VATICAN (SE): The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje after a long investigation into the alleged apparitions that began in 1981 in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, AsiaNews reported on September 19.
Six young people, aged 10 to 16, said Mary began appearing to them in June 1981 in Medjugorje, in what was then Yugoslavia. Three of them say they still have apparitions each day, while the others have them only on special occasions.
The alleged visionaries have published tens of thousands of messages they claim come from Mary, who they say revealed herself as the “Queen of Peace.” Most of the messages encourage prayer, especially the rosary, regular Mass attendance, frequent confession, regular fasting and daily Bible reading, CNS reported.
Titled, “The Queen of Peace,” the Note, approved by Pope Francis on August 28, was signed by Víctor Manuel Cardinal Fernández and Monsignor Armando Matteo, the prefect and secretary for the Doctrinal Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican News reported on September 19.
The time has come to conclude a long and complex history that has surrounded the spiritual phenomena of Medjugorj
Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje
“The time has come to conclude a long and complex history that has surrounded the spiritual phenomena of Medjugorje. It is a history in which bishops, theologians, commissions, and analysts have expressed a series of divergent opinions,” said the Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje.
Recognising the spiritual value of devotions connected to Medjugorje, but not ruling on the authenticity of the alleged apparitions or alleged messages from Mary, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith also noted that Church officials have issued a “series of divergent opinions” about the phenomenon over the past four decades, CNS reported.
Cardinal Fernández confirmed that Pope St. John Paul II, “in several private letters, expressed himself positively about Medjugorje and desired to visit,” but his plan to go in 1995 was scrapped after the local bishop, who had serious doubts about the alleged apparitions, pleaded with the Vatican.
The Vatican recognises the good produced in the lives of so many people. “We now welcome these messages not as private revelations,” the Note said.
…it only highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful ‘in the midst’ of this spiritual phenomenon of Medjugorje
Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje
Cardinal Fernandez clarified: “but only as edifying texts that can stimulate a true and beautiful spiritual experience.”
The Note recognises the goodness of the spiritual fruits linked to the devotion to Our Lady venerated as Queen of Peace in Medjugorje, authorising the faithful to adhere to it—according to the new norms for discerning these phenomena—since “many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God.”
Medjugorje has since become the destination of many pilgrimages.
The Church officially asserted its nulla osta [no impediment] for this spiritual experience and urged the faithful, “to appreciate and share the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal.”
However, the Note cautioned that this “does not imply that the alleged supernatural events are declared authentic. Instead, it only highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful ‘in the midst’ of this spiritual phenomenon of Medjugorje.”
The cardinal explained, “I expressly asked the pope if it was necessary to do so and his answer was that the nulla osta is sufficient.” Therefore the note focuses on the spiritual life that has flourished around devotion to the Queen of Peace and on the messages spread in recent years, concluding that “many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God.”
Therefore the note focuses on the spiritual life that has flourished around devotion to the Queen of Peace and on the messages spread in recent years
However, the Note said it is “necessary to clarify some points of possible confusion that can lead some small groups to distort the valuable proposition of this spiritual experience, especially if the messages are read partially.”
It stresses that the nulla osta does not imply “a judgment about the moral life of the alleged visionaries.” Cardinal Fernandez observed that the investigation of Medjugorje is not “a trial of their heroic virtues,” as some objections raised during the long examination of the alleged apparitions seemed to suggest.
The document also mentions “the promotion of a healthy practice of a life of faith “ in accordance with the tradition of the Church; the “abundant conversions” of people who have discovered or rediscovered the faith; the return to confession and sacramental communion, the numerous vocations, the “many reconciliations between spouses, and the renewal of marriage and family life.”
On the messages attributed to Our Lady, Cardinal Fernandez said that “most of them have a beautiful content that can stimulate the faithful to conversion, to grow in the encounter with Christ, to be builders of peace in the world. That is, they re-propose with other words closer to the simple language of our people, the encouragements and exhortations that come from the gospel.”
Those who make catastrophic predictions are false prophets. They say, ‘In such a year, on such a day, there will be a catastrophe.’ I have always said that chastisement will come if the world does not convert. Therefore, I call everyone to conversion. Everything depends on your conversion
Messsage, 15 December 1983
The document points out that “a few” messages deviate and that “to prevent this treasure of Medjugorje from being compromised, it is necessary to clarify possible points of confusion that can lead some small groups to distort the valuable proposition of this spiritual experience.”
If some messages are read partially, they may appear connected to “confused human experiences, theologically inaccurate expressions, or interests that are not entirely legitimate,” even if some errors may not be “not due to bad intentions, but to the subjective perception of the phenomenon.”
However, other messages offer a correct interpretation: “Those who make catastrophic predictions are false prophets. They say, ‘In such a year, on such a day, there will be a catastrophe.’ I have always said that chastisement will come if the world does not convert. Therefore, I call everyone to conversion. Everything depends on your conversion” [15 December 1983].
“We now welcome these messages not as private revelations, because we do not have any certainty that they are messages from Our Lady,” said Cardinal Fernandez, “but only as edifying texts that can stimulate a true and beautiful spiritual experience.”
These messages “should be accepted and evaluated as a whole”, starting from their centre: the invitation to forgiveness as the way to peace, the call to conversion, and not to underestimate the gravity of evil and sin.
AsiaNews reports that according to what the visionaries, it is Our Lady herself who admonishes: “Do not go in search of extraordinary things. Instead, take the gospel, read it, and everything will be clear to you.”
The Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje says that each diocesan bishop has the freedom and authority to make prudent decisions regarding “groups or persons who, by misusing this spiritual phenomenon, act in a mistaken way” in his own diocese.
Finally, the Dicastery invites pilgrims who visit Medjugorje “to be strongly advised that pilgrimages are not made to meet with alleged visionaries but to have an encounter with Mary, the Queen of Peace.”
The full note can be found here:
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2024/09/19/0704/01411.html#en
