Medjugorje News

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017, at 4 pm, an hour-long press conference of the Special Envoy of the Holy See for Medjugorje, Dr. Henryk Hoser, was held in the Hall of St. John Paul II. Even though there were about fifty journalists registered, the interest for this event was much greater. The conference was translated into the Croatian, English, Italian, German and French languages, and those were the official languages spoken during the conference, while a translation was also given in the Polish, Spanish and Slovakian languages.

Contradicting Italian media reports, a Vatican press official told the Register today that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has not ruled against the validity of the alleged apparitions.

By Edward Pentin

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said Friday that, contrary to reports in Italian media, no decision has been made regarding certain doctrinal and disciplinary aspects of alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje.

Warning against feeding the current rumors, Father Federico Lombardi told the Register that a ruling is not likely before the Vatican’s summer break.

By Edward Pentin

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican downplayed intense speculation that Pope Francis will decide very soon on "certain doctrinal and disciplinary aspects" of alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje, saying it will most probably take months, rather than days or weeks.

By Jimmy Akin

Many people are wondering what will happen at the end of the current investigation of Medjugorje.

As a result, they’re trying to figure out what attitude Pope Francis takes toward the reported apparitions.

On Thursday, Pope Francis made remarks which some people think tipped his hand and revealed his attitude.

Here are 10 things to know and share . . .

By Diane M. Korzeniewski

I have a few more thoughts and questions with yesterday's news that the CDF informed the US bishops that, "clerics and the faithful are not permitted to participate in meetings, conferences or public celebrations during which the credibility of such 'apparitions' would be taken for granted."

By Stefano Pertusati

A letter from the Vatican effectively canceling the U.S. tour of a Medjugorje visionary doesn't seem to bode well for Medjugorje believers.

Medjugorje, August 1 – 6, 2013

Faith working

through

love

(Gal 5,6)

by Kevin Symonds

On the British tabloid Daily Mail Online, there recently appeared an article by Chris Rogers and Marshall Corwin concerning the six alleged seers of Medjugorje. Rogers and Corwin write a fairly simple article that recounts some basic history of Medjugorje. It also mixes the authors’ own experience with Medjugorje and the alleged seers. I would like to take the opportunity to respond to some questionable statements made by Rogers and Corwin in their article.

• Six children claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary on a hillside in the village of Medjugorje, Bosnia, in 1981
• Their nightly visions have continued to the present day
• Thousands of pilgrims from around the world travel to the spot every year

Medjugorje, August 1 – 6, 2012

„Lord, increase our faith”

(Luke 17,5)

Mr. Rateb Rabie, KCHS, President of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, spoke with reporters for Radio MIR Medjugorje during his visit to Medjugorje.

Mr. Rateb is a Christian from Palestine, born in Jordan. His parents were forced to leave Jerusalem in 1948 and they had to immigrate to Jordan. He himself immigrated later to the United States where he got married and lived there for 35 years. Mr. Rabie is the citizen of the United States.

by Marco Corvaglia

Even today, proponents of Medjugorje must somehow come to terms with the uncomfortable opposition of him who was Bishop of Mostar at the time when the phenomenon began, Msgr. Pavao Žanić.
And so, hundreds of thousands of people that every year go in good faith to that spot heard this version of events, solely based on rumors: the bishop was initially well disposed toward the visionaries, but at one point the communist government intervened and threatened him, inducing him to become an opponent of Medjugorje.

Actually, it can be categorically excluded that Msgr. Žanić submitted to any pressure from the police, as we shall see. To affirm the contrary is only slander.

On the occasion of the twelfth anniversary of the death of Msgr. Pavao Žanić, the late bishop of the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno and Apostolic Administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan, his successor, Bishop Ratko Perić celebrated the evening Holy Eucharist in the Cathedral of Mary Mother of the Church in Mostar, for the repose of the soul of the deceased bishop. Some of late Bishop Pavao’s assistants concelebrated in the Mass: the pastor of the Cathedral parish Msgr. Luka Pavlović, the Chancellor of the Diocesan Chancery Fr. Ante Luburić, and the choir master of the Cathedral Fr. Dragan Filipović. Bishop Ratko spoke to the faithful on the heroic stance of Bishop Žanić towards communist ideology, thereby disproving the recent attacks against his noble Episcopal character, while also being aware that he must tell the truth about the bishop so that lies and slander not be spread against him!

The number of more than four hundred thousand (406,300) Holy Communions that were given during last August is more than all of the previous statistics in the last thirty years of Medjugorje. In accordance with that, the number of priests who celebrated Holy Masses in Medjugore was more than seven thousand – 7,280, in average 234 daily. The river of pilgrims continues in the first days of September as well. According to the record of Information Office there are bigger groups of pilgrims from Poland, Belgium, Slovakia, Lebanon, Spain, Argentina, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, the United States and England.

We met Fr. Frank Gindro from Denmark and asked him to share his experience with us. He said that he feels special presence of Our Lady here, “It is a feeling I did not have for a long time. I pray for people in my country that have lost hope in their lives. I will come back to Medjugorje!”

The warm surf of La Jolla, Calif., isn't a setting people associate with the Virgin Mary. But on many days, there is a surfer whose passion for the perfect wave is nothing compared to his head-over-heels love for the Holy Mother.

His name is Donald Calloway and he picked up surfing as a military brat bouncing around the United States and Japan.

He also picked up marijuana, heroin, LSD, shoplifting and money laundering for the Japanese mafia. By the age of 20, he had a rap sheet, a drug habit and serious thoughts of suicide.

"After having gone to two rehabs, been in jail, kicked out of a foreign country, I was at my crisis in life. ... I picked up a book that my parents had on their bookshelf about the Virgin Mary," Calloway said.

“Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
(John 20,21)

To all parishioners, pilgrims, friends, benefactors, and to all men of goodwill a

Blessed and Happy Easter!

Parish priest and the Franciscans

Photos

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When the bishop of Green Bay, Wis., recently recognized a series of Marian apparitions from 1859, it marked the first time apparitions in the United States received official approval.

That's quite an achievement considering that more than 1,500 visions of Mary have been reported around the world, but in the past century only nine cases have received official church approval as being "worthy of belief," said an expert in Marian apparitions.

The eighteenth International Meeting for Organisers of Pilgrimages, Leaders of Peace Centres and Međugorje Prayer and Charity Groups will be held in Medjugorje from the 6th to the 10th of March 2011. The theme of the gathering is:

 “…I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Mt 28, 20).