Showing posts with label Sarajevo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarajevo. Show all posts

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Lombardi Confirms: No Decision on Medjugorje on Sarajevo Trip

(Rome) In connection with the announced pastoral visit by Pope Francis to Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, there was speculation that the Pope would visit Medjugorje on this occasion. In the Herzegovinian village, the Virgin Mary has  "appeared" since 1981.  The speculations have now been denied by   Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
When asked by the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) Lombardi made ​​it clear that there was "no connection" between the trip and the place of pilgrimage not recognized by the church. The Vatican spokesman is quoted as saying: "The Pope has said that he will travel to Sarajevo, not that he will travel to Medjugorje".

"I do not know if and when there will be an explanation of Medjugorje"

Father Lombardi also commented on further speculation  that Francis could occasion his visit to Sarajevo to make a final decision for the Church on the Medjugorje phenomenon. Such has been expected for a year (see Is Pope Francis in Sarajevo decision to Medjugorje? ). The Vatican spokesman said: "I have no idea if and when there will be an explanation of Medjugorje".
Translated it means that there will be no decision on Medjugorje in connection with the planned visit of Pope Francis to Sarajevo for June 6. Church law continues to defer to the decision of the competent local bishops that deny the supernatural aspects of the place.  The pilgrims in the Herzegovinian mountain village seem to do no harm. Inner Ecclesiastically it appears that Rome had not made a decision, are generally being  very tolerant in the handling of the phenomenon.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons
Trans; Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Will Pope Francis Make a Decision on Medjugorje in Sarajevo?

(Rome) During the Angelus on Sunday   Pope Francis announced a  visit this coming June 6th in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Will the Catholic Church leader to announce a decision on the phenomenon of Medjugorje?
The Pope is quoted as saying, according to Vatican Radio : "On Saturday 6th June I will - God willing - to travel to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. I ask you all for your prayers so that my visit will be there to encourage  Catholics, the leaven of good and a contribution to greater brotherhood and peace. And also for inter-religious dialogue, friendship."
Medjugorje was not mentioned by the Pope, but there is presently a tense expectation that the Pope could announce a final decision on the "apparitions". A decision is expected in a year.

Sarajevo and World History

Sarajevo went down in history as the scene of the assassination of the Austrian and Hungarian Crown Prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. An assassination which was the immediate cause of the First World War. Sarajevo is also the  scene of a civil war between Orthodox Serbs, Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats, begun in  1991, in the wake of World War I, the artificial   state of Yugoslavia broke apart. Sarajevo today is also the capital of Herzegovina, in a once nondescript, but today is a most well-known spot. Not far from Mostar, situated in the mountains is the Catholic village of Medjugorje, a synonym for unrecognized "apparitions" in the Church, which has led pilgrims now for three decades to a largely unknown part of Europe.

Church has Denied the Supernaturalism of the Medjugorje Phenomenon

The two  ecclesiastical judgments on the "apparitions" carried out once through the competent bishop, and then by the bishops of Yugoslavia  are still negative. The competent bishops according to canon law,  were in agreement to deny the  supernatural character of the phenomenon. A judgment is valid until revoked in the Church. Under Pope Benedict XVI. the matter of Rome was investigated in 2010 by a separate commission of inquiry headed by Camillo Cardinal Ruini, who interviewed numerous witnesses, including also examining the "seers" and all available documents.  Although the Commission completed its work in late 2012, so far no result has been announced. The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI., who expressed  a detached attitude to the phenomenon, intervened.

For a Year the Medjugorje File is on the Pope's Desk 

A year ago, Cardinal Ruini was received by Pope Francis and presented the new pope the final report of the Commission of Inquiry. Francis gave the still secret report to the CDF. A few days before Cardinal Ruini, the Pope interviewed the Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic.
In the fall of 2013, the prefect of the CDF, then Cardinal Gerhard Müller, gave the US bishops statement not to tolerate any events within the Church, where the supernatural character of the Medjugorje phenomenon was claimed.  It was the reason the tour  of "seer" Ivan Dragicevic to the United States was subsequently canceled.

Unofficial Papal Distancing?

