Well-informed source confirms short note from Medjugorje news portal: The Vatican Commission of experts who have examined the events of Medjugorje for three years has delivered a positive report. But still it may be long until Pope Francis formally decides on the case, we are told. Medjugorje gets a positive review in the report from the international Vatican Commission of experts formed by Pope Benedict XVI in March 2010. The Commission has handed over its report to the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), a well-informed source confirms to Medjugorje Today. “However, the time taken for a decision could be long...

As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis opened his diocese to Medjugorje priests, and asked Fr. Jozo Zovko to bless him. And shortly before he left for the papal conclave in Rome, he approved of visionary Ivan Dragicevic’s public apparition arrangements that drew 10,000 people. Medjugorje is far from unknown to Pope Francis. In the recent newsletter of the organization Children of Medjugorje, Sr. Emmanuel Maillard summarizes three occasions when the new Pope, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, approved of public talks from prominent Medjugorje visitors in his diocese. The most recent of these approvals was given just a few weeks...

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires is new Pope and takes the name Francis. Seven years ago, his fellow Argentine Archbishop Emilio Ognenovich visited Medjugorje and told the parish website that Cardinal Bergoglio was “very happy” to hear he would go there on a pilgrimage. Medjugorje has been a cause of joy for the new Pope Francis, one of his fellow Archbishops from Argentina told during his visit in May 2006. Monsignor Emilio Ognenovich, retired Archbishop of Mercedes-Luján (Argentina) visited Medjugorje from May 25th to 31st 2006, and then told Medjugorje’s official parish website: “I will share my own...

It is unknown if the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will continue its work after its initiator, Pope Benedict XVI, leaves his office on February 28, Croatian tv’s Rome correspondent reports. With an unknown agenda, the Commission meets in Rome today, on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Uncertainty surrounds the Vatican Commission’s work of investigating Medjugorje after Pope Benedict XVI resigns on February 28. At this point, it is unknown if the work will continue, the Croatian tv station HTV’s Rome correspondent Silvije Tomasevic reports, according to the regional news portal Brotnjo Info. What is known, however, is...

It is not for the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje itself to decide if its conlusions should be publicly known, says Cardinal Camillo Ruini, chairman of the Commission. No statement may even be released, says Cardinal Ruini. An Italian expert says the Pope may not get involved. Exactly what the current Vatican Commission has found and concluded in what will soon be three years of work on Medjugorje may never get known by the general public. And if its conclusions should be made known is not up to the Commission itself. “It will take just a bit longer, Not much, I hope. But, it is not an immediate thing. We are a consulting commission, we...

I told Benedict XVI about Medjugorje from soon after the apparitions began. The Pope is well-informed, but cautious, says Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist for years. He further calls it normal and even necessary that a certain commercialization has sprung up in Medjugorje. Information about Medjugorje was given to the current Pope Benedict XVI from the first Summer of the apparitions in 1981 when he, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served as Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Cardinal Ratzinger was being informed by Fr. Gabriele Amorth who was not yet an exorcist then, but would...

The unexpected Christmas message from the Infant Jesus will help the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje, visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti tells on Croatian tv. The station’s Rome correspondent confirms granting shrine status and upholding status quo on authenticity as most likely outcomes. Christmas Day’s surprise in Medjugorje, the Infant Jesus standing up on the Virgin Mary’s lap to give the message instead of her, will echo in ways that go beyond Medjugorje, visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti told the Croatian tv station HRT on December 28. In the news broadcast, HRT initially notes that “Marija believes this new...

The Vatican Commission is impressed with Medjugorje’s worldwide fruits but its final view cannot be predicted, a Croatian newspaper writes. Recognizing and dismissing the apparitions are both unlikely. Another half year of work is needed before the members vote, probably in secret. Investigating Medjugorje will continue in Rome. Though the recent session of the Vatican Commission was reported to be the final one, it only concluded one part of the investigation, and the Commission cannot be expected to finish its work until mid-2013. A source allegedly close to the work of the Commission further tells the Croatian newspaper Vecernji...

Vatican Commission will plausibly suggest the Pope to grant Medjugorje shrine status, a Croatian newspaper writes. It could be overseen by a Vatican representative, but a separate diocese will not be, writes the paper while ascribing open attitude to the Cardinal who heads the Commission. Medjugorje is likely on the way to official shrine status, the suggestion of which is expected to be among the current Vatican Commission’s recommendations to Pope Benedict XVI. The Commission will submit its report by the end of the year. Another likely suggestion on the part of the Commission is placing Medjugorje directly under Rome, with a...

