Magisterial Timeline of Medjugorje (2001-2022)

## Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith**On Medjugorje****To:** His Excellency Bishop Gilbert Aubry **From:** The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith **Date:** May 26, 1998Your Excellency,Several questions have been submitted to this Congregation regarding the position of the Holy See and the Bishop of Mostar concerning the so-called “appearances” of Medjugorje, private pilgrimages, and pastoral care for faithful who visit that place. Given the impossibility of responding to each question posed by Your Excellency, I would first like to clarify that it is not the norm of the Holy See to take a position on supposed supernatural phenomena at first instance.This Congregation, therefore, regarding the credibility of these “appearances” simply adheres to what was established by the bishops of the former Yugoslavia in the Zara Declaration of April 10, 1991:> “Based on investigations carried out to date, it is not possible to affirm that they are supernatural apparitions or revelations.”After the division of Yugoslavia into several independent nations, it now falls to the members of the Episcopal Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina to reexamine the issue, if necessary, and issue new declarations, as the case may require.What Bishop Peric stated in a letter to the General Secretary of the *Famille Chrétienne* was that: «…my conviction and position is not only that it does not yet appear to be of supernatural origin, but also that the supernatural does not appear in the apparitions or revelations of Medjugorje».This expression should be considered a personal conviction of Bishop of Mostar, who as the local Ordinary, has every right to express what he believes and continues to believe is true.Finally, regarding private pilgrimages to Medjugorje: this Congregation considers them permitted on the condition that they are not regarded as an authentication of ongoing events that still require Church examination.Dom Tarcisio Bertone (Secretary of the Congregation headed by Cardinal Ratzinger)Therefore, it follows that:1. The statements of the Bishop of Mostar reflect only his personal opinion. Consequently, they are not a definitive and official judgment of the Church.2. Everything is deferred to the declaration of Zara, leaving the door open for future investigations. However, it allows private pilgrimages with pastoral accompaniment of the faithful.3. Undoubtedly, a new Commission will be appointed.4. In the meantime, all Catholic pilgrims may go to Medjugorje.Cardinal Schönborn’s CommentThe letter from Archbishop Bertone to the Bishop of *Le Reunion* from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clarifies sufficiently what has always been the official position of the hierarchy in recent years regarding Medjugorje: that is, that as we know, the question remains unresolved. The supernatural character is not established. These were the words used by the conference of bishops of Yugoslavia in the city of Zara in 1991. This expression, as is known, leaves the problem unsolved. It does not say that the supernatural character is essentially being renewed. On the other hand, it neither denies nor considers unlikely that the phenomenon may be of a supernatural nature.Obviously, the Church’s magisterium does not definitively declare whether the phenomena, apparitions or other types of manifestations are still ongoing. However, it is the task of the pastors to encourage what is emerging, sustain the fruits that are ripening, protect them if necessary from dangers that can always be found everywhere.Also, it was necessary in Lourdes to ensure that the authentic gift of Lourdes is not stifled by inappropriate developments. Even Medjugorje is not immune. That is why it, and will be, very important for bishops, even publicly, to take a pastoral stance on Medjugorje under their protection so that the evident fruits occurring there can be protected from improper development.I believe the words of Mary in Cana: **”Do whatever He tells you”** encapsulate the essence of what she has been telling us throughout the centuries. Mary helps us to listen to Jesus. She desires with all her heart and with all her strength that we do what He commands us to do. This is what I hope for all prayer groups formed thanks to Medjugorje. This is what I desire for our diocese and for the whole Church.Personally, I have never been to Medjugorje yet. But in a sense, I can say that I’ve been there through the people I know, or those I’ve met, who have been to Medjugorje. And in their lives, I see good fruits. I would be a liar if I denied the existence of these fruits.These fruits are tangible and evident. In our diocese, as in many others, I can see conversion graces, supernatural life or faith graces, vocations, healings, rediscovery of the Sacraments, confessions. Such facts cannot be deceived. That’s why I say that these fruits allow me, as a bishop, to express a moral judgment. And if, as Jesus said, we are to judge a tree by its fruits, I feel compelled to say that this tree is good.”† Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of ViennaFINAL SUMMARY:1. The statement from Zara is and remains the only official statement of the Church on the events in Medjugorje. 2. All subsequent statements from the Holy See refer to the aforementioned Statement. 3. The opinion of Bishop of Mostar, Dom Ratko Peric, should be considered a personal view. 4. The final judgment on the supernaturalness of the apparitions and revelations is still open; the events are ongoing and require further investigation by the Church. 6. The planned research commission on the events in Medjugorje has not yet been officially constituted. 7. At the end of the Bosnian bishops’ conference at the beginning of July 2006, Cardinal Vinko Puljic unexpectedly declared—since the case of Medjugorje was not on the agenda—that there would be a new international commission (divided into two subcommittees with specific tasks), appointed not by the local episcopal conference but directly by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.8. Pilgrimage to Medjugorje is permitted as long as it is not considered a reenactment of events that are still ongoing and require further study by the Church. The Church does not prohibit priests from accompanying them.**MEDJUGORJE: A DEBATE STILL OPEN****THE OPINION OF DOM FRANIĆ**Dom Frane Franić, Bishop of Split, known for his great faith and authority, has recognized since the beginning the hand of God at Medjugorje. On August 7, 1993, after retiring, he gave a remarkable interview to the Austrian magazine *Gebetsaktion Marie Reine de la Paix* (no. 30) calling on his brothers to make *mea culpa* with him: *”We, Croats from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, did not accept sufficiently Our Lady’s warning at Medjugorje. We even heard someone say: ‘Medjugorje is the greatest lie in the history of the Church.'”*Bishop Žanić of Mostar vehemently opposed this. In essence, the bishops followed him, tolerating Medjugorje as a place of prayer. In their last statement on May 25, 1991, a month before the war, they expressed their intention to assist pilgrims from around the world… The Commission should continue its investigation.I don’t know what else the Commission was waiting for after examining so many miracles by scientists and so many conversions worldwide. All this wasn’t enough for us bishops. If they had encouraged the people: *”Arise, let’s go to Medjugorje!”* Perhaps the people would have gone even more, hearing the Virgin’s words themselves… The conversion movement would have been amplified. But until now, they haven’t recognized the voice of the *Mother of God* offering us peace and saying that she herself, through our prayers, will fight for peace.When the first agreement between Muslims and Croats in Medjugorje was signed, I thought it was a miracle from the *Queen of Peace*, but the agreement had no follow-up. However, Medjugorje didn’t end; her message continues. Only we Croats haven’t followed it sufficiently. The bishops obstruct, and nobody ever said: *”Let’s listen to the Mother of God.”* Yet, the Pope during an audience told the bishops to turn to the *Queen of Peace*. They agreed but went to a shrine near Zagreb dedicated to the *Queen of Peace*. They preferred another Croatian sanctuary over Medjugorje’s appeal.Jesus cannot be happy when his Mother comes among us and no bishop recognizes her while miracles are happening for twelve years and they say: *”There’s nothing!”*At this point, the interviewer asks: Bishop Perić, the current Bishop of Mostar, declared: *”For me, the vote of 20 bishops carries more weight than all the testimonies and the enthusiasm of 20 million faithful.”***Response of Bishop Franić:**“For me, it’s the opposite. People from all over the world, even the Pope, are in favor of Medjugorje. I believe it is not good to oppose the people in this way. The ‘discernment of the faithful’ exists, according to theology.”**Dom Frane Franić**1. **Interview with Cardinal José Saraiva Martins****Date:** June 15, 2007In an interview for the Italian television program “Enigma” on RaiTre, broadcast on June 15, 2007, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins was asked about Medjugorje. He responded:“Everything that helps and promotes popular religiosity is welcome. Pope Paul VI said several times that popular religiosity should be supported and certainly purified of many elements that perhaps over time have tried to enter into private revelations. Private revelations can truly be a means of evangelization: we must not fear popular religiosity. We should instead be afraid of superstition, which is the complete opposite of popular religiosity.”3. **Cardinal Ratzinger on Medjugorje**If it is said that Pope John Paul II