The document on the apparitions confirms Medjugorje
In the new document of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, published on Friday 17 May 2024 and which came into force on Sunday 19, the feast of Pentecost, the rules for the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena are updated. In my opinion this document (available on the Holy See website) is very advantageous for pilgrims who go to Medjugorje, and it is good to make an objective and reasoned summary of it, because unfortunately the mass media tend to manipulate this type of news, especially because the devil is an enemy of Medjugorje. We must be didactic and correct, read the document seriously without polluting it with false statements, as is unfortunately happening.
This document will be very useful in view of the time of the Secrets when we will witness numerous false apparitions; the Queen of Peace has already said that those of Medjugorje are her last apparitions on Earth and from this document we can deduce points that strengthen our faith in the Gospa.
To make it easier to understand, I have compiled six key points from this document.
1. We return to the practice of past centuries: if all the conditions foreseen by the document are present, the Church leaves the freedom to believe and promotes devotion, worship and pilgrimages.
The practice for which there is recognition by the Church is recent, it dates back to the last century and a half. The apparitions that have benefited from this procedure of official recognition of supernaturality by the Church are less than ten. The many apparitions of the past that have populated the world with thousands of sanctuaries have never had that procedure which was introduced in the last century and a half and which ends with a declaration of a “supernatural event” by the Church. With this document it was decided that we return to the past when the Church, faced with supernatural events, made a discernment, seeing if they conformed to the Truth, considering the lives of the visionaries and noting their spiritual fruits; subsequently the Church itself not only allowed worship, devotion and pilgrimages, but promoted them. This applies to countless Sanctuaries that exist in Italy and around the world. This document, then, returns to the practice of the past. Now there is no longer recognition of supernaturality but, if all the conditions foreseen by the document itself are present, the Church leaves people free to believe and promote devotion, worship and pilgrimages. This is what is already happening for Medjugorje.
2. The Ecclesiastical Authority no longer engages in official declarations of supernaturalism except for the Pope exceptionally.
The Church, neither the local nor the central one, nor the bishop nor the Holy Office, no longer engages in declarations of supernaturality, unless the Pope decides otherwise for an exception. In my opinion, this point of the document is a “suggestion” from the Queen of Peace.
3. This means that the faithful can believe in the apparitions of Medjugorje, follow the messages of the Madonna, go on pilgrimage.
4. It means above all that no one can say that to believe one must wait for the recognition of supernaturality from the Holy See because it no longer gives it.
This point is very important. Many, even in Medjugorje recently, think that since the Church has not yet recognized the supernatural nature of the apparitions it cannot be believed. This can no longer be said, the document speaks very clearly. The Holy See will no longer recognize supernaturalism. The Holy See leaves people free to believe.
5. The Pope, on the occasion of the third Secret of Medjugorje, the sign on the Podbrdo hill, could, given the exceptional nature of the event, open the cause of supernaturalism.
The Holy Father will exceptionally be able to pronounce on the apparitions of Medjugorje, for example on the occasion of the third Secret. The sign on the mountain – beautiful, indestructible, lasting and which comes from God – is the appointment that Our Lady gave to the Church, saying that it serves to demonstrate that She was there and that the apparitions are true. Faced with a sign of this kind, the Holy Father could open a case for recognition of the supernatural nature of the Medjugorje apparitions and therefore align the Church on the side of the Queen of Peace. I have no doubt that Our Lady herself has had her hand in some points of this document.
6. In essence, for the faithful of the Gospa the new document represents a clarification and an advantage compared to the previous situation.
As regards Medjugorje, the Church has already come a long way: it has allowed worship, devotion, the publication of Messages and the pilgrimages themselves. In Medjugorje the Church has already de facto given the Nihil Obstat and leaves the faithful free to believe. The Queen of Peace said: «Tell those priests who do not believe in my apparitions that I have always transmitted messages from God to the world. I am sorry that they do not believe, but no one can be forced to believe» (Message of 31 December 1981).
In essence, in my opinion, the document represents an improvement and clarification regarding the Medjugorje apparitions. No more unfounded chatter then; the mass media systematically want to denigrate the apparitions of Medjugorje but the document speaks clearly.
As always, the Church is very wise in the decisions in which the highest Ecclesiastical Authority is involved. It is clearly seen that there is a special help from God.
