Paul KeenanHopes of a decision on the pilgrim site proved premature, writes Paul Keenan
For a moment last week, devotees of Medjugorje held a collective breath.
Rome – specifically the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) – had come to a decision on the status of the famed site of Marian pilgrimage, the wildfire word suggested; it was a negative assessment, the reports ran chillingly, fanned by speculation within Italian media around a meeting of prelates held on June 24, the 34th anniversary of the first alleged Medjugorje apparition of Our Lady to six children in the little village at the heart of modern Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Rome was to have no truck with visions and hence with pilgrimages to the site, it was rumoured, thus slamming the door on Medjugorje’s aspiration to be officially recognised as a Marian shrine akin to Lourdes, Knock and Fatima.
Coming so soon after Pope Francis’ own admission earlier in June that a decision on Medjugorje was near, word of a decision sent shockwaves through the ‘Medjugorje community’. Yet, the community barely had time to register fear or anger at the reported developments in Rome when an entirely different dispatch emanated from the precincts of the Vatican.
Discussion
Just 24 hours after talk of a CDF meeting, veteran Vatican-watcher Andrea Tornielli revealed that the CDF “has not held any ‘plenary’ sessions or a ‘feria quarta’” on the apparitions. A feria quarta is a monthly gathering of prelates on a specific subject of discussion, usually taking place on the final Wednesday of the month. Bring together that final Wednesday and the anniversary of the Medjugorje apparition and, voilá, an instant and irresistible story.
“Recent speculations in the media about a highly negative decision on Medjugorje are completely unfounded as no decision has been taken,” Tornielli reported, quoting press spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, allowing for a collective exhalation of relief as other journalists concurred with his reporting.
We’ve been here before, of course. In July of 2014, expectation of a decision rose when it was reported that Pope Francis had spoken with Fr Miljenko Steko, the Provincial of the Franciscan Order in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and stated: “Pray I have made the right decision.” The reports were firmly rejected later by Fr Steko himself.
The relief felt by pilgrims and devotees at the latest turn of media events may yet prove to be short-lived. There is no sense in denying that the question of Medjugorje will – and must ultimately – be faced by Rome.
However, even allowing for the Pope’s words, the news from a Vatican now focussed heavily on preparing for the synod on the family is that said feria quarta of June was to the be the last of the summer months and that any specific meeting on Medjugorje would not take place until the autumn, meaning a decision/report to Pope Francis later still, potentially shifting the Pontiff’s final word on things back to 2016.
Those fearing an entirely negative message on Medjugorje and its six visionaries are clearly cognisant of hints revealed in previous actions of the CDF, notably the revelation in November of 2013 that the congregation had written to the US bishops to warn that clerics and pilgrims visiting Medjugorje should not engage in meetings or public celebrations wherein full credibility for the alleged apparitions was taken for granted – an echo of an earlier message from the Catholic Bishops of Yugoslavia, all of which built on the very open scepticism displayed for Medjugorje by members of the hierarchy within Bosnia Herzegovina, notably Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno.
Caution
The CDF’s message was a note of caution, though, and not a definitive scotching of Medjugorje; by 2013, the commission of enquiry established by then-Pope Benedict XVI and under the control of Cardinal Camillo Ruini was three years engaged with the very subject of the apparitions and their veracity and origin.
The commission’s work of four years must now inform the decision of the CDF, but it would be foolish to believe that this will be a black and white case for those gathering for that most important feria quarta.
It is worth mentioning here that one of the prelates sure to be present is Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, a figure who has previously displayed his own personal warmth towards Medjugorje, thus promising a kind ear coupled with a keen eye on the day.
If not already pointed out in the text of the commission’s report, surely Cardinal Schönborn will be quick to remind the CDF that there are other key elements at play in informing any final decision, many many thousands of them – the pilgrims of Medjugorje themselves.
This is something forgotten by those commentators who were quick to lambast Medjugorje in the days after the premature reports of developments in Rome last week.
Shrill cries of ‘hoax’ and triumphant declarations of a ‘scam put to an end’ failed to account for the fact that Medjugorje continues to attract thousands upon thousands of Christian pilgrims annually.
Each one may be searching for something beyond that offered at the Marian sites already mentioned, but each one does so with an openness to the very faith the Church seeks to impart.
I know this as I followed these pilgrims to Medjugorje in the course of previous coverage offered by The Irish Catholic newspaper. To focus solely on questions of veracity around what is taking place at Medjugorje is to miss completely just what is taking place.
This is best illustrated by turning attention towards events in the Italian city of Turin just days before the storm around Medjugorje blew up anew. There, on June 21, Pope Francis visited the famed Shroud of Turin, spending time in quiet reflection before the aged cloth. Whether he saw the ‘actual’ face of Christ within the faded staining there is unknown as the Pontiff carefully skirted around the subject of an object that, while revered by millions, exists in that same disputed territory as the town of Medjugorje.
The Pope’s visit, like those of his predecessors, is a most public acknowledgement of that ‘other’ power is at play, the drawing together of the faithful in their faith, the very fact of which is to be lauded and balanced by the Vatican all at once.
This, then, is the role to be played by the CDF, and indeed the Pope, in finally addressing the issue of Medjugorje, whether to jump one way or the other, or to find a kind middle road between.
The pilgrims wait for Rome to decide.