Pope finally launches crackdown on world's largest illicit Catholic shrine [Medjugorje] and suspends 'dubious' priest

[prodigal-sun]

That doesn’t excuse one from trying to learn the truth about the “alledged” miracles and apparitions. To refuse to listen to what the chuch has to say through the bishop who overlooks these events is an indication that one seeks his own will and not that of God.

As I qualified in my last post, I beleive the discernment of medjugorje is not within his pervue but now lies with the Vatican.

Peace!

 

[prodigal-sun]

When the person that promotes medjugorje is immoral and a liar it certainly speaks volumes…This sort of activity was going on during the so called apparitions…fathering a child with a nun and trying to get her to lie about it are not fruits of the Holy Spirit…they are fruits of a demon spirit…and they had a nice income from it too…Bernadette never accepted anything for herself neither did Sr Lucy

redrosetea (Only in Canada you say!)

 

[zab]

Or of course another reason would be that the Holy Father did not want to show his implicit acceptance of the site while it is still under scrutiny. This of course does not impy condemnation of the site. To my knowledge the site is not condemed and the Vatican allows for private pilgrimages even by priests & Bishops.

As far as the condemnation of the site by the Bishop of Mostar I have recently learned that the discernment of this site is not within his pervue(his own admission) It was taken from his hands and placed in the hands of a commission which has since been disolved and is know in the hands of the Vatican. I’ve been looking for these Articles today but am also busy at work. I will try to post them ASAP!
I’m waiting for an official declaration from the Vatican for my heart will grasiously follow thier lead.

Peace

Have you heard of the Ratzinger’s “frei erfunden”. It goes like this:

" In 1998, when a certain German gathered various statements which were supposedly made by the Holy Father and the Cardinal Prefect, and forwarded them to the Vatican in the form of a memorandum, the Cardinal responded in writing on 22 July 1998: “The only thing I can say regarding statements on Medjugorje ascribed to the Holy Father and myself is that they are complete invention” - frei erfunden - (O. P., p. 283)".
Medjugorje devotees are always repeating falsehoods such as saying that authority regarding Medjugorje was “taken out of the hands of the local bishop” as if this were some sort of discipline because of his nonapproval. Not true. The vatican has always respected the authority of discernment of the local bishop. It was bishop Zanic who established the first commission and even though something happened prior to its getting started that convinced him that the “apparitions” were not true, he allowed it to continue. Bishop Zanic even extended the first commission, inviting certain religious superiors to allow their experts to join in the commission. And at the recommendation of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (at the Vatican) , The Bishops of Yugoslavia **together with Bishop Zanic **announced the formation of a third commission. Read Bishop Peric’s account from the website of the Church in Yugoslavia.

cbismo.com/index.php?mod=vijest&vijest=101

I challenge Medjugorje devotees to prove that "discernment was taken out of the hands of Bishop Zanic and/or Bishop Peric. with links to official documents and not repeated gosip and untruths spread by the Medjugore website.

 

[redrosetea]

MEDJUGORJE-SANCTIONS Sep-5-2008 (680 words) xxxi

Vatican disciplines ex-spiritual director to Medjugorje visionaries

By Simon Caldwell
Catholic News Service

LONDON (CNS) – The Vatican has authorized “severe cautionary and disciplinary measures” against a priest who served as spiritual director to the visionaries in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has written to Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, whose diocese covers Medjugorje, to inform him that they are investigating the case of Franciscan Father Tomislav Vlasic.

The congregation has asked the bishop, for the good of the faithful, to inform the community of the canonical status of the Bosnian priest, whose actions automatically provoked Vatican sanctions.

In a statement posted on the Web site of the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, Bishop Peric explained that Father Vlasic has been reported to the congregation “for the diffusion of dubious doctrine, manipulation of consciences, suspicious mysticism, disobedience toward legitimately issued orders” and charges that he violated the Sixth Commandment.

The doctrinal congregation said in the letter, also posted on the Web site, that the priest had been disciplined after he stubbornly refused to cooperate with the inquiry, instead “justifying himself by citing his zealous activity” in initiating religious communities and building churches in the Medjugorje area.

