Pope Benedict XVI
unfrocks Medjugorje priest
Father Tomislav Vlasic, the priest who helped to turn the Bosnian town of Medjugorje
into one of the Catholic Church's most visited shrines, has left the priesthood
after being placed under investigation by the Vatican.
By Simon Caldwell
Published: 8:00AM BST 27 Jul 2009
Father Tomislav Vlasic, the former "spiritual director" to six visionaries who claim that the Virgin Mary visited them nearly 40,000 times over 28 years, has been laicised by Pope Benedict XVI a year after he was placed under investigation over allegations that he exaggerated the apparitions and had engaged in sexual relations with a nun.
While the Vatican has never given the shrine its formal blessing, an estimated 30 million pilgrims have visited Medjugorje in the last three decades and hundreds of thousands make the journey from Britain and Ireland each year.
The unfrocking of Father Vlasic will come as a blow to Medjugorje followers worldwide who were hoping that the Vatican would one day legitimise the controversial shrine.
The Franciscan was asked to leave the priesthood after the Vatican launched an investigation into allegations that he was guilty of sexual immorality with a nun which he then covered up.
He was also suspected of exagerating stories of the Virgin Mary's appearance and under formal investigation for alleged "dubious doctrine, the manipulation of consciences, suspect mysticism and disobedience towards legitimately issued orders".
Father Vlasic refused to co-operate with the investigation from the outset and he was banished to a monastery in L'Aquila, Italy, where he was forbidden to communicate with anyone, even his lawyers, without the permission of his superior.
He has not commented on the allegations but told the Vatican that he felt wronged given he had turned Medjugorje into an international shrine and generated funds to build new churches.
It emerged on Sunday that he has chosen to leave the priesthood and his order, a move which has brought the investigation to an abrupt halt.
But
the Pope has insisted that Father Vlasic observes a set of conditions on pain of excommunication which include a total ban on teaching Christian doctrine and giving spiritual direction.
There is also an "absolute prohibition of releasing declarations on religious matters, especially regarding the phenomenon of Medjugorje".
It seems to me that the Medjugorje mass pilgrimage phenomenon is a sign of the times: how willing - maybe even desperate - modern Catholics are to reinforce their faith through belief in the 'supernatural', Marian apparitions in this case, no matter if the Church has not 'validated' them.
Frankly, it strains credulity to believe the claim by one or more of the Medjugorje 'seers' that the Virgin Mary has appeared daily to him/her for the past 28 years - and yet it is typical of the claims put forward and promoted by Fr. Vlasic and his 'spiritual wards'. Subsequent reports of how Vlasic and the seers themselves appear to have profited materially from their 'fame' simply add to the disquieting aspects of this cultural phenomenon.
The Church has taken the sensible position that no Roman Catholic priest should lead pilgrimages to Medjugorje because that would give the mistaken impression that the Church has put its imprimatur on the 'apparitions' there as it did for Lourdes and Fatima.
At the same time, the Church points out that one should not minimize the faith that draws pilgrims to Medjugorje provided their prayers are not simply in the hope of getting a miracle. Faith should not require supernatural proof, because by definition, it is 'the conviction about things not seen'.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 28/07/2009 02:25]