The former Vicar of Rome for Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI, His Eminence Camillo Card. Ruini, will head a group to study what is going on at Medjugorje.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmZfWZtm2Mo]
Most of these ROME REPORTS are good, though a little too short to be terribly useful.
I would off them a suggestion, however. Please make sure your readers know how to pronounce important words which are bound to turn up in news reports about the Church. Words such as "vicar". NB 0:22 of the video. I think I would re-record that.
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The Vatican still hasn’t confirmed this rumor.
I am looking forward to their findings. I hope it brings much needed clarity to a well debated topic. Of course, the media is going to have a hay-day with it.
When I saw Fr Z’s comment about pronouncing ‘vicar’ correctly I wondered how else it could be pronounced. I soon found out watching the video – incredible!
Cardinal Ruini is a wonderful man, intelligent and good, I do hope this piece of news will prove to be true!
I, too, wondered how else one could pronounce vicar : ) !
Vi-car, I always thought it was the Popemobile…
I have noticed over the past few months that the commentator on Rome Reports mispronounces at least one or two relatively common English words each week. Despite the fact that her pronunciation in most repects gives the impression that English is her native language, I suspect that it is a second language and that she falls back on her native pronunciation on occasion.
Interesting are the Pope’s words about Ruini, that he “had…*courage* to adhere to the Magesterium”
I don’t think of faithfulness to the Magesterium as requiring courage – guess I’m naïve about the goings on in Rome.
The same narrator made that same pronunciation error in last week’s reporting…also referred to “Rome’s diocese” instead of the Diocese of Rome. Odd.
One would think that a reporter would do a little research, ever on basic pronunciation before publishing their report. Am I nieve?
It’s going to take courage to face the wrath of Medjugorje devotees.
chonak – that is sooooo true. For anyone who doesn’t understand this, believe me, just
TRY to talk some sense to one of them and they will rip your head off.
Phenomenons… *twitch*
I don’t know much Greek… very little, actually… but it seems that someone based out of Rome, whose Latin takes the similar neuter ‘um’ ending and goes to ‘a’ in the plural, would instinctively know to take the Greek neuter ‘on’ ending and make it an ‘a’… I suppose not.
Does this just bother me?
For the modernists out there: It’s “phenomena.”
The same goes for Momentum->Momenta, Stadium->Stadia, Auditorium->Auditoria, et cetera.
Cactus->Cacti, anyone? …
I know the Vatican usually doesn’t issue a statement on alleged apparitions until after they are over; but Bayside NY is an example of where the Church had to act, lest souls be led astray. There, there were reputed “healings,” Rosary beads turning gold, etc., but the whole thing was a complete fraud, and probably of diabolical origin. I think (and my opinion, I know, is a hill of beans) is that Medjugorje is a diabolical deception on a grand scale, which I’ve written of here:
http://hospitallers.blogspot.com/2009/09/medjugorje-divine-intervention-or.html
I think the world was ripe to fall into a Medjugorje-like trap in 1981, after the confusing times the Council engendered. Medjugorje is ecumenism on speed! The “Gospa” there even taught that the most saintly woman in the village was a Muslim!
Instead of concise statements such as, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” the Gospa drones on and on about such things as Christ looking after each faith like a prince over his kingdom; whatever that means!
I think it’s very good news that Cardinal Ruini will be taking a second look at this “pilgrimage” site, which is literally leading millions of souls into a murky world of syncretism and indifferentism to the Faith…
@ Chonak & Kimberly.
I very strongly believe in Medugorje, but have never ripped anyones head offer over it.
I myself look forward to the work of the Holy See in regards to Medugorje. Whatever the outcome, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” I am always first and foremost a devoted and obedient servant of the Holy Father, no questions asked.
As for now, it is left open to the discretion of the individual. According to the Holy See, people are free to travel as pilgrims, to pray and confess, although not officially Church sanctioned pilgrimages.
Let us all pray for the Holy Spirit to guide the work of the commission, so they may enlighten us with the Truth!
ipadre: Thank you.
I hope Rome gets to the bottom of this business soon. I just can’t believe that the Blessed Mother is as prolix as she is presented in these “visions.” Nor can I believe that she would waste a second on stroking the vanity of her children (“Thank you for responding to my call.”) Then there are the lies the Bishop caught them out in from the very beginning (e.g., claiming the visions started when they were out “looking for their lost sheep” when in fact they were out sneaking smokes). And then there are the feuds between the Franciscans and the Bishop, where she is allegedly taking sides against the Bishop. Not to mention the priests involved in sexual misconduct, one of whom has been laicized.