A decree confirming action against Father Vlasic was signed by Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the doctrinal congregation, and Father Jose Rodriguez Carballo, the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, earlier this year.

It confined Father Vlasic to a Franciscan monastery in Italy and banned him from contact with the Queen of Peace community, which he founded, or with his lawyers without permission from his superior.

He is banned from making public appearances, preaching and hearing confessions, and he will be required to make a solemn profession of the Catholic faith. The Vatican has warned Father Vlasic that he will be excommunicated if he violates any of the prohibitions.

“Father Vlasic is forewarned that, in the case of stubbornness, a juridical penal process will begin with the aim of still harsher sanctions, not excluding dismissal, having in mind the suspicion of heresy and schism, as well as scandalous acts ‘contra sextum’ (meaning against the Sixth Commandment) aggravated by mystical motivations,” Bishop Peric wrote.

In Rome Sept. 5, a Franciscan official told Catholic News Service it is true that “disciplinary measures have been taken” against Father Vlasic “but he is still a friar of our order; he has not been dismissed from the Franciscans or the clerical state.”

Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, vice director of the Vatican press office, also confirmed the content of Bishop Peric’s letter, including the fact that the doctrinal congregation had suspended the Franciscan’s priestly faculties.

Father Vlasic was a central figure in promoting the apparitions at the unofficial shrine in Medjugorje.

In 1984 he wrote to Pope John Paul II to say that he was the one “who through divine providence guides the seers of Medjugorje.”

Four years later – after it was revealed that he fathered a child with a nun – he moved to Parma, Italy, where he set up the coed Queen of Peace religious community dedicated to the Medjugorje apparitions.

Father Vlasic is the second spiritual adviser to the visionaries to be suspended from his ministry. Bishop Peric confirmed the suspension of the faculties of the other priest, Father Jozo Zovko, in 2004.

The Medjugorje phenomenon began June 25, 1981, when six children told a priest they had seen Mary on a hillside near their town. Since then, Mary is said to have appeared to the six more than 40,000 times and imparted hundreds of messages.

But three church commissions failed to find evidence to support their claims, and the bishops of the former Yugoslavia declared in 1991 that “it cannot be affirmed that these matters concern supernatural apparitions or revelations.”

In 1985 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then prefect of the doctrinal congregation and now Pope Benedict XVI, banned official, diocesan or parish-sponsored pilgrimages to the shrine. However, individual Catholics are still free to visit and have a priest with them.

---

Contributing to this story was Cindy Wooden in Vatican City.

END

 

[Trishie]

Mother Mary please intercede for devotees to obey God’s truth, and not remain convinced of something which is false.

Father please send Your Holy Spirit to all who have made the place and this devotion central to their lives and faith. Help them to be obedient to the Church with humility and faith. Please sustain all who are scandalized, and please prevent attack on the Church for all deception and infidelity. I ask this in Jesus’ name.

 

[GodsGadfly]

In cases where there are true apparitions the person seeing them does not know who it is and will describe her as a “lady”.

That’s a very interesting criterion. I never thought of it that way, but that’s definitely a mark of authentic apparitions. At the very least, an authentic visionary always treats the apparition/locution with a healthy, Gideon-like skepticism: “How do I know you’re really Jesus?”

My dad has visions from time to time: simple things. But the thing is, he never remembers them. He has them, he tells me or MOm or whomever, but he doesn’t remember.

A few months ago, he was coming back to the organ after receiving Communion, and he had a vision of blood spilling.
Then he looked over from the organ and saw a purple stain under one of the ECMs who was giving the Cup. He signalled to an altar server (female), who saw it and got the proper materials for purifying (is the term “purificator”?)
Anyway, she actually saw two spots where the Precious Blood had spilled, and she cleaned them up.

Dad called me right after Mass and told me. Later, everyone was praising this young lady’s insight and devotion. She said, “I wouldn’t have noticed it if Dr. Joe hadn’t pointed it out.” Dad was like, “What are you talking about?” Then she reminded him, and he remembered it.

