days, reports in Croatian media have claimed that Pope Francis would soon appoint a special administrator of the Holy See for Medjugorje, possibly taking over in the next few months.

The establishment of a special shrine at Medjugorje would appear to signal Vatican approval for the authenticity of the many reported apparitions there.

This would also theoretically remove the site of the reported Marian apparitions from the control of both the Franciscans who administer the local parish and the bishops who have cautioned strongly against the "Medjugorje phenomenon".

The friars would lose their autonomy in decision-making over the shrine.

But they would not have to continue battling the local bishop, as they have done for 35 years.

More than a year ago, a special commission created by the Vatican to investigate the Medjugorje phenomenon delivered its report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Last June, Fr Lombardi told reporters that he expected an announcement on the subject from the CDF within "a few months."

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• Catholic World News
• Image: Croatia Experience

In a small Roman Catholic chapel in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the village of Medjugorje, Ivan Dragicevic walks down the aisle, kneels in front of the altar, bows his head for a moment, and then, smiling, lifts his gaze heavenward.

He begins to whisper, listens intently, whispers again, and doesn't blink for ten minutes. His daily conversation with the Virgin Mary has begun.

Dragicevic was one of six poor shepherd children who first reported visions of the Virgin Mary in 1981. She identified herself to the four girls and two boys as the "Queen of Peace" and handed down the first of thousands of messages admonishing the faithful to pray more often and asking sinners to repent.

Dragicevic was 16 years old, and Medjugorje, then in communist-controlled Yugoslavia, had yet to emerge as a hub of miracle cures and spiritual conversions, attracting 30 million pilgrims during the past three decades.

I'm in Medjugorje with a group of Americans, mostly hockey dads from the Boston area, plus two men and two women with stage 4 cancer. We're led by 59-year-old Arthur Boyle, a father of 13, who first came here on Labor Day weekend in 2000, riddled with cancer and given months to live.

He felt broken and dejected and wouldn't have made the trip had not two friends forced him into it. But that first night, after he went to confession at St. James the Apostle church, psychological relief came rapidly.

"The anxiety and depression were gone," he told me. "You know when you're carrying someone on your shoulders in a swimming pool water fight—they come off, and you feel light and free? I was like, Wait a minute, what just happened to me? Why is that?"

The next morning, with his friends Rob and Kevin, he met another of the "visionaries," Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic, in a jewelry shop and asked for her help. Gripping his head with one hand, she appealed to the Virgin Mary to ask God to cure him.

Boyle said he experienced an unusual sensation right there in the store. "She starts to pray over me. Rob and Kevin put their hands on me, and the heat that went through my body from her praying was causing them to sweat." Continue reading

Sources

• National Geographic, from an article by Maureen Orth, an award winning journalist, a Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair Magazine, and the founder of the Marina Orth Foundation which promotes advanced learning in technology, English and leadership for over 3,200 students in Colombia.
• Image: Diana Markosian, National Geographic.

The order, signed by the CDF prefect Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prohibited the visionaries from spreading messages.

A prohibition was previously imposed on some of the visionaries from holding public meetings in Italian dioceses.

The CDF move is being seen by some as "black smoke" from the Vatican about the supernatural aspects of the Medjugorje phenomenon.

Continue reading

The New York Times reported concerns from locals, as Italian visitors to Medjugorje make up the bulk of pilgrims visiting the village.

"Whatever the verdict turns out to be, this wait is creating a state of uncertainty for the pilgrims, and that affects the season," said Sante Frigo, an Italian married to a pilgrim guide in Medjugorje.

"From the point of view of the pilgrimage supply chain it's been a catastrophe."

Before the claims of apparitions, the residents survived on the output from tobacco plantations and vineyards.

In June, while flying back from Sarajevo in Bosnia, Pope Francis told reporters the Vatican was "close to coming to a decision" on the investigation into the claims at Medjugorje.

