By Walter Sánchez Silva, Nicolás de Cárdenas
Cardinal Víctor Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will chair a press conference on the “spiritual experience” of Medjugorje next Thursday, September 19 at the Vatican.
The Vatican Press Office reported that that day, at 11:30 (local time), the cardinal will hold the press conference on Medjugorje, accompanied by Mons. Armando Matteo, secretary for the Doctrinal Section of the aforementioned dicastery; and Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication.
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The press conference will be broadcast live on the Youtube de Vatican News.
Although no further details of the event have been released, this press conference takes place within the framework of the new Rules to proceed in the Discernment of alleged natural phenomenapublished by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, published in May of this year. Since then, the Holy See has ruled on various Marian apparitions, authorizing their devotion.
What happens in Medjugorje?
The alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje (Bosnia – Herzegovina) began on June 24, 1981. Six children would have been the recipients of the Virgin’s messages, of which three say they continue receiving messages daily.
In January 2014, the then Congregation – today the Dicastery – for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded a report requested by Pope Francis who, in November 2013, stated that the Virgin “is not a head of the post office, to send messages every day,” without specifically mentioning Medjugorje.
In 2017, summarizing the content of the report, Pope Francis assured that the initial apparitions are something that “must continue to be investigated,” while regarding the current ones “the report has its doubts.”
On the other hand, he acknowledged that there is a “spiritual” and “pastoral fact” in the place that “cannot be denied,” and that many experience conversions, but he expressed that “there is no magic wand for this.”
A few months earlier, the Pontiff appointed Bishop Henryk Hoser as “special envoy” to Medjugorje. When he died in 2021 he was replaced by Bishop Aldo Cavalli.
Since May 2019, Pope Francis has officially authorized the organization of pilgrimages, indicating that such pilgrimages must be “prevented from creating confusion or ambiguity regarding the doctrinal aspect.”
In the years 2020, 2021 and 2023, Pope Francis has sent messages on the occasion of the Youth Festival held there.
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.
Nicholas de Cardenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish husband and father and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specializing in sociopolitical and religious information. I have worked for more than 10 years in defense of human rights and have accreditations in Journalism and Comprehensive Communication. Since July 2022, I have been a correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.