Bishop Rakto Peri of Motsar-Duvno The bishop whose diocese includes the parish in Medjugorje has reiterated his belief that no apparitions have ever taken place at the site.
In the wake of news that Pope Francis has appointed a special delegate to examine the pastoral situation at the famed Bosnia-Herzegovina site, Bishop Ratko Peri of Mostar-Duvno issued a message on the diocesan website to state: “Considering everything that this chancery has so far researched and studied, including the first seven days of the alleged apparitions, it can peacefully be affirmed: The Madonna has not appeared in Medjugorje!
“This is the truth that we support, and we believe in the words of Jesus: The truth will set us free.”
Bishop Peri goes on to note that a number of commissions have looked at events in Medjugorje without reaching a judgement that anything supernatural lies behind the alleged apparitions – at diocesan level in 1982-84 and 1984-86; in 1987-90 by the Croatian bishops’ conference, and from 2010-14 and again from 2014-16 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Transcripts
Citing further the transcripts of interviews conducted by Church authorities with the Medjugorje seers in the first week of the alleged apparitions, Bishop Peri declares that the contents of these “with full conviction and responsibility, expose the reasons why the non-authenticity of the alleged phenomena is evident”.
Going on to question the figure of the Virgin Mary as described by the seers, the prelate concludes that a claim that she has allowed herself to be touched by them leaves him with “the feeling and conviction that this is something unworthy, inauthentic and outrageous”.
The bishop’s latest attack on Medjurgorje is set to anger the many thousands of pilgrims who continue to flood the small town every year as a result of the claims of ongoing apparitions. It was this particular group which led to Pope Francis appointing Archbishop Henryk Hoser of Warsaw-Prague as his special delegate to the site, specifically to identify the needs of pilgrims and pastoral initiatives that might be put in place for them.