Pope Francis has not officially taken a position on Medjugorje. What unofficially became known indicates major restraint. On September 7, 2013, the Pope said in his morning sermon in Santa Marta, there could be "no Christians without Christ".   Here, the Catholic Church leader criticized Christians who cling to "apparitions" and would "look for something special." As far as the Pope's words were in the summaries of Vatican Radio and Osservatore Romano played.Has not been published, that the Pope called as a concrete example of what has been said, Medjugorje and added that the revelation was completed, however, with the New Testament.
Two months later, Francis said during his morning sermon on November 14: "The curiosity drives us to want to hear that the Lord is here or there; or allows us to say, 'But I know a seer, a prophetess, who has letters from the Mother of God, receives messages from the Mother of God'. But the Blessed Mother is a mother! She is not the leader of a post office to send daily messages. Remove these innovations of the gospel, of peace and of the wisdom of the glory of God, of the beauty of God."  The Pope's criticism of the addiction for publication was taken by observers in conjunction with Medjugorje,  and the previously-known and numerous" places of publication, "where" messages "are disseminated on an assembly line. But in Medjugorje  they now number into the tens of thousands.
Since then, Francis has made no more statements that may be directly or indirectly related to the Herzegovinian town.  What is in the final report and what it really means for the Medjugorje phenomenon, is unforeseeable, since there are conflicting signals.
Shortly before his election as Pope  Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio gave the faithful of his archdiocese Buenos Aires permission to participate in the 4th and 6th March 2013, performances by Ivan Dragicevic. More than 15,000 Argentines took advantage of this opportunity to see this "seer" and  whose performance, a year and a  half  later was warned about by the CDF warned
The consent of the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires was explained  because a Herzegovinian Franciscan, Father Berislav Ostojic, had been Bergoglio's confessor since 2010. Medjugorje is supervised by Herzegovinian Franciscans who from the beginning have been as  local priests and spiritual fathers of the "seers", in direct contact with the Medjugorje phenomenon.
That Francis may use his stop in the country in which the phenomenon has occurred for more than three decades, to announce a final decision of the Church, but is expected to be rather unlikely.  Rather, what prevails as seems currently to be the motto in Rome that no decision is the "best" decision.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image Secretum meum mihi
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG







Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Cardinal Puljic Must Vacate Residence-- Sarajevo Court Upholds Communist Decision: Croatia in an Uproar

(Sarajevo)  In the past 17th of November there was a final judgement by the Bosnian-Herzegovinan Federal Government in Sarajevo, has ordered the vacation of the residence of the Archbishop of Vrhbosna-sarajevo, Vinko Cardinal Puljuic, from the Episcopal Palace.  The residence, the property of the Curia, was confiscated in the past by the Communist regime, to house there Communist or Muslim spies, according to Corrispenza Romana.

During the Bosnian war the Cardinal was again in occupation of the residence.  Not just the residence, but the entire Palace was bugged with listening devices, including the bedroom of the Cardinal.  The widow and the other relatives of the last, Communist spy, who had continued to live in the residence and has died, complained to the court and demanded the return of the residence.  15 years after the reinstatement to the rightful owner, the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna-Sarajevo, the Federal Government of Sarajevo unexpectedly ruled in favor of the widow which was in transgression of every fundamental law.  On the 17th of November the court decided that the Archdiocese, which which had been stolen by the Communist regime and given to a Communist Agent, must now deliver it to his widow.  At the same time, the court has ordered Cardinal Puljic to leave the residence.  The Cardinal has stoutly replied that he will not leave the residence.

The Croatian Press in Bosnia, the Herzegovina and Croatians have been in an uproar since the judgment.  A wave of protest has gripped Croatia.  There are voices, who are speaking in preparation of a Croatian mass demonstration in Sarajevo, to which Croatians will come from all of their accustomed areas to gather in the Bosnian Capital.

This renewed attack on the Catholics of Croatia in Bosnia-Herzegovina are met with general silence by the  international community of nations, which holds Bosnia-Herzegovina in a protective status.  Cardinal Puljic protests to the high representatives of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, against the judgment.  The  Kärntner Slovene explained simply that it can do nothing.  A witness to the Cardinal's consequent discussion with a Slovenian Bishop along with Inzko has encouraged heavy condemnations to the UN-delegation and EU-special agent against this act of piracy.

Inzko works as the higher representative with plenary powers in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Against every form of open rights violations or discriminating judgments he can intervene directly and immediately