There are endless fascinating aspects to the apparition site of Medjugorje, which the Vatican has been closely studying; with the Pope now gone, it's unknown how that may affect any future pronouncements.

As Cardinal Ratzinger, the Pope reportedly had paid at least three visits there, and was the one who took the matter out of the hands of a hostile local bishop (in May of 1986), though no one knows how he personally felt about it, nor of course how the next Pope will (dozens of cardinals and hundreds of bishops have visited). It recently has come to notice that his superior, John Paul II, who so actively, if discretely, promoted Medjugorje to visiting prelates, used to have his pilot fly over the hamlet, affording him the opportunity (the Pope told a Polish priest ) of blessing the village.

“I also go to Medjugorje, but do you know how I go there? When I am flying East, I always ask for the airplane to pass over Medjugorje. I see the Madonna there, from above, and bless Medjugorje,” Pope John Paul II said, according to Father Adamus Slawek, who said he was told this during a private lunch at the Vatican.

Might a statement be released before Benedict leaves?

Probably not. But no one knows? A report from the commission investigating it may not even have been presented yet to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was set to review it before any statement or action (if ever there was to be a statement or action). Might it come just before Benedict XVI becomes Cardinal Ratzinger again? The commission meets today (2/22/13) in Rome.

Whatever it finally says about the site, and whenever or if ever that comes to be, it is interesting that such an august Pope as John Paul II -- now up for sainthood -- felt this way about it (as did Mother Teresa).

We will adhere to whatever the Church might decide. We will be leading a pilgrimage there starting May 29, and look forward to it greatly, focusing as we will on  different, deeper aspects of the site than we ever have and praying extensively as a group in a way we have not seen before (on Apparition Hill, at the church, near the exuding statue, and atop the mountain for guidance and self-illumination, as well as discernment, when it comes to future world events). This time we are staying right near the church.

Until the recent tumble of issues at the Vatican, the speculation was that Medjugorje would be declared an official shrine while Church authorities made no direct determination on the apparitions themselves (which are ongoing).

It has always been interesting, the folks who say they experienced a self-illumination or "life review" while at Medjugorje.  It is something to pray for.

Meanwhile, the seers have said that the Church -- and presumably happenings within -- are a part of their reputed "secrets." "The first secret has to do with our church at Medjugorje," seer Vicka Ivanković-Mijatovic once told renowned French scholar Father René Laurentin and Ljudevit Rupčić.

"It has to do with the sign, humanity in general, and each person. The secrets speak of the Church in general. Some concern us personally, others the Church and the world."

In this vein it's always interesting to look back at the incredible book, Queen of the Cosmos, by Jan Connell, that had interviews with all six visionaries.

An amazing interview it was that Jan, a prolific lawyer, conducted with Vicka. Keep in mind that Vicka was born in September of 1964. She is 48 years old. You will shortly see why that's relevant:

Vicka, some of these messages at Medjugorje involve chastisements for the sins of the world, don't they?

Yes. The Blessed Mother said there will be punishments for the sins of the world.

Do you know anything about the end times, the apocalypse?

No, nothing.

Should people be afraid?

Not if they are prepared. If we are afraid of these kinds of things, we don't have confidence in God. Fear of this kind does not come from God. It can only come from Satan who wants to disturb us, so that we close ourselves to God and are not able to pray. With God, you can only have confidence and strength to go through any troubles.

How do we prepare?

The best preparation is to pray every day, go to Mass, and read the Bible. With prayer and penance the chastisements can be substantially lessened. I can only say: prepare. For all eternity, you will thank God if you do.

Will God's mercy stop at some point?

If we are open to the Lord's Mercy, it never stops. If you don't want God's Mercy, it stops for you.

When the permanent sign comes in Medjugorje, will it be too late for many to convert?

Yes.

Will the permanent sign happen in your lifetime?

Yes.

What happens to those who don't really believe enough right now to convert and want to wait until the permanent sign comes?

For those people, it will be too late.

[resources: Medjugorje pilgrimage, Michael Brown: purification, future, self-illumination and The Last Apparition and Queen of the Cosmos] 

[Healing song from Medjugorje]

[Note: When it comes to signs, we do not, however, tempt the Lord (Jonah 11:29)]

[Further note: How did Benedict feel about Medjugorje? While he removed the local bishop from any authority over the matter, placing it in the hands of a national commission, in 1986, this was after the bishop was found meddling with the vote on his own local commission. Previous to that, a lieutenant to Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop Alberto Bovone, reportedly asked Italian bishops to discourage the organization of pilgrimages there "and all other forms of propaganda for Medjugorje." When asked about Medjugorje, Ratzinger, unlike John Paul II, replied with total silence. Some say that privately he leaned its way, others that he had expressed disapproval with the way one or more of the seers were conducting matters. He made an unusual comment about the solar miracle at Fatima in his commentary upon release of the third secret in 2000 (making some wonder if he fully believed in it, from a scientific standpoint), but he certainly believed in the Fatima apparitions themselves, as well as Lourdes, to which he seemed to have a devotion, and in private remarks to a Filipino ambassador seemed also to put some credence in supernatural events at Akita in Japan. In a book, God and the World, he expressed the fact that he often had difficulty finishing a Rosary.]

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