tacitly supports the apparitions in Medjugorje, what is the attitude of Benedict XVI? There is a clear position from the pontiff contained in a chapter of the book *Report on Faith*, which includes an interview the Catholic writer Vittorio Messori had in 1984 with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.Here are some excerpts:Vittorio Messori asks: “Still on this subject, it is known that for years, a village in Yugoslavia, Medjugorje, has been at the center of worldwide attention due to the renewal of apparitions – real or supposed – which have already attracted millions of pilgrims, but also caused painful controversies between the Franciscans who govern the parish and the local bishop. Is it foreseeable a clarifying intervention from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the supreme authority on this matter, naturally with the indispensable approval of the Pope for all its documents?”Ratzinger responds — In this area, more than ever, patience is an essential element of our Congregation’s policy. No appearance is indispensable to faith; Revelation ended with Jesus Christ, He himself is the Revelation. But we cannot prevent God from speaking in our time, through simple people and also through extraordinary signs that denounce the inadequacy of the cultures that dominate us, marked by rationalism and positivism. The apparitions that the Church has officially approved — first Lourdes and later Fátima — have a precise place in the development of the life of the Church in the last century. Among other things, they show that Revelation — though it is unique, completed and therefore unsurpassable — is not a dead thing, but living and vital. Furthermore — beyond Medjugorje, on which I cannot pass any judgment, as the case is still under examination by our Congregation — one of the signs of our time is that reports of Marian apparitions are multiplying around the world. The reports are also sent to our competent section in Africa, for example, and from other continents. One of our criteria is to separate the aspect of the true or supposed supernaturalness of an apparition from that of its spiritual fruits. The pilgrimages of ancient Christianity were directed towards places on which our modern critical spirit sometimes remained perplexed as to the scientific truth of the tradition attached to them. This does not mean that those pilgrimages were not fruitful, beneficial, important for the life of the Christian people. The problem is not so much one of modern critical analysis (which then ends, among other things, in a form of new credulity), but of evaluating the vitality and orthodoxy of the religious life that develops around these places.Messori — Whether recounted or not, the “‘messages of Marian apparitions’” are problematic because they seem to point towards a certain “‘pre-conciliar spirituality’”.Ratzinger — I repeat that I do not like the terms pre or post-conciliar. To accept them would be to accept the idea of a fracture in the history of the Church. In the apparitions, there is often an involvement of the body (signs of the cross, holy water, appeal to fasting), but all this is in full harmony with Vatican II which insisted on the unity of the message, therefore for the incarnation of the Spirit in the flesh.Messori — That fasting to which you refer seems to be even at the center of many of these “‘messages’”.**Ratzinger:** Fasting means accepting an essential aspect of Christian life. We also need to rediscover the corporal aspect of faith: abstinence from food is one such aspect. Sexuality and nutrition are the central elements of the physicality of the take: now, the decline in understanding virginity has been accompanied by a decline in understanding fasting. These two declines are linked to a single root: the current dimming of the eschatological tension, that is, towards eternal life, of Christian faith. Being virgins and knowing how to give periodic nourishment testify that eternal life awaits us, indeed, it is already among us, that “the appearance of this world passes” (1 Cor 7:31). Without virginity and fasting, the Church is no longer the Church; she takes on a historical form. And for this we must offer as an example to the brothers of the Orthodox Churches of the East, great masters – still today – of authentic Christian asceticism.