More directly apropos, the night before my open heart surgery, he stayed in my room with me and saw a vision of what he described as a blue veil at the foot of my bed.

Ever since then, when I mention it, I’ll say, “Dad saw a vision of the Blessed Mother the night before my surgery.”
And he always corrects me and insists that he will not say for certain it was the BVM: just a “blue veil.”

 

[LMP]

It seems to me the best way to communicate such an event or events for a ‘seer’ of heavenly apparitions would be incognito.
This way the message sent from above would get to the Church
and no attention would properly be given to the messenger.
John the Baptist was a wild one and he got his head cut off.

 

[zab]

Mother Mary please intercede for devotees to obey God’s truth, and not remain convinced of something which is false.

Father please send Your Holy Spirit to all who have made the place and this devotion central to their lives and faith. Help them to be obedient to the Church with humility and faith. Please sustain all who are scandalized, and please prevent attack on the Church for all deception and infidelity. I ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen

 

[childofmary1143]

The Pope has begun a crackdown on the world’s largest illicit Catholic shrine – by suspending the priest at the centre of claims that the Virgin Mary has appeared more than 40,000 times.

Benedict XVI has authorised ‘severe cautionary and disciplinary measures’ against Father Tomislav Vlasic, the former ‘spiritual director’ to six children who said Our Lady was appearing to them at Medjugorje in Bosnia.

Full article:

dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1052230/Pope-finally-launches-crackdown-worlds-largest-illicit-Catholic-shrine-suspends-dubious-priest.html

Of course this is a good thing but it has no reflection whatsoever on the apparitions of Medjugorje.

 

[zab]

Of course this is a good thing but it has no reflection whatsoever on the apparitions of Medjugorje.

It has a lot to do with the so-called “apparitions” because Bishop Zanic became aware that the “visionaries” were being manipulated by Fr. Tomislav and were directed to make certain statements attributed to “Our Lady.” Here is an exerpt from Bishop’s Zanic’s account:

*13. The creator of Medjugorje, Rev. Tomislav Vlasic, amongst other things has published and distributed in many languages a seventeen page booklet titled: A calling in the Marian year, Milano, March 25 1988. This regards the founding of a prayer group for young men and women (from Medjugorje) who would live together (Parma, Italy - something which has been unheard of in the history of the Church!) They would be the ones who would save the world. Our Lady apparently gave Rev. Vlasic and Agnes Heupel (a German woman supposedly healed in Medjugorje) the inspiration to establish and to lead this community together in a manner similar to saints Francis and Clare, as described by Vlasic. In order for this action to succeed, Rev. Vlasic asked Marija to add “her witnessing” on three pages. She is a member of this community and on April 21, 1988 she wrote: “Sento il bisogno…” - I feel the need… As can be concluded, Our Lady has given a set program to this community of the “Queen of Peace” and she leads this community through Rev. Vlasic and Agnes who give messages to the community. “I have been in the community for a month and a half. I have apparitions and Our Lady leads me in the mystery of suffering which is the foundation of this community. I must write down everything and publish this once Our Lady tells me to. I have understood God’s plan which he began through Mary in the parish of Medjugorje.” This quote is taken from pages 15 and 16 of Rev. T. Vlasic’s text. The defenders of Medjugorje quickly understood that this community of young men and women living, sleeping, working and praying together in the same house would eventually destroy themselves and Medjugorje. Therefore, they sent their Provincial, Rev. Jozo Vasilj to Parma. He went together with the bishop of Parma, Msgr. B. Cochi and Rev. T. Vlasic to the Congregation in Rome. They were told there that the Church cannot allow such a community to exist and then Rev. T. Vlasic was ordered to dissolve the community and to return to Herzegovina. Vlasic did not obey immediately, yet he returned later. This is what was explained to me by Rev. Jozo Vasilj regarding the community.