An international commission of cardinals, bishops, theologians and other experts, working under the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, was set up in 2010 to investigate the claims of six young people who said Mary had appeared to them daily, beginning in 1981.

The commission concluded its investigation 18 months ago, after four years of looking into the claims.

Three days after returning from Sarajevo, in a homily Francis dismissed those "who always need novelty in their Christian identity" and say: "But where are the visionaries who tell us today about ‘The letter that the Madonna will send tomorrow at 4 p.m.?'"

At the time, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, acknowledged that Francis was probably referring to Medjugorje in his homily, but he stressed that his brief mention was not the Vatican's final word.

A Vatican Insider article in June stated, "revelations made in recent months make it clear that the conclusions reached by the commission were not that negative".

"They gave credit to the first apparitions (the ones witnessed in June and July 1981), separating them from the ones which followed; they criticised some abuses but recognised the spiritual fruits and underlined the need for improved pastoral and spiritual care for seers and pilgrims . . . ."

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Crux Now
• Vatican Insider
• Image: Croatia Experience

There had been a report in Italian media that the CDF had considered the report - by a commission led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini - at a "feria quarta" meeting on June 24.

Vatican journalist Gianluca Batile reported that the CDF reached a negative verdict on Medjugorje, which would be sent to Pope Francis for his final decision.

But a Vatican Insider article stated that the most recent such meeting did not consider Medjugorje.

The "feria quarta" monthly meetings are attended by 25 cardinals and bishops, including the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

On his flight back from Sarajevo last month, Pope Francis said that he wasn't sure when the CDF would consider the commission's report.

Some reports interpreted his statement to mean the CDF might already have done so.

But the Vatican later confirmed that the CDF hadn't yet considered the report.

Pope Francis did say: "We are close to coming to a decision. Then the results will be communicated."

According to the Vatican Insider article, "revelations made in recent months make it clear that the conclusions reached by the commission were not that negative".

"They gave credit to the first apparitions (the ones witnessed in June and July 1981), separating them from the ones which followed; they criticised some abuses but recognised the spiritual fruits and underlined the need for improved pastoral and spiritual care for seers and pilgrims and the suggestion was put forward to transform Medjugorje into a shrine unto itself or to include it within a new diocese."

The Vatican Insider article stated it was possible that the next "feria quarta" meeting would not take place until after October's synod on the family.

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• Catholic World News
• Image: Glory Tours

Speaking during Mass at the Sancta Martha Guesthouse on June 9, the Pope's words came only days after he said a ruling on the Medjugorje apparitions will be coming soon.

On June 9, Francis preached on aspects of Christian identity, taking his cue from Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

Among various flawed approaches, he named those "who constantly need Christian identity to be renewed", "forgetting that they were chosen, anointed", that "they have the seal of the Holy Spirit".

Francis said such people ask: "'Where are the seers who can tell us exactly what message Our Lady will be sending at 4'o'clock this afternoon?"

"And their lives depend on this," the Pope said.

"This identity is not Christian. God's final word is ‘Jesus' and nothing else."

Three out of the six children who claimed to experience visions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje in 1981 say they continue to receive visions every afternoon.

This is because not all of the secrets intended for them have been revealed, they say.

On June 6, during a brief press conference on his flight to Rome from Sarajevo in Bosnia, Pope Francis said: "We are at the point of making decisions [about Medjugorje] . . . and then they will be announced."

He said guidelines will be given to bishops on the approach they should take.

On June 9, a Vatican spokesman said Francis's homily comments were probably referring to Medjugorje.

But Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, stressed that the Pope's brief mention was not the Vatican's final word or an official pronouncement.

In his homily, Francis also cautioned against those who look for God "with these Christian spiritualites that are a little ethereal", calling them "modern Gnostics".

These people, he said, "tell you this or that: no, the last word of God is Jesus Christ, there is no other!"

The Pope also cautioned against broadening one's conscience "so much that everything enters".