**Cardinal Sctonborn:** «Where Mary is, the Church is renewed»Article taken from «Echo of Mary» no. 144.In an interview in Lourdes, Archbishop of Vienna said: “In Marian shrines, we feel what makes the Church alive: we have the sensation that God is near, not in an abstract way, but really concrete and real, thanks to Mary who, unlike any other, represents the nearness of heaven to earth.”Asked about the various communities that emerged from the events in Medjugorje, including Kraljice Mira and Lamm in Austria, he was asked if all this could lead to new perspectives for the future of the Church: “Of course,” he replied, “I believe that Mary acts from the beginning in silence but very effectively. This is not enough, neither for personal life nor for community life. And in Mary, the Church is always personal, because it is not a large institution or a large theological system, but it is only perceptible and understandable in its motherhood, virginity, beauty, and infinite goodness. Especially in Marian places, we realize that the Church is not first of all an institution, as it is so negatively defined, but it is Christ’s bride, for whom Christ gave his life: she is wonderful and she is the mother of all people. And all this is found in Mary. That’s why where Mary is present, the Church is renewed. It is no coincidence that communities emerging from the Church are mostly linked to Mary and her grace-filled places.”**The Interview with Bishop Hnilica**Following is the interview journalist Marie Czernin conducted in October 2004 with Bishop Paolo Hnilica, a Jesuit and bishop of Rusado, as well as an expert on mystical phenomena within the Church and a close friend of Saint John Paul II. This interview was conducted for the Catholic monthly magazine PUR (Politik und Religion) and published in December 2004.**EDITORIAL.** We had some doubts about conducting this interview because the whole issue of Medjugorje is somewhat controversial. But we decided to do it because we want our readers to be informed about what’s being said in the world, and in this case, in Germany. We are convinced that Bishop Pavo Hnilica’s words, reported in full, will be of interest to our readers. That’s why we sent journalist Marie Czernin to ask Bishop Pavo Hnilica – a close friend of the Pope, who has lived in Rome since 1950 when he left Slovakia – if the Pope had made any comments about Medjugorje and, if so, how.**Question:** *Bishop Hnilica, you spent a lot of time with Pope John Paul II and shared many personal moments with him. Did you have the opportunity to talk to the Pope about the events in Medjugorje?***When** in 1984 I visited the Holy Father at Castel Gandolfo and had lunch with him, I told him about the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which I was able to perform on March 24th that year in a completely unexpected way, at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Moscow Kremlin, just as Our Lady requested in Fátima. He was very impressed and said: *“Our Lady guided you there with her hand”* and I replied: *“No, Holy Father, she carried me in her arms!”*. Then he asked me what I thought about Medjugorje and if I had ever been there. I answered: *“No. The Vatican didn’t forbid it, but they advised against it.”* He responded with a resolute tone: *“Go to Medjugorje incognito, just as you went to Moscow. Who can stop you?”*. Thus, the Pope did not authorize me officially to go there, but he found a solution. He went to his office and picked up a book about Medjugorje by René Laurentin. He started reading some pages to me and showed me that the messages of Medjugorje are related to those of Fátima: *“You see, Medjugorje is the continuation of the message of Fátima”*. I went to Medjugorje incognito three or four times, but then Bishop Pavo Zanic of Mostar-Duvno wrote me a letter asking me not to go there anymore, or he would write to the Pope. Obviously, someone had informed him about my previous visits, but I should not have been afraid of the Holy Father.***Question: Later did you have another chance to talk about Medjugorje with the Pope?****Answer:** *Yes, the second time we discussed Medjugorje – I remember it very well – was on August 1st, 1988. A medical commission in Milan that had been examining the visionaries came to Castel Gandolfo to see the Pope. One of the doctors pointed out that the bishop of the diocese of Mostar was causing problems. Then the Pope said: “*‘Since he is the bishop of the region, you must listen to him’*,” and immediately becoming serious, he added:* “Make sure to do so.”*> **”But he will have to give an account of himself before God’s law in the right way.”**The Pope paused for a moment, then said: **”Today the world is losing its sense of the supernatural, that is, of God. But many find this meaning in Medjugorje through prayer, fasting, and the sacraments.”** This was the most beautiful and explicit testimony about Medjugorje he had heard. He was impressed because the commission examining the visionaries had declared: **”Non constat de supernaturalitate” (There is no evidence of a supernatural origin).** Conversely, the Pope firmly believed that something supernatural was happening in Medjugorje. From various accounts by others about events in Medjugorje, the Pope could convince himself that God is present at this place.**Question:** Is it possible that much of what happens in Medjugorje has been invented from scratch and that, sooner or later, the world will fall for a great deception?