THE MEDJUGORJE WITNESS

So spoke Pope Francis to the 88th General Assembly of the Union of Superiors General (USG) on November 25, 2016.

 

But it wasn’t this remark that grabbed the headlines when part of the Pope’s address was published on Thursday in the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. It was his comment about the Madonna not being a postmaster sending daily messages. Not unexpectedly, this was interpreted by some journalists as a disguised reference to the Medjugorje phenomenon.

 

The Crux website was first off the mark and ran with the headline: “Pope denounces ‘restorantionist’ orders, pokes fun at Medjugorje”, although its url address suggests it originally went with “takes shot at Medjugorje”. Catholic commentator Raymond Arroryo preferred to Tweet: “Swipes at Medjugorje”

 

But in what context did Pope Francis speak about Medjugorje?

 

Firstly, he never mentioned the word ‘Medjugorje’. That’s been slipped in by others reporting his comments. Here’s what Pope Francis actually said in response to the question:

 

Why did you choose three Marian themes for the next three World Youth Days leading up to the Youth Days in Panama?

 

Pope Francis replied: “It wasn’t me that chose Marian themes for the next three World Youth Days! This is what they asked for in Latin America: a strong Marian presence. It is true that Latin America is devoted to the Virgin, and to me it seemed like a very good thing. I didn’t have any other proposals, and I was happy with this. But the real Madonna! Not the Madonna at the head of a post office that every day sends a different letter, saying: ‘My children, do this and then the next day do that.’ No, not that Madonna. The real Madonna is the who generates Jesus in our hearts, a Mother. This fashion for a superstar Madonna, who seeks the limelight, is not Catholic.”

 

‘Madonna is mentioned five times, ‘Marian’ twice. But not Medjugorje. Not even ‘apparitions’. So we have commentators interpreting the reference to “daily letters” as the Medjugorje messages. But we know that the Madonna does not issue daily letters at Medjugorje. The message to the world is given through the seer Marija on the 25th of each month, to another seer, Mirjana, on the 2nd of the month. But there are no daily messages. There are daily apparitions to three of the seers, Marija, Ivan and Vicka, but the Pope was speaking about letters and not apparitions.

 

However, had the commentators got beyond the Pope’s words “No, not that Madonna” and taken in the next sentence: “The real Madonna is the [one] who generates Jesus in our hearts, a Mother” then they may have understood that the Pope’s description of “the real Madonna” is also revealed in the Medjugorje messages, the Madonna generating Jesus in hearts. It’s what she speaks about. She calls us to Jesus. At her first apparition in Medjugorje on June 24, 1981, she appeared to two of the visionaries, Ivanka and Mirjana, revealing the Child Jesus in her arms.

 

Yes, there is always the danger of the Madonna being promoted as a ‘superstar’, when the enthusiasm of some devotees place her ahead of Jesus, but this can happen at any Marian ‘shrine’ or with any devotion. This is not Our Lady’s desire and speaks more about the devotee’s needs than anything else. 

 

Alongside are just a few of the Medjugorje messages where Our Lady speaks of wanting to “generate Jesus in our hearts”. There are so many more. Perhaps Pope Francis has read them all – hence his comment about the real Madonna – and he may even be actually hinting at holding a more positive view on the phenomenon than some detractors would hope for, if and when he decides to make any announcement on the outcome of the Medjugorje Commission.

 

For sure there have been no steps taken by the Holy See to restrict the publication of Our Lady’s messages, to warn the faithful the messages present a danger to faith and morals, that they are false messages and therefore generated by a false Madonna – even after 36 years.

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UPDATE:

On February 13, 2017, when questioned by the media on the return papal flight from Fatima, Pope Francis expressed a personal view saying he doubted the alleged current apparitions at Medjugorje (and so therefore the messages) and added “these alleged apparitions do not have much value.”