Medjugorje seems to me a kind of mockery of Fatima, and an attempt to short-circuit its effects. I admit my thinking on this is not well-developed, but at first blush, the arrival of this phenomenon at a climactic moment in the Cold War seems to me suspicious.
Anyone is free to receive the sacraments at the Catholic parish. But foreign priests need to make sure they follow the diocesan pastoral guidelines. (I’ve published them on the Catholic Light blog.) Also, to call one’s visit a “pilgrimage” is to assume that the phenomenon is of supernatural origin, which seems premature and perhaps even contrary to the 1991 Zadar declaration, which states: “it cannot be affirmed that this is a case of supernatural apparitions or revelations.”
Hi Folks
I used to believe in the ‘apparitions’ of Medjugoje. Indeed I saw many of the ‘good fruits’ first hand: my wife and her mother and sister converted to Catholicism through Medjugorje, my own faith was deepened by exposure to the spirituality of Medjugorje and so on. So devoted to the ‘apparitions’ were my wife and I that we chose to marry on 25th June (the anniversary of the apparitions)and spent some of our honeymoon in Medjugore. However as the years have passed we have become more and more exposed to the ‘bad fruits’ of Medjugorje: the disobedience, miracle chasing, a skewed view of prayer and the false mysticism which is encouraged by the eschatalogical nature of the ‘messages’. As a result my wife and I have both changed our view on the authenticity of the ‘apparitions’. I have done further reading and have created a Facebook group with lots of links to the most informative and up-to-date Medjugorje info I can find. If you are interested in joining or just looking please follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=280048462711
@ Anita and Maltese,
I too hope that this investigation will bring closure to this. Most likely, we are talking about several years, as it ought to take, before the Vatican offers a definitive ruling on the alleged aparitions.
From what I have read, this appears to be a false apparition. The siding against the local bishop would be enough, I understand, to assume these apparitions are not genuine. But all of the other aspects, the incredible wealth of the seers, the Disneyland feel of the devotional site, the sexual misconduct of clergy, and death threats against the bishop…not to mention the very odd messages of the Gospa and her message of false ecumenism.
Sounds like people did see things, just not the Virgin Mary. I agree with Maltese that this has the hallmarks of an inverted Fatima so as to undermine what Mary has definitely warned. Also, if Medjugorje is definitively ruled false, it could prove a challenge to Church authority.
I can’t imagine what Pope Benedict must deal with on the day to day.
Maltese makes a very good point. I think even somebody with the prominence of Cardinal Bertone, has also indicated this line, that no definitive pronouncement will come until the apparitions are finished. According to this argument, the seers of Medjugorje could be claiming apparitions of Our Lady when they are 90, and still there cannot be a church decision.
Bayside is a good example to illustrate that this is not the case, but even more so Necedah in the diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The “seeress” there, Mrs Mary Ann Van Hoof had her apparitions condemned, but also in 1975 put herself under the jurisdiction of an Old Catholic bishop, and later married in an irregular liaison, while continuing to claim visions!
Cardinal Ruini, by all accounts seems to be the best man for this job of heading a commission by the Holy See, and we look forward to the pronouncement which we do not anticipate, but I have little doubt will be negative.
However, as JonM seems to suggest, will we be dealing with the first ever schism over an apparition? As something tells me these Medjugorje devotees will not disappear quickly.
There is some sort of weird problem with the comment system here. On the main page there is an article about the priestly sex abuse problem currently in conversation in Europe. The link at the end of that brings you here.
BUT, this is the comment box for an article about Medjugorje. Ooops.
There is a comment box you can get to from clicking the title of the other article to “pull it out of the main blog” to a page of its own, but I have no idea where those comments might display.
I hope that this commission will get to the bottom of this whole thing.
I was never much of a ‘follower’ of Medjugorje-I rather stick to the approved ones such as Lourdes and Fatima.
Doesn’t the fact that they are investigating Medjugorje before the apparitions are even done appearing indicate that they believe the apparitions to be false?
@New Sister, sadly. I think it takes great courage for anyone to adhere to the Magisterium in this horribly anti-Christian secular world.