**Answer:** Some years ago, I participated in a large youth gathering at Marienfried, where a journalist asked me: **”Monsignor, don’t you think everything happening in Medjugorje comes from the devil?”** I replied: **”As a Jesuit, St. Ignatius taught us to discern spirits, and every event can have three causes or reasons: human, divine, or diabolical.”** In the end, he had to agree that what happens in Medjugorje cannot be explained from a purely human perspective; normal young people attract thousands of people each year to this place who come here to reconcile with God. Medjugorje is called the “confessionary of the world”: neither Lourdes nor Fatima has seen such a phenomenon of people confessing. I then told the reporter: **”Certainly, the devil has accomplished many things, but one thing he cannot do: the devil can send people to confession to free them from himself.”** He laughed and understood what I meant. The only reason, therefore, remains God! Later, I also shared this conversation with the Holy Father.**Question:** How can the messages of Medjugorje be summarized in a few sentences? What distinguishes these messages from those of Lourdes or Fatima?**Quote:**> “‘In all these three pilgrimage sites, Our Lady invites to penance, repentance and prayer. The messages from the three apparitions are similar in this regard. The difference is that the Medjugorje messages have lasted (to date) for 24 years. This intense continuity of supernatural apparitions has not diminished in recent years, so that more and more intellectuals are converting to this place’”**Question:**Some people question the reliability of the Medjugorje messages because then war broke out. So isn’t it a place of conflict rather than peace?**Response:**When in 1991 (exactly 10 years after the first message: “Peace, peace and only peace!”) war erupted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I was having lunch with the Pope, who asked me: “How do you explain the Medjugorje apparitions if there is now a war in Bosnia?”The war was a very bad thing. So I told the Pope:**Quote:**> “‘But now the same thing is happening as happened in Fatima. If we had consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, World War II could have been avoided, as well as the spread of communism and atheism. Shortly after you, Holy Father, made this consecration in 1984, there were great changes in Russia, which led to the fall of communism. Even in Medjugorje, at the beginning, Our Lady warned that wars would happen if we did not convert, but no one took these messages seriously. This means that if the bishops of the former Yugoslavia had taken the messages seriously, perhaps this point wouldn’t have been reached’”The Pope then asked me: “So Bishop Hnilica believes the valid consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was a lie?” To which I replied: “Of course it was valid. The issue is simply how many bishops made this consecration in communion (in union) with the Pope.”**Question:**Now let’s return to Pope John Paul II and his special mission…**Response:** “Yes. Some years ago, when the Pope was already facing health issues and using a cane, I mentioned Russia again during a lunch. He leaned on my arm to accompany him to the elevator. He was very tremulous and repeated five times the words of Our Lady of Fátima with a solemn voice: ‘In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.’ The Pope truly felt that this was a great task for Russia. Nevertheless, he emphasized that Medjugorje is merely a continuation of Fátima and that we must rediscover the meaning of Fátima. Our Lady wants to educate us in prayer, penance, and greater faith. It’s understandable that a mother would worry about her children in danger, just as Our Lady does in Medjugorje. I also explained to the Pope that the greatest Marian movements begin in Medjugorje. In every place, there are prayer groups that gather in the spirit of Medjugorje. And he confirmed it. Because fewer holy families exist. Marriage is also a great vocation.”**Question:** “Some are surprised that none of the Medjugorje visionaries entered a convent or became priests when they grew up. Can this fact be interpreted as a sign of our time?”**Response:** “Yes, I see it very positively because we see that these chosen ones by Our Lady are simply instruments of God; they did not create everything themselves but are collaborators in a greater divine plan. Alone, they would have no strength. Today, it is particularly necessary to renew the life of the laity. For example, there are families who live this consecration to Our Lady, not only nuns and priests. God gives us freedom. Today, we must give witness to the world: perhaps in the past, such clear testimonies were found mainly in convents, but now we need these signs also in the world. Now, it is especially the family that needs renewal because the family itself is going through a deep crisis. We may not understand all of God’s plans, but surely we must sanctify the family.”