1. The same Marija Pavlovic made another public declaration on the 11th of July 1988. On a single sheet of paper, distributed in the same manner as the earlier statement, she mentioned: “I feel a moral obligation to declare before God, Our Lady (the Madonna), and the Church… from the text of A calling… it appears as if I gave Our Lady’s answer to the question put forward by Rev. T. Vlasic, etc. I now declare that I never sought from Our Lady (the Madonna) a confirmation of the work of Rev. Vlasic and Agnes Heupel… my first declaration… does not correspond to the truth. Rev. Vlasic suggested to me a few times (N.B.) that I as one of the “seers” should write a declaration which the world expects… Everything I said does not correspond to the truth. This I declare before the Blessed Sacrament.” Marija Pavlovic.
2. Marija does not deny that she gave her first statement. Rev. T. Vlasic sought statements from her many times and this obviously turns out to be manipulating with one of the “seers”. So we can conclude that Marija has consciously spoken falsehoods on the first or second occasion. She has lied and this she attributes to Our Lady. It is evident that she (Marija) is a toy in Rev. Vlasic’s hands. This was clear to me even earlier yet up till now, I didn’t have material proof to back this up. Rev. T. Vlasic has manipulated with all the “seers” in the same fashion. Under this type of manipulation Marija saw how Our Lady cried when someone mentioned the bishop at a prayer meeting: “From Our Lady’s eye flowed forth a great tear. The tear ran down her face and disappeared into a cloud under her feet. Our Lady began to cry and she ascended to heaven crying” (Aug. 22, 1984). An obvious fabrication by Rev. T. Vlasic intended to frighten the bishop.*

 

[itsme2]

well,how about the people that have been miraculously healed in medjugorgie,why cant they investigate them.i knew indirectly of one lady that her arthritis was cured ,when she went there.before that,she was in a lot of pain and and was struggling to move her arms and legs.when she returned home,her pain was gone and was able to normally move her extremities.people who knew her,including my client were in disbelief as it was truly of divine nature. another client of mine has narrated the extra ordinary events he and his wife have experienced ,since they have been travelling there.

 

[zab]

well,how about the people that have been miraculously healed in medjugorgie,why cant they investigate them.i knew indirectly of one lady that her arthritis was cured ,when she went there.before that,she was in a lot of pain and and was struggling to move her arms and legs.when she returned home,her pain was gone and was able to normally move her extremities.people who knew her,including my client were in disbelief as it was truly of divine nature. another client of mine has narrated the extra ordinary events he and his wife have experienced ,since they have been travelling there.

The commissions did not find anything supernatural happening there. Even if there were extra ordinary events, it would have to be determined if they were of God or the devil. The Church has recognized that the spiritual needs of pilgrims traveling to Medjugorje need to be cared for and has provided that care through the Mass and the sacraments.

 

[jdnation]

Hmmm I am very much interested in this. I first came to know about Medjugorje from the books by Wayne Weible who converted from a Protestant to the Catholic faith. These books on Medjugorje were also instrumental during my time of conversion to taking my faith seriously. I can’t remember the details but his books detail on the Bishop’s disapproval of the apparitions and how Mary insisted that the seers obey the bishop and his orders and pray for him.

This story concerns a priest who has fallen away. And Weible’s books talk about various religious organizations and people who take advantage of the apparitions to promote their own agendas and heresies.

I visited his site just now and for general knowledge he had this article that I’ll post next…

I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on how this thing turns out. It could be false, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if the Devil is also doing his best to undo Our Lady’s efforts to warn to world to turn away from its current path. Mary has been instrumental to me for practicing my faith and developing my relationship to Christ and the Catholic Church. Reading about the Medjugorje apparitions along with Fatima and others really encouraged me. It would be a shame if it turned out to be false, but even so I’d thank God for still using it to bring me closer to Him. However for the sake of others and the Church, this is a matter that ought to be settled once and for all. At least what the Church’s official current position on it is…

 

[jdnation]

Vatican Starts New International Commission To Study Medjugorje Apparitions
By Wayne Weible
August 22, 2006

Coming on the heels of a bitter negative attack by local Bishop Ratko Peric of the Mostar Diocese, the parish of Medjugorje and its 25 years of daily apparitions will be the focus of a new international commission study formed by the Vatican, according to Cardinal Vinko Puljic, president of the Bosnia and Hercegovina Bishops Conference and Archbishop of Sarajevo. And while international in scope and participation, the commission will still be under the (Bosnian) bishops’ conference as is the usual practice with alleged apparitions. This is welcome news for the millions of followers of what are probably the most important apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in history.