When the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje has met on December 14-17 in Rome, its work should be finished though publication of results may still take a while, a Croatian newspaper reports, further mentioning a widespread expectation that the question of authenticity will be left open. Though the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje has its final session this weekend in Rome, and could report its findings by the end of 2012, the public is likely to wait another while for its conclusions, the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List is reporting. The paper establishes as fact that Commission member Cardinal Josip Bozanic of Zagreb is attending a...

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi puts an end to rumors that the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will release its findings in 2012. “It will be a long time yet” says Fr. Lombardi who tells a discussion at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is one of more missing factors. The Vatican is denying reports that the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will release its findings by the end of this year. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi tells National Catholic Register that the speculation is “not true” and that the commission’s findings will take longer. Earlier this week, the French magazine La Vie said...

Without quoting sources, a French magazine has claimed the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will publish its findings this year. But neither Medjugorje’s parish office nor the Diocese of Mostar has been informed that a date of publication is near, and the claim seems baseless so far. Despite a widespread circulation of French news report, there are as few signs of an approaching publication of results from the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje now as there were last month or week. In spite of quoting no sources, be they official or anonymous, the French weekly Catholic magazine La Vie was quoted worldwide on December 4, to the effect...

Any negative report from the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje is absolutely out of the question, a well-informed source tells Medjugorje Today. The report that is now being finished will reflect that the experts have been working their way through an entirely positive material. Medjugorje will get a thumbs up from the Vatican Commission of experts who have investigated the events in the village in western Hercegovina since March 2010, a source close to the investigation tells Medjugorje Today. The Commission headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini has found nothing negative. Quite on the contrary, the experts have only had very large measures of...

Contrary to a previous statement, the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will not finish its work this year, but rather in 2013, a Bosnian news portal quotes an allegedly well-informed source. More conversations are required. Commission members stayed in Medjugorje last Spring. Medjugorje will remain under investigation by the Vatican into 2013. The Commission formed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and since then headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini will not finish its work this year as previously stated, the Bosnian news portal Oslobodjenje learns. “The International Commission for the study of the phenomenon of Medjugorje will certainly not...

“I had a wonderful meeting” visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti says of the day when she gave her testimony to the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje. “The Church will tell if we are healthy or sick” Marija says – by a time when the seers’ perfect health has long been established. Medjugorje visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti has fond memories of her meeting with the Vatican Commission investigating the events of Medjugorje. “My experience was very positive. I had a wonderful meeting. There were people who provoked me a bit. It is their job to do that. What I witnessed in my life, I stand behind that. I...

The Vatican Commission on Medjugorje has been present while visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti received the Virgin Mary’s monthly message to the world. The purpose was to verify that the message is indeed being received as Marija has described it, a well-informed photographer tells. Medjugorje visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti has had prominent spectators in her chapel, to watch an apparition when the Virgin Mary gave her a message. The Vatican Commission on Medjugorje was present to make sure if Marija receives the messages in the way she says she does, the Italian photographer Daniel Miot tells from a recent pilgrimage that brought...

The Vatican had to react to millions of people gathering in Medjugorje, and the current Commission works seriously because the members believe Medjugorje is already deeply integrated within the Church, says Medjugorje’s pastor who calls it “irresponsible” to claim the seers lie. Rome had no choice but to take up a thorough investigation of the events in Medjugorje, and the result was the March 17th 2010 announcement of the current Commission led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, says Medjugorje’s parish priest. “Neither the Pope, nor responsible Roman offices could overlook the phenomenon gathering millions of...

Medjugorje’s spiritual fruits are overwhelming good, says Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna. He calls the Church’s stand on Medjugorje “very clear”: the question of authenticity is left open, and so clergy cannot arrange official pilgrimages. But all are free to visit on their own. “Overwhelming good spiritual fruits”. To Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, this is the most important about Medjugorje, he tells Our Sunday Visitor. Cardinal Schönborn, a member of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the main editor of the current Catechism of the Catholic Church, says the...

While only very little has leaked from the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje, four possible outcomes are in play, a major Croatian newspaper has unofficially learned. Two of them will remove the influence of the Bishop of Mostar who does not believe in the apparitions. Recognition or condemnation of the claims of apparitions is not the main focus of the Vatican Commission appointed to investigate the events of Medjugorje. The more pressing issue is the future administration of the place. Among four possible recommendations of the Commission, two will lead to Medjugorje no longer being under the jurisdiction of Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar. In...

35,000 people are expected when Medjugorje visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti will talk and have a public apparition on Sicily’s largest stadium on Saturday, April 21. Among the crowd will be a leading Mariologist and member of the Vatican Commission to investigate the Medjugorje events. On April 21, a member of the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje will have a first-hand experience of an apparition when Father Salvatore Perrella joins an expected 35,000 people for visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti’s appearance in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, the regional newspaper Il Fatto Nisseno reports. The event will take place at La...