**Question:** “What do your fellow bishops think about Medjugorje now?”**Response:** “Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, one of the visionaries who still receives messages from Our Lady, once told me, because she heard that some bishops questioned the authenticity of the Messages. The then Bishop of Mostar, Pavao Zanic, accused her of lying. Her sharp response to the Bishop of Mostar was: ‘You are wrong. Just think how children typically behave in a large family. If you tell them a special secret, the next day they already argue and reveal it to others. If I were Our Lady, I would have chosen only one person, not six, because it would have seemed too risky. But these boys were tortured for many years by the police, but never revealed anything. Undoubtedly, perhaps these Messages are not as deep and mysterious as those of Fatima, but here is a transposition of the Fatima Messages, as also understood by the Pope. Great Messages alone cannot be disclosed. Through Medjugorje, continuous prayers and penances are spread. It is surprising that in Medjugorje people fast with bread and water up to twice a week, consecrate themselves to Our Lady’s Heart, and venerate her. In the 1980s, six Brazilian bishops once approached me because they heard I was interested in Medjugorje. They asked if I could arrange for them to concelebrate a Holy Mass with the Pope, so they wanted to go to Medjugorje. The Pope agreed to receive them, but his secretary, Monsignor Stanlislaw Dziwisz later said: ‘Please do not say that the Pope received you at a private mass because you are going to Medjugorje, but he invited you because you came from distant Brazil.’ This means, of course, that the Pope never explicitly and officially recognized Medjugorje, as he does not want to anticipate the Bishop of the diocese of Mostar.”**Question: Has the Church’s position regarding Medjugorje changed in recent years?****Response:** “Only in the last ten years have millions of people made pilgrimages to Medjugorje. If the Church truly believed that something contrary to faith or morality was being promulgated at this place, then it would have been obliged to take measures against Medjugorje. It should have done everything to protect the faithful from this phenomenon. The fact that it remains silent is a good sign and indeed a recognition of Medjugorje. Just look at the parish records to see how many priests celebrate the Holy Mass in Medjugorje every year. They wouldn’t come if they discovered something questioning the reliability of the messages. From the fruits, one can judge whether a tree is good or bad.”**Question: What was your personal spiritual experience in Medjugorje?****Response:** I had the fortune to personally meet the visionaries and thus gain a clear understanding of them. I earned their trust and felt personally introduced to the mysteries of Medjugorje, as had previously happened in Fatima and Lourdes when I met Sister Lucia and the Bishop of Fatima. I was happy and also felt privileged to be so closely involved in the events at Medjugorje. Even now, when I sometimes speak with Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic or Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, I feel close to them. That’s why I also feel a certain responsibility towards them, and I feel like part of a large family.**Question:** In one of the early messages, it is said that Our Lady stated these would be the last apparitions. Many people interpret this as the end of the world and the Apocalypse. How can this be correctly interpreted?**Response:** Yes, I have heard that, but many times prophecies speak of ‘the last day’. St Paul already spoke of this. We live in the last days, but true prophets never gave a specific date for when these prophecies would be fulfilled. Jesus himself said that neither the Son nor anyone else knows the time of his return (‘the second coming’) and the ‘final judgment’: only the Father knows. Therefore, we can say what was said before Fatima: Medjugorje is God’s greatest intervention in human history.**Timeline:**– In 2014, the commission on Medjugorje, established in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI and chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, concluded its work and submitted a final report to Pope Francis. – On May 12, 2019, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Henryk Hoser as Apostolic Visitor for the pastoral care of the Medjugorje Sanctuary.The evolution of official statements on Medjugorje between 2001 and 2022 reflects the Church’s discernment process regarding Marian apparitions, in light of the theological criteria set forth in Pope John Paul II’s encyclical *Redemptoris Mater*.**Deepen your studies:** Explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and a Postgraduate Degree in Mariology.

View the complete list of Marian apparitions recognized by the Church.