Medjugorje And The Church

Every authentic modern apparition of Mary, from La Salette to Lourdes to Fatima to Beauraing, has been a source of controversy and polemic while the phenomenon itself was in progress. Such is today the case with Medjugorje, which has been buffeted by waves of rumors and fabrications and malicious attacks. Lost in the din is the perspective of the universal Church. In Denis Nolan’s book you will find shocking new revelations about the Catholic Church’s true position on Medjugorje. Did you know that for the first time in Church history the Vatican removed the jurisdiction over an apparition from the local Ordinary when the investigation into Medjugorje was taken away from the then-bishop of Mostar, Bishop Zanic? Did you know that the Vatican’s current Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone wrote an official letter confirming that pilgrimages to Medjugorje are permitted and that the opinions on Medjugorje of Bishop Ratko Peric, the current Bishop of Mostar, are to be treated strictly “as his personal opinion” with no authority? Did you know that the Vatican responded with an implicit rebuke of Bishop Peric’s widely publicized June 15, 2006, condemnation of Medjugorje when Cardinal Vinko Puljic, president of the Bosnia and Hercegovina Bishops Conference and Archbishop of Sarajevo, announced on July 15, 2006, that “The Catholic Church is starting a new commission that will look into the Medjugorje events” thus reiterating the Vatican’s position that the apparition does not fall under Bishop Peric’s jurisdiction? Did you know that in his own hand Pope John Paul II wrote, “I thank Sophia for everything concerning Medjugorje. I, too, go there everyday as a pilgrim in my prayers”? Did you know that Blessed Mother Teresa, again in her own hand, wrote: “We are all praying one Hail Mary before Holy Mass to Our Lady of Medjugorje!”? Did you know that the world’s foremost exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who has performed more than 30,000 exorcisms, wrote, “Medjugorje is a fortress against Satan. Satan hates Medjugorje because it is a place of conversion, of prayer, of transformation of life”? Did you know that hundreds of cardinals and bishops, and tens of thousands of priests, have either personally visited Medjugorje as pilgrims or expressed their appreciation for this fountain of grace, and that the vast majority explicitly proclaim that the Blessed Mother is appearing in Medjugorje? Did you know that bishops and cardina