Papal commission to wind up
Medjugorje inquiry this year
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from the Italian service of
February 25, 2012
VATICAN CITY - The international commission of inquiry appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to investigate the alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje has about six to seven months more of work to do before it can issue a report, it was learned after commission president Cardinal Camillo Ruini met with Pope Benedict XVI earlier this week, presumably to discuss the progress of the investigation.
The report would be reviewed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being given to the Pope.
The Holy Father established the inquiry commission in early 2010. At the time, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said that the commission would decide whether the reported apparitions could be considered authentic,with its findings to be be ratified by the CDF.
When the apparitions were first reported in the 1980s, a diocesan commission investigated it and handed on its findings to the episcopal conference of what was then Yugoslavia, which concluded in 1991. after ten years of investigation, that it could not establish that the reported events in Medjugorje were supernatural ('non constat de supernaturalitate' = supernaturality is not proven]
[The official English translation of the conclusive statement in the 1991 Zadar Declaration is: "On the basis of the investigations conducted to this point, it is not possible to affirm that it is a case of apparitions or supernatural revelations"]
The expression is a Church statement indicating that the bishops were unable to prove or disprove the allegations - meaning there were not enough elements to prove authenticity, nor enough proof that the events were a hoax, as the local bishops (Dicoese of Mostar) have concluded. [[The formula 'non constat de supernaturalitate' (supernaturality is not provem) seems clear enough and unequivocal! Mons. peric has said that he believes the inverse formula was equally applicable: 'constat de non-supernaturalitate' = non-supernaturality is proven.]
The bishops of Bosnia-Herzegovina eventually requested the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to take a hand in resolving the matter.
Besides Cardinal Ruini, five other cardinals are on the commission: Angelo Amato, of the Congregation for the Cuases of Saitnhood; Josef Tomko, emeritus Prefect of the Cognregation for the Laity; Vinko Pulic, Archbishop of Sarajevo; Josip Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb; and Julian Herranz, emeritus president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
Both the previous and the present bishops of Mostar - Pavao Zanic, who was bishop when the apparitions were first reported in 1981. and his successor, Ratko Peric.- the diocese that has jurisdiction over Medjugorje, have said they do not believe the apparitions are authentic.
Recent documents from Yugoslavian archives indicated that the Yugoslav secret service during the Communist era sought to influence local Church authorities against the apparitions.
It was learned that the Ruini commission has secretly interviewed all the presumed 'seers' at CDF headquarters, where the commission meets and keeps its archives. Commission members were given enough time to clear their schedules so they could be in Rome for the meetings.
Starting last June, they interviewed first Ivanka, then Vicka, and towards the end of the year, Mirjana and Marja (on the same day but separately). Recently, they listened to Ivan and then Jakov.
Cardinal Vinko Pulijc, in a recent public statement, said the commission would finish its work this year. At the moment, there is no telling what the commission's verdict will be.
But the most probable outcome foreseen at the moment by informed observers is that it will be similar to the 1991 declaration that 'supernaturality cannot be established', without taking a position for or against.
The supposed apparitions first reported on June 24, 1981, are claimed to be ongoing, although limited, for some of the 'seers', who claim that they meet 'the Madonna' - who they say calls herself 'Queen of Peace'
[Forgive my skepticism, but Has Mary ever called herself Queen of anything in any of her authenticated apparitions???] at a predetermined time of day wherever they are. The alleged apparitions have mostly taken place in the parish run by Franciscans
[dozens of whom have been deprived of canonical faculties or never given permission to practise their ministry in Medjugorje, but who have continued to defy these prohibitions. At least two have been expelled from the Franciscan order, including the first 'spiritual director' of the seers, who eventually married a nun he impregnated before he was subjected to disciplinary action.]
Medjugorje has attracted millions of pilgrims although it is still not an easy place to reach.
[In 1096, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, then secretary of the CDF, made clear that pilgrimages are permissible "on the condition that they are not to be considered an authentication of the reported events", citing the 1991 Zadar Declaration saying that the supernaturality of the events has not been proven. Bishops and priests are also expressly forbidden to make offocial pilgrimages, although they can lead groups going to Medjugorje.]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/02/2012 17:40]