THE MEDJUGORJE VIRGIN - PROMOTER OF DISOBEDIENCE
THE BISHOP OF MEDJUGORJE REFUTES VISIONS 2017
Former prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, José Cardinal Saraiva Martins has doubts about the reality of the apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje. He said, "It could be a trick of the devil". One thing he could have drawn on for evidence is the tendency of Medjugorje believers to endorse and participate in unauthorised and ad hoc exorcisms. Medjugorje is top on the world scene for exorcisms that are not valid for they do not seek the bishops permission.
Believers in Medjugorje slander Bishop Zanic.
Marija said, “The communist police called the then Bishop Msgr. Pavao Žanić to
the Commissariat of Mostar and ordered him: ‘You must deny everything and
nothing will happen to you’ and so Žanić denied everything”. There is not
a shred of evidence for this allegation. It is immoral to take it
seriously. It looks like somebody trying to make the bishop look like a
believer in the apparitions who will not admit it.
Question: Eminence, in some of the apparitions, the
Virgin is said to have asked the six "seers" of Medjugorje not to obey the
prohibitions of their diocesan Bishop, such as, for example, to not speak
publicly any more of the alleged "visions".
He replied, "The Madonna could not, in any case at all, be anti-hierarchical and incite disobedience, even if the Bishop of Mostar were wrong. This is another element on which to reflect."
Notably the bishop removed Fr Slavko but the Virgin told
him to stay on - see the message of Sunday, February 3, 1985: "I wish for Father
Slavko to stay here, for him to guide life, and to assemble all the news, so
that when I leave there will be a complete image of everything that has happened
here. I am also praying now for Slavko and for all those who work in this
parish." Slavko is dead and note how the message states that he is the one
who will record all her doings in Medjugorje. If you want to believe in
the visions then you cannot believe in any that follow Slavko's cessation of
recording keeping never mind his death.
Believers in Medjugorje lie that the bishop, Bishop
Peric, was put out of the picture by Rome for his negative judgment of the
visions. In fact, he gladly invited and asked for the current Commission to take
away the pressure from him. He stated that. It is not true that there is a case
of the Bishop versus Rome. The believers never try to back up their slanderous
allegation with evidence or document it.
PRIVATE REVELATION: UNRAVELLING MEDJUGORJE by Carey
Winters
This excellent site points out that when Satan speaks,
in the experience of the Church, he states 99% of the truth that God has
revealed and 1 % untruth because every little error helps his cause. In the
Church’s experience, that is the way it seems to be which means nobody should be
accepting the visions of Medjugorje for they tell some lies.
It says that by Church law that published details of the
teaching of apparitions have to get an imprimatur from the Church. An imprimatur
is a permission to publish a document on the grounds that nothing that
scandalises faith or morals is in it. The Medjugorje Virgin has never worried
about that. She has even recommended books of supposedly supernatural origin
that the official Church did not like to be promoted. And books which had no
imprimatur. So to authenticate Medjugorje would be to authenticate these
supernatural claims too though there is no reason to take them seriously.
Any apparition or spirit that gets published without the
green light from the Church is definitely not Catholic though it may say it is
which only compounds its dishonesty.
Apparitions in Church dogma are only for creating
fervour and not for teaching new dogma. That would eliminate the authenticity of
Fatima as well as Medjugorje for they make predictions that are not in the Bible
and predictions have nothing to do with fervour especially when they are
frightening for the Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear. An
apparition that was into increasing devotion would just give out spiritual
advice.
The Church has always taught that apparitions have to be
approached with extreme caution for the risk of illusion is great. And there is
a risk of people preferring the apparition to the authority of the Church for
faith is hard at the best of times. Leaving aside the fact that the apostles
gave no evidence that they checked their own visions of Jesus with complete
circumspection, it is clear that the Church is right that caution is an
essential. The site states that the visionaries said that Mary told them that a
baby does not receive a human soul until it is half-term and that Hitler and
Pope Paul VI were good men and kidnapped and replaced by evil doubles. This
false pope idea is definitely schismatic and denies the Catholic doctrine that
the Church would not be built on a false rock.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, November 1996
Regarding the circulation of texts of alleged private
revelations, the Congregation states:
The Interpretation given by some individuals to a
Decision approved by Paul VI on 14 October 1966 and promulgated on 15 November
of that year, in virtue of which writings and messages resulting from alleged
revelations could be freely circulated in the Church, is absolutely groundless.
This decision actually referred to the "abolition of the Index of Forbidden
Books" and determined that --- after the relevant censures were lifted --- the
moral obligation still remained of not circulating or reading those writings
which endanger faith and morals. It should be recalled however that with regard
to the circulation of texts of alleged private revelations, canon 623 #1 of the
current Code remains in force: "the Pastors of the Church have the … right to
demand that writings to be published by the Christian faithful which touch upon
faith or morals be submitted to their judgment".
Alleged supernatural revelations and writings concerning them are submitted in
first instance to the judgment of the diocesan Bishop, and, in particular cases,
to the judgment of the Episcopal Conference and the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith.
Any apparition that breaks this rule, and the Medjugorje
Virgin commands that her messages be distributed as they are received, is not a
Catholic apparition or concerned about Catholic orthodoxy. The bishops are the
official Catholic teachers not apparitions. The vast majority of modern visions
break the rule and so are themselves disobedient apparitions.
The Vatican has not clamped down hard on Medjugorje.
This clearly implies tacit approval for the idea that as long as the Church gets
publicity and converts and money thanks to an apparition it doesn't matter if
the apparition is genuine or not. The false Knock visionaries such as Joe
Coleman are allowed into the basilica despite turning it into a circus by
pretending to have visions over the altar. It is no wonder that it is in fashion
for a Catholic to claim an apparition today!