Cardinal Puljic announced the plans to form the commission at the end of the Bishop’s conference held in Banja Luka July 12-14. After nearly 14 years of inactivity due to the horrible civil war that ripped apart former Yugoslavia, it will be a resumption of the initial investigations of the apparitions. The cardinal said he did not expect the commission to be established until sometime in September because of the summer holidays. In addition, he said, the commission would be asked to review pastoral provisions that forbid official diocesan and parish pilgrimages to Medjugorje, while at the same time allowing priests (unofficially and as individuals) to accompany groups of Catholics in order to provide the sacraments and spiritual guidance.

Curiously, the status of the Medjugorje apparitions was not even on the list of topics of the bishop’s conference-until it came up by way of several members’ questions. Certainly, it is not just coincidence for those of us who believe in the apparitions as being from heaven.

The commission will be put together by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, even though the normal practice is for this kind of commission to be established by the local bishop. But, because of the negative position of Bishop Ratko Peric, as well as his predecessor Bishop Pavao Zanic, the commission will be international in order for it to be completely objective and neutral. It will probably consist of two teams that will have clear jurisdiction and orders, according to regional newspaper reports.

The new commission will reportedly reinvestigate the last commission’s findings, a commission made up of Yugoslav bishops, which declared in the 1991 Zadar declaration that “it cannot be determined that anything supernatural is happening there”. That, of course, is standard fare for early investigations of reported apparitions. The other half of that declaration is that it also cannot determine that something supernatural is not happening.

Bottom line is the Church cannot ignore what is happening in Medjugorje; the Vatican reportedly has been insisting for over a half a year that something be done.

In hindsight, this new commission is not really that surprising to followers of the apparitions; the Blessed Virgin Mary and all of heaven is certainly not going to allow 25 years of pure spiritual grace go to waste because of the unbelief of the local bishop. It will be a resumption of preliminary investigations of the apparitions. No definitive final approval or disapproval will be forthcoming, because according to Canon Law, no apparition can be declared valid until it is apparently over. However, it can be determined to be invalid, that is, false or against Church doctrine or Sacred Scripture. In 25 years of daily apparitions at Medjugorje, that has not happened.

In light of this announcement, the question begs a repeat from last month’s column: why would the bishop choose Confirmation Sunday (June 15 at St. James Parish in Medjugorje) to blast the apparitions as untrue and order the visionaries to stop telling the public that the Virgin was appearing and speaking to them? Why would he go so far as to state that both Pope Benedict XVI and the late beloved Pope John Paul II shared his belief and had doubts about the veracity of the apparitions? And, why would he speak out publicly on the apparitions when ordered earlier by the Vatican not to comment publicly on them? His comments during Confirmation were inappropriate to say the least, and. Pope Benedict as Cardinal Ratzinger was instrumental in ordering the bishop not to speak publicly on the apparitions. Such actions certainly dent the credibility of the bishop’s stance regarding the apparitions.

The truth of the entire matter of Bishop Ratko Peric not believing in the apparitions is based not on a spiritual level but on a long-running political feud between the region’s diocesan priests and Franciscan priests. It is a primal matter of simple jealousy of the Franciscans who have been there for centuries and have developed a deep trust and love with the people. Another truth is that the bishop does not believe in any apparition past or present, including Lourdes and Fatima, as stated by him in conversation with several priests and journalists who tried to determine why he did not believe in the Medjugorje apparitions.
contd…

 

[jdnation]

contd…
While Bishop Peric may not be happy with the formation and implementation of a new international commission to investigate the apparitions, the local Franciscans who are in charge of St. James Parish are highly optimistic. One of them told me that he was delighted that there would finally be an objective study of the apparition. Another, Father Petar Ljubicic, who is the priest that will announce the secrets of Medjugorje when the apparitions cease, stated in an interview with a regional newspaper: “We have been expecting this for a long time. The Cardinal said that the Holy See, that is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will name a new commission that will analyze and look into what has already been happening in Medjugorje for 25 years. Since I was a priest in Medjugorje and have followed the events since the beginning, I am very happy that it will now be looked into more seriously.”