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Vatican Insider
• Associated Press
• Image: Our Sunday Visitor

But Ivan Dragicevic reportedly had an "apparition" in a private residence in a town in Missouri instead.

According to the Medjugorje Today website, Mr Dragicevic "consoled" about 75 people in the private home.

Medjugorje Today said people came by private invitation and no one was charged admission.

Mr Dragicevic had been scheduled to speak at Lindenwood University in St Charles, Missouri, in an event organised by the local Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich Foundation.

About 1000 people were expected to attend.

But Archbishop Robert Carlson of St Louis issued a memo on March 3 to priests and deacons in the archdiocese.

"I have received a request from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to remind everyone that they are not to participate in events that promote the so-called visionaries of Medjugorje and in particular Mr Ivan Dragicevic," the memo stated.

It added that an event scheduled for March 18 had been cancelled, and that no other such events should be scheduled.

In 2010, the CDF launched an investigation into the alleged visions at Medjugorje.

In 2013, the apostolic nuncio to the United States wrote to every diocese in the country about events involving Medjugorje seers.

The nuncio's letter, written at the request of the CDF prefect, stated that Catholics "are not permitted" to participate in meetings which take for granted that the supposed Marian apparitions in Medjugorje are credible.

The CDF had stated that, based on research to date, it was not possible to state that there were apparitions or supernatural experiences.

Therefore Catholics should not attend "meetings, conferences or public celebrations" during which the credibility of such "apparitions" would be taken for granted.

Mr Dragicevic travels back and forth between Bosnia and the United States speaking at various churches and experiences visions almost on demand.

Following the cancellation of the March 18 event, Mr Dragicevic stated "I have always been obedient to the authority of the Church and I will continue to remain in total obedience".

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Te Deum blog
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Medjugorje San Remo

The dramatic move comes prior to the release of the CDF's final report on Medjugorje.

US Papal Nuncio, on behalf of the prefect of CDF Archbishop Müller, issued instructions that no cleric or lay person may participate in any meetings, conferences, or public celebrations in which the authenticity of the apparitions are taken for granted.

The move has come as a shock to many in the Medjugorje support community as there was an operating assumption that until final confirmation of inauthenticity, participation as if it were true was allowed by the faithful.

For years, the group of people who have reported visions of the Blessed Mother at Medjugorje have made public appearances in churches, announcing in advance that "apparitions" will take place.

In his letter to the US Bishops, the apostolic nuncio in Washington, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano reminded the bishops, that the CDF is currently investigating the reported apparitions at Medjugorje and that until the Vatican renders a final judgment the CDF is asking for acceptance of a statement issued in 1991 by the bishops of what was then Yugoslavia, who said: "On the basis of the research that has been done, it is not possible to state that there were apparitions or supernatural revelations."

Sources

• NCR
• UCANews
• Image: Reuters

A French journal, La Vie, had reported that the Medjugorje commission appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in March 2010, and chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, would present its report to the Pope by the end of 2012.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the report was "not true" and that the commission's findings will take longer.

"I have spoken with Cardinal Ruini and I can assure you that it will take longer," Father Lombardi told the National Catholic Register in the United States.

"Among other things, the commission must first give its opinion to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to discuss, so it'll be a long time yet."

Father Lombardi's remarks match those made by allegedly informed, but unnamed, sources quoted in Bosnian media, saying many more conversations need to take place.

After the commission's report is examined by the congregation, it will be given to the Pope who will have the final say.

The commission, which has been working in strict secrecy, is studying the phenomenon of reported Marian apparitions which began in the small town in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (then Yugoslavia) in 1981.

These apparitions continue regularly to this day, according to the shrine's six "seers", attracting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.

The local hierarchy, however, has sought to discourage the "Medjugorje phenomenon", prompting the Vatican to carry out its own investigation.

Source:

National Catholic Register

Image: Medjugorje.ws