Cardinal Kuharic, Archbishop of Zagreb, said in 1984
that the Medjugorje apparition was not the real Mary because the real Mary would
not have spoken about Bishop Zanic the way the apparition did. Zanic gave out
several commands in 1986 none of which were obeyed including forbidding
apparitions to be held in the Church and requesting the removal of an
unauthorised statue of Mary in the apparition Church. The contempt for the
bishop’s authority is clear from the fact that the Franciscans and the
visionaries would do nothing he asked.
Romans 13 is the word of God according to infallible
Catholic doctrine. It says that leaders must be obeyed for God allows them to
have power even if they are bad. Fallible Medjugorje apparition comes along and
encourages disobedience to the bishop. I need write no more!
THE BISHOP
Bishop Peric preached at St James Church, Medjugorje in
2006. He said,
“Therefore I responsibly call upon those who claim
themselves to be “seers”, as well as those persons behind the “messages”, to
demonstrate ecclesiastical obedience and to cease with these public
manifestations and messages in this parish. In this fashion they shall show
their necessary adherence to the Church, by neither placing private
“apparitions” nor private sayings before the official position of the Church.
Our faith is a serious and responsible matter. The Church is also a serious and
responsible institution!”
The visionaries have continued to defy this request. They engage in acts of publicity for the visions. He was not telling them not to have visions - but to be discrete and keep it private. That is a reasonable request. There is a danger of fanaticism or the apparition being false or even if the apparition is real the visionary might lie about what she sees or what it says.
He wrote to Sister Elvira in December 2008 for the Cenacolo community for which she was responsible and the founder not to host visions but it kept doing so. Mirjana had her visions there in spite of the bishop.
Dear Sr. Elvira,
Following your visit to this Chancery Office on 9 July 2001, during which you
verbally sought authorization to establish a chapel in the premises of your
activities, you did not receive a positive reply. The former Nuncio to the
Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Giulio Einaudi was informed of this decision in
writing, as was Msgr. Diego Natale Bona, the Bishop of Saluzzo, in your home
diocese. Hence, you are well aware that you have not received from this Chancery
Office, neither orally nor in writing, any authorization to reside or to work in
any fashion as a Catholic religious sister in Medjugorje, outside of your own
community which is in Italy.
For some time now, you have made possible to some of the “seers” of Medjugorje
to present their private “apparitions” before the faithful in the premises where
you are working, and this usually on the 2nd day of each month (enclosed is an
illustrated detail of the 2nd of October of this year). Due to the fact that you
do not have any competent ecclesiastical approval to work as a religious sister
in Medjugorje separated from your religious community of origin, in the same way
and even more so, you have no permission to bring any private “seer” to your
premises in order to organize her “apparition” performance before curious
onlookers.
Hoping that you will not only immediately put an end to such practices regarding
your favors to the private “seers”, but that you will also resolve your status
as a religious sister according to Church norms, I wish you the assistance and
enlightenment of the Child-God of Bethlehem.
Ratko Perić, bishop
The bishops of Mostar did command the priests
facilitating the visions to stop doing so. They did not. The
visionaries and their vision tacitly approved their arrogance by saying nothing
and going on as if the bishop was fine with it all. This only encouraged
the disobedience of the priests.
LIES ABOUT THE CURRENT COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION
There is no evidence at all and no Vatican confirmation
that the Vatican's Commission of Investigation of the Medjugorje claims was
established due to a lack of faith in the bishop and his disapproval of the
visionaries claims. The Vatican's reasons are unknown - and the commission has
to be objective meaning it is open to agreeing with the bishop.
Medjugorje promoters claim that we should not say the
apparitions are false or inauthentic until after the Vatican makes up its mind
and pronounces on the matter. That is a tactic to try and silence critics. If
they care about the Vatican they will say, "We hope the apparitions are
authentic. We wish to present the case for authenticity. People may say the
apparitions are true or false - debate is good." They however do speak of the
apparitions as authentic.
Another lie told by supporters of Medjugorje is that the
Church cannot decide if the visions are from God or not until the visions end.
Many feel that the visionaries are dragging the whole thing out to stave off a
final decision for they fear it will be a negative decision. It is claimed that
the Church cannot proclaim apparitions authentic until it has seen all the
evidence which means it has to wait until the visions end. But the Church can
condemn ongoing apparitions. If apparitions show no sign of doctrinal or moral
error, the Church cannot judge definitively unless the visions are over. That is
in case the apparition is approved and it then starts making errors after
approval. The Church can declare that ongoing visions show no sign yet of the
supernatural. Or if the visions make doctrinal or moral errors, the Church does
not need to wait until they end before condemning them.
The Church's approach makes sense. The Vatican
Commission on Medjugorje while the apparitions are ongoing surely suggests the
Commission is trying to be open-minded but does not expect this open-mindedness
to lead to a positive decision. The apparitions if good and orthodox, cannot be
approved until the end. So the Church making a decision now means a negative
decision or a declaration that the visions are not supernatural.
The fruits of Medjugorje are really founded on lies. So how good are the fruits? How can they be lasting? The devil would love to get loads of converts for God if he can disappoint them and put them off religion.
Believers lie that the right to discern the visions was taken from the bishop. It was not. To make sure the right decision on authenticity would be made he requested that the Vatican set up an investigation. The bishop is confident the Church will see any evidence of the supernatural as inconclusive which is why he has no problem with Medjugorje believers and sceptics comprising the investigation. He needs and wants it to be neutral.