Pope Francis appears to criticise the Medjugorje visionaries claim to receive daily messages from Our Lady
By Deacon Nick Donnelly, on November 15th, 2013
Pope Francis’ criticism was part of his more general critique of a curiosity that seeks after miracles:
‘The Kingdom of God is among us: do not seek strange things, do not seek novelties with this worldly curiosity. Let us allow the Spirit to lead us forward in that wisdom, which is like a soft breeze. This is the Spirit of the Kingdom of God, of which Jesus speaks. So be it.”
In the Gospel, the Pope underlined, “we find ourselves before another spirit, contrary to the wisdom of God: the spirit of curiosity”.
“And when we want to be the masters of the projects of God, of the future, of things, to know everything, to have everything in hand… the Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘When will the Kingdom of God come?’ Curious! They wanted to know the date, the day… The spirit of curiosity distances us from the Spirit of wisdom because all that interests us is the details, the news, the little stories of the day. Oh, how will this come about? It is the how: it is the spirit of the how! And the spirit of curiosity is not a good spirit. It is the spirit of dispersion, of distancing oneself from God, the spirit of talking too much. And Jesus also tells us something interesting: this spirit of curiosity, which is worldly, leads us to confusion.”
Curiosity, the Pope continued, impels us to want to feel that the Lord is here or rather there, or leads us to say: “But I know a visionary, who receives letters from Our Lady, messages from Our Lady”. And the Pope commented: “But, look, Our Lady is the Mother of everyone! And she loves all of us. She is not a postmaster, sending messages every day.”
Such responses to these situations, he affirmed, “distance us from the Gospel, from the Holy Spirit, from peace and wisdom, from the glory of God, from the beauty of God.”
“Jesus says that the Kingdom of God does not come in a way that attracts attention: it comes by wisdom.”
“ ‘The Kingdom of God is among you,’ said Jesus, and it is this action of the Holy Spirit, which gives us wisdom and peace. The Kingdom of God does not come in (a state of) confusion, just as God did not speak to the prophet Elijah in the wind, in the storm (but) he spoke in the soft breeze, the breeze of wisdom.”
“Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus would say that she had always to stop herself before the spirit of curiosity,” he said. “When she spoke with another sister and this sister was telling a story about the family, about people, sometimes the subject would change, and she would want to know the end of the story. But she felt that this was not the spirit of God, because it was a spirit of dispersion, of curiosity.
Protect the Pope comment: When the Holy Father’s criticism is set in the context of Archbishop Müller’s directive to the US Church via the Apostolic Nuncio that the faithful must not attend meetings that accept the authenticity of the Medjugorje apparitions it appears that the Holy See is gradually preparing the faithful for the report of the special commission set up to investigate the truth, or otherwise, of the alleged Marian apparitions of Medjugorje.
41 comments to Pope Francis appears to criticise the Medjugorje visionaries claim to receive daily messages from Our Lady
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Andrzej
Yes, Medjugorje is really the main problem of the Church today…
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Pat
Both problems have disobedience and self-love as their root.
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The tragedy is that even a statement from the Holy See stating that the non-supernaturality of Medjugorje has been proven won’t deter many Catholics. I remember when the CDF and Southwark Archdiocese condemned the ‘Divine Innocence’ sect, and the writings of the founder of that sect, alleged ‘seer’ Patricia de Menezes http://www.rcsouthwark.co.uk/statement_cdi_2.html the followers simply dismissed the declaration and carried on business as usual, and the nonsense still goes on to this day. False apparitions are Satan’s great method of separating people from the Church and disobeying legitimate authority. The ‘seers’ always do very nicely financially out of these scams. Read The Immaculate Deception by Jim Gallagher about the phoney Irish ‘seer’ Christina Gallagher. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Immaculate-Deception-Christine-Gallaghers/dp/1907162011 Truly, truly shocking.
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Michael Petek
Suppose that the Holy See issues a statement that the non-supernaturality of Medjugorje has been proven. There are only two ways in which this could be supportable in reason:
(1) Either the apparitions clearly and certainly, and constantly, contradict the deposit of faith and morals, in which case the Holy Father should so state.
(2) Alternatively, each and every one of the visionaries is unworthy of belief, in which case the Holy Father should so state and rely on his sovereign immunity to prevent any of them from suing him in defamation.
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No, once again, YOU are laying down the law as to the criteria for determining the genuineness or otherwise of these alleged apparitions, and using specific criteria which have certainly not been given by the CDF. The CDF has already laid down norms in its 1978 document to BISHOPS (not benefit advisers) on the discernment of alleged apparitions. The CDF neither consulted you, nor needed to consult you. Contrary to what you may believe about yourself, you have no legislative position in the Church, I wish you would accept that. Any other position is simply delusional.
If the Holy See issues a statement that the non-supernaturality of Medjugorje is proven, then I am confident that it will give valid reasons in support of that statement.
Has any genuine seer or mystic ever tried to sue the Holy Father? The mere fact that you even mention such a ridiculous scenario reveals your alarming mindset. But sadly, this is the end game of situations like this. Obedience to the sect trumps obedience to the Church.
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WUE, my reply was to Michael Petek. See also my comments to him in the previous Medj thread http://protectthepope.com/?p=9061
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The criteria have indeed been laid down. Presumptiomn stands in favour of “non constat de supernaturalitate”. Either of the other two alternatives requires moral certainty, or at least high probability.
If the Holy See issues a statement that the non-supernaturality of Medjugorje is proven, then as a matter of justice and fairness it must give a reasoned judgement in support of that statement, just as civil courts do. The Holy Father’s sovereign immunity protects him against any possibility of being successfully sued in the civil courts should he say what you seem to believe to be true, that every one of the visionaries is a liar and a chiseler.
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Nicolas Bellord
Michael: I doubt if any court in the world would be prepared to rule on whether a vision was true or false in an action for defamation.
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So do I. My point is that,if the Holy Father were to brand any of the visionaries as a fraudster, he could claim sovereign immunity against a lawsuit in defamation. If he were to do so, I should expect the Bosnian police to investigate further.
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That puts paid to Fatima for a start. Unless the Holy Father intends us to understand that private revelations, to be authentic, must conform to the wisdom of Our Lady, which is found in a Gospel, three letters and the book of Revelation, all of which could not have been written as they were save by the man who lived with her as her son for the first years of his Apostolic ministry.
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Mmm. Sense of deja vu here. But what the Holy Father has said doesn’t put paid to Fatima, especially since the Pope has consecrated his Papacy to Our Lady of Fatima and also recently renewed the Consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in front of the original statue from Fatima. The Fatima apparitions also occurred six times over as many months, and the messages of Our Lady were relatively brief, so I don’t see how Fatima could fit the Pope’s reference to people craving constant ‘messages’ from ‘Our Lady’. I don’t think he would be trying to undermine Fatima somehow.
Now let me see, what other alleged apparition of Our Lady has had non-stop interminable ‘messages’ for the last 30-odd years? I wonder . . .
Watch this story closely, readers. The ‘signs and wonders’ brigade will really start to show their true colours now, mark my words.
Wake up England….
Taken from: http://protectthepope.com/?p=9160
Australian Marian Academy of the Immaculate Conception 