Apparitions: Church must be prudent in judging

[BarbTherese]

http://cathnews.com/cathnews/35834-church-must-be-prudent-in-judging-apparitions

Excerpt   "I think that for the moment it is necessary to evaluate the richness of the work in Medjugorje. We need to understand all of this together: why there is such a huge number of pilgrims, of prayers and to understand also how the possible apparitions in Medjugorje (relate) to the life of the Church. For that we should wait the judgment the Holy Father will give. To rush this delicate matter is a mistake."

FULL STORY

Vatican official: Church must be prudent judging Medjugorje apparitions (The Tablet) https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/11983/vatican-official-church-must-be-prudent-judging-medjugorje-apparitions

[deusluxmea]

I was thinking recently that there would be an easy way to test the visionaries. Let's just say a group of them (or two, even) claim to have seen the Virgin Mary and received a message. If you separated them immediately afterwards, and they all said the exact same message, surely that would add credence to their claims?

[chrysostom]

I can't really see how a positive evaluation of ongoing apparitions would not lend credence, at least in the eyes of supporters, to all future apparitions there...

[Guest]

My comments: I think possibly one problem with Medjugorje in the minds of those appointed in Rome to approve or disapprove, might be that Medjugorje has set a precedence of ongoing apparitions with messages with multiple visionaries over a long period of years.  This has never happened previously in our history.  Of course, that is not to state that it could never happen - rather that it is a potential and Rome is moving very slowly and with great care: "Satan can appear as an angel of light"  (2 Corinthians Chapter 11), which is not to state at all that Medjugorje falls into that category, while it does remain a potential, although an increasingly quite remote one due to certain factors until the question of validity is finally settled. 

The shrine is now designated as pontifical with Vatican oversight while Rome considers the validity. That carries quite a bit of weight in my book.

 

Quote

 

"In May 2018, Pope Francis named Polish Archbishop Henryk Hoser as apostolic visitor to the shrine, after a papal commission recommended that Medjugorje, which attracts up to 3 million visitors annually, be designated a pontifical shrine with Vatican oversight. A ban on pilgrimages organised by dioceses and parishes was then lifted by papal decree."..............

.........."Differentiating between the Vatican's pastoral care of Medjugorje and the doctrinal study of the apparitions, Archbishop Fisichella said that, following the papal commission's conclusions, "we are now in another step (phase) in order to understand what happened in Medjugorje."

"I think that for the moment it is necessary to evaluate the richness of the work in Medjugorje. We need to understand all of this together: why there is such a huge number of pilgrims, of prayers and to understand also how the possible apparitions in Medjugorje (relate) to the life of the church. For that we should wait the judgment the Holy Father will give. To rush this delicate matter is a mistake."

 

 

[chrysostom]

I am sympathetic, but I have seen the video of the visionary faking the ecstatic state - that is, flinching at someone poking near their eyes - and later claiming that they were afraid at that precise moment that the BVM was going to drop the Child Jesus.

[Guest]

The video in question is above.  I read somewhere that Pope Francis thinks that the earlier visions might be valid, the later visions he thinks are probably not.

I think that there are probably quite valid pros and cons that the Vatican must slowly sift through and prayerfully discern.

My thoughts are that as a Church we are in enough trouble through scandal without Rome declaring supernatural phenomena valid - and then later evidence comes up that it was not supernatural phenomena at all.  I think old nik would really like that outcome and even work towards it as the right time to further undermine The Church.