Is Medjugorje a hoax?

Such a question would no doubt shock the many millions around the world who have blind faith in the "apparitions" which six Croatian youths claim they started having 21 years ago and which, they say, they are still experiencing.

However, a full-page article which appeared in the July 5 issue of The Catholic Herald leaves no doubt in the mind of the reader that there is nothing authentic about the appearances.

According to the writer, the late Bishop Zanic was convinced that "the whole thing began as a joke which should have ended by July 4, 1981" but which, after 21 years, is still going on.

The writer claims that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1995 has banned all public pilgrimages to the shrine. He adds that the local ordinary, Bishop Ratko Peric, strongly believes that the apparitions are fraudulent.

The same belief, he states, is shared by the ex-Yugoslav bishops' conference and by members of three official commissions, the diocesan priests and most of the Franciscans there.

Most, but not all, as a large minority of them have defied the bishop and their own Father-General in Rome. Two of the friars were expelled from the order for disobeying a Vatican tribunal. One of these two friars later fathered a child by a nun.

When the author of the article refers to the attitude of the Pope to Medjugorje, he quotes promoters who insist that John Paul II had said: "Let the people go to Medjugorje if they convert, pray, confess, do penance" - a statement which according to the writer has been described by the Papal Nuncio to the United States as "not authentic".

He also mentions the fact that when the Pope visited Bosnia in 1997 he not only "declined to visit Medjugorje (he visited the Muslim community of Mostar just 24 km away) but also failed to mention the disputed shrine even once".

This notwithstanding, states the writer, nobody can deny that lives have been changed after visiting the shrine, "others undergo conversions that are sincere and lasting and some become vigorous promoters of Our Lady Queen of Peace".

However, Bishop Peric, says the writer, has an answer to these claims. According to him the bishop has stated that the "fruits... do not prove that they flow from apparitions or supernatural revelations of Our Lady... but in the measure that they are authentically Christian, they may be interpreted as a product of the normal work of divine grace, by faith in God, by the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ, and by the sacraments of the Catholic Church. And this to say nothing of the negative fruits."

Among the negative fruits, no doubt, the most glaring is the rift that exists now between a large minority of the Franciscan friars and their superiors. "To many Medju-gorje is not so much apparitions... but of disobedience to the legitimate authority of the Church; about friars who defy their superiors and Catholics from overseas who ignore the directions of the Church not to go on pilgrimage there."

In the writer's opinion the most serious aspect is the attitude of a number of bishops and cardinals who by going to Medjugorje "are wilfully ignoring the wishes of the local ordinary" and by doing so they are offending against the principle of collegiality.

As was to be expected, the article created a great deal of controversy. Some wrote back to show their agreement, others to strongly express their disapproval and to proclaim their faith in Medjugorje and what it stands for.

In a lengthy article published a fortnight later (July 19) the defender of the apparitions described how in 1990, following a visit to Medjugorje, he had "a long conversion..."

Other positive experiences have included "conversions from atheism and other faiths, priests' vocations, healings..." He added that the parish office in Medjugorje has documented 445 medical healings.

He quotes Cardinal Siri of Genoa as stating that the people who return from Medjugorje "become apostles" and Cardinal Schoenborn of Vienna is reported to have attributed to Medjugorge, many priestly vocations.

The writer states that conversions happen even to people who have never been to the shrine... just by watching a video or reading a book. With regard to Rome's attitude, the writer quotes Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls as having said that Catholics can go privately and priests should provide pastoral support.

He dismissed the Pope's apparent "boycott" of the shrine by stating that John Paul II told a bishop that "Medjugorje is the continuation of Fatima", adding that when the Pope visited Sarajevo, 30 members of his entourage spent a day in Medjugorje and celebrated Mass there...

So, where does the truth lie? Is Medjugorje a hoax or is it another manifestation of Our Lady's love and concern for humanity? Maybe it is too early to say. Yet considering that the apparitions - true or imaginary - are not articles of faith or dogma, one is free to come to one's own conclusions; at least until the Church pronounces herself publicly. This is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future since investigations will not be concluded "before the reports of the apparitions end or the last of the seers dies".

Meanwhile, the debate goes on...