Be Careful with Medjugorje!

I have been seeing articles on this website that contain messages allegedly coming from Our Lady in Medjugorje. The Catholic Church has always declined to declare these alleged apparitions to be of supernatural origin, although the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has released a nihil obstat (literally “nothing hinders”) for the messages, meaning that nothing in them is contrary to Church doctrine on faith and morals. Despite this, the faithful should be cautious when it comes to Medjugorje and it may even be better to avoid the messages and the site altogether until the apparitions are officially acknowledged and approved by Holy Mother Church.

Traditionally, Medjugorje is an anomaly in that the Church has never before endorsed the messages of an apparition and the spiritual experience of a pilgrimage site without also confirming the supernatural character of the alleged apparitions or private revelations connected to that place. In 1985, the bishop of the diocese of Mostar-Duvno, where Medjugorje is located, declared that the apparitions were not authentic and this declaration has not been overturned by his successors. In 1991, the bishops’ conference in Yugoslavia said that the supernatural character could not be affirmed, which is different from declaring no supernatural character at all. Although the messages and spiritual experiences of those who have gone to Medjugorje have been acknowledged and approved, it can still be spiritually dangerous to associate with a site where the actual apparitions have not been affirmed or approved. If the Church has not affirmed that these apparitions have supernatural origin (even though at the same time She hasn’t declared that they don’t), then it is impossible to know for sure where they come from and we should not be straying from Her judgements. After all, even the devil knows concepts of faith and morals intellectually, and we know from the life of St. Catherine of Siena that he can appear to us pretending to take on a different form. The Church is called Holy Mother Church for a reason: She is a mother, protecting us and keeping us spiritually safe.

There have been instances of conversions and return to the Sacraments connected with Medjugorje; however, as the DDF says in their document “The Queen of Peace: Note about the Spiritual Experiences Connected with Medjugorje,” the validity of the experiences doesn’t hinge on whether the apparitions have supernatural origin or not. The Blessed Mother is capable of interceding for those who seek her sincerely, wherever they are, and She often does. This means that the location of Medjugorje does not necessarily have anything to do with the spiritual favors that people receive, which also means that the faithful can very well go to any other site (Fatima, Lourdes, etc.) where the apparitions have been approved and receive spiritual favors there while also having the reassurance that they are not being deceived in any way.

If you have been to Medjugorje and felt spiritually edified, then I don’t judge you and I am happy that you felt connected to Our Lady. However, I feel that prudence should be exercised, and caution should be observed when considering listening to the messages or visiting. If you really want to visit a Marian site, I would recommend one that has been fully approved by the Church.