Father Petar added: "As for the previous commissions that looked into the events I can say that some members were open and serious theologians, who were specialists in spirituality and had studied mystical experiences, but there were also other individuals who were not serious about the events and never actually came to Medjugorje. I ask myself how they could give an opinion of up until now, they can not be certain of anything supernatural? Some on the council rejected even that apparitions were possible at all. That greatly confused me. The need was felt a long time ago for the Holy See to take the whole matter in its own hands.

Thank God-literally-that will now happen with the new international commission formed to study the Medjugorje apparitions.

There are two things that we, the followers and believers that the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly appearing and speaking to us through the apparitions at Medjugorje, can do. First and foremost, in answer to the Virgin’s repeated requests, we can pray. We can pray for the truth to be made clear to all unbelievers and especially for Bishop Ratko Peric to know the spiritual truth of the apparitions. Second, we can spread the information contained in this article concerning the controversy and actions surrounding the apparitions. In the long run, the truth of what heaven has given us in abundant grace through the visits of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Medjugorje will continue to lead people to her Son.

The peace, grace and love of Jesus be with each of you.

medjugorjeweible.com/articles.html

 

[jdnation]

That’s a very interesting criterion. I never thought of it that way, but that’s definitely a mark of authentic apparitions. At the very least, an authentic visionary always treats the apparition/locution with a healthy, Gideon-like skepticism: “How do I know you’re really Jesus?”

My dad has visions from time to time: simple things. But the thing is, he never remembers them. He has them, he tells me or MOm or whomever, but he doesn’t remember.

A few months ago, he was coming back to the organ after receiving Communion, and he had a vision of blood spilling.
Then he looked over from the organ and saw a purple stain under one of the ECMs who was giving the Cup. He signalled to an altar server (female), who saw it and got the proper materials for purifying (is the term “purificator”?)
Anyway, she actually saw two spots where the Precious Blood had spilled, and she cleaned them up.

Dad called me right after Mass and told me. Later, everyone was praising this young lady’s insight and devotion. She said, “I wouldn’t have noticed it if Dr. Joe hadn’t pointed it out.” Dad was like, “What are you talking about?” Then she reminded him, and he remembered it.

More directly apropos, the night before my open heart surgery, he stayed in my room with me and saw a vision of what he described as a blue veil at the foot of my bed.

Ever since then, when I mention it, I’ll say, “Dad saw a vision of the Blessed Mother the night before my surgery.”
And he always corrects me and insists that he will not say for certain it was the BVM: just a “blue veil.”

If I remember correctly the seers of Medjugorje also could not identify who they were seeing when they encountered the apparitions… But of course if the apparition specifically speaks and identifies itself as Mary has done in Fatima and allegedly here, then they will know and refer to her as she identifies herself.

On the subject of the seers living in large homes and it being a money making racket, one of the websites addressed these concerns:
medjugorje.org/faq.htm#no24

As for someone posting that Ivan married an ‘ex-beauty queen,’ well lucky him, but I don’t see how it’s any kind of proof against the apparitions. I believe he tried entering the priesthood but found it wasn’t what he was called to do. A short biography describes him as thus:
Ivan Dragicevic, another Bijakovici native, Ivan was born May 25, 1965 and still receives daily apparitions. He has received nine of the ten secrets. Ivan is the eldest of two brothers. Their father, Stanko, and mother, Zlata, his two brothers, both married with children make their home in Biokivici. Ivan tried Seminary life and also spent a year in the military service, in a tank regiment, near Ljubluna in Slovenia. He married Laureen Murphy on October 23, 1994 at St. Leonard’s Church in Boston, MA. Their first daughter Kristina was born in October of 1995 and on January 15, 1999 had their second daughter Mikayla. Ivan and his wife live in Boston and return quite often to Medjugorje. Ivan has traveled extensively, more than any of the other visionaries, always spreading Our Lady’s messages of peace, prayer, conversion and penance.Ivan has grown in great wisdom and knowledge and exudes confidence in his character and deep spirituality. He has said, “Thereupon the Mother of God invited us to say the five glorious mysteries of the rosary in front of the cross…” His mission is to pray for the youth and priests.
lasvegasmariancenter.com/visionaries.htm
http://www.pilgrimages.com/prayerexperience/about/ivanfamily.gif
pilgrimages.com/prayerexperience/about/default.htm

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

well,how about the people that have been miraculously healed in medjugorgie,why cant they investigate them.i knew indirectly of one lady that her arthritis was cured ,when she went there.before that,she was in a lot of pain and and was struggling to move her arms and legs.when she returned home,her pain was gone and was able to normally move her extremities.people who knew her,including my client were in disbelief as it was truly of divine nature. another client of mine has narrated the extra ordinary events he and his wife have experienced ,since they have been travelling there.

“Cures” are investigated in a very formal way over time. Because a person claims to have been cured, doesn’t make it a miraculous cure until the Church declares it miraculous.

For example, if you study this chart at the Lourdes website, note the time span between when the cure took place to when it was officially acknowledged. The last miracle in the chart was declared in 2005 for a miracle that happened in 1952. One reason for such a span is that time is often needed for validity.

With regards to Medjugorje, the Medical Bureau at Lourdes has been used to test authenticity of “cures” at Medjugorje. Bishop Zanic, the predecessor of Bishop Peric had noted that none of those, up to that time that had been received by the Bureau had been authenticated. On page 64 of Michael Davies book (PDF), we have this:

Monsignor Zanic has been cited as denying that even one miraculous healing has taken place at Medjugorje that would be accepted as authentic by such an institute as the Bureau Medical de Lourdes, which, indeed, passed a negative verdict on 56 dossiers sent to it from Medjugorje. Despite this claims of 400 or more miraculous healings are cited in Medjugorje propaganda. In the 1991 Australian Television documentary, Terry Willesee, a well known Australian reporter, went to considerable trouble to find evidence to confirm the authenticity of even one of these cures. When pressed, Father Slavko Barbaric, OFM, who has been actively involved with the Medjugorje events since the early years, admitted that only ten of the alleged 400 cures years had been thoroughly checked, and what he meant by thoroughly checked is far different from what the Bureau Medical de Lourdes would mean. The reporter was told of a woman who had been cured instantaneously of cancer, but when he asked for proof none was forthcoming. He was offered the chance to meet a cripple, a native of Medjugorje, who had been miraculously cured and could now walk. He went to the man’s home to record the miracle on film to find that he could not even stand up. He had, however, a little movement in his left leg. There is, ample evidence of promised cures that did not materialize.

Bottom Line: Before we say that miracles have happened in Medjugorje, we need to first ask if proof lies in the form of acceptance by the Church of such a miraculous claim.

 

[Fergal]

Ha.

Looks like another ‘dubious priest’ has had enough of the Medjugorje nonsense.

It has been reported on SpiritDaily (www.spiritdaily.com) that Fr Jozo has taken an immediate sabbatical and has cancelled all appearances.

Now isn’t he the Priest that had a personal apparition of the Blessed Mother? Could you imagine St Bernadette or Sr Lucia etc taking a sabbatical??

Isn’t it funny how all these things Archbishop Gemma reported would happen have came to pass??? And to think of how he was ridiculed and downplayed by all Medjurgorje devotees. Shame.

Folks we are watching the beginning of the end. About time too.

 

[Tominellay]

…wondering what “sabbatical” means…and if said “sabbatical” was suggested by the CDF…

 

[mkarzon]

There some good general info on this subject at www.culturewars.com

Although not too up to date.