The Accidental Catholic

Controversy at Medjugorje

For those who are not familiar with the Medjugorje apparitions, let me give you a brief overview. For 25 years, several people have claimed to have daily visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These apparitions have neither been approved nor explicitly condemned by the Vatican. However, every bishop that has occupied the chair of the Mostar-Duvno diocese since the alleged apparitions began has explicitly said that the faithful should not treat the apparitions as authentic. Since the authority of the Church (in this case, the local ordinary) must always hold precedence over any private revelation, both the "visionaries" and the never-ending stream of "pilgrims" are not behaving like Catholics, but more like heretics, in their defiance of legitimate Church authority. Even if the alleged apparitions were one day approved as authentic, that does not excuse disobedience in matters such as this. One could argue that this rampant disobedience lends credence to the idea that these "apparitions" are a hoax at best, diabolical at worst. Only time (and hopefully an authoritative decision from the Holy Father) will tell.


http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=20431

posted by David @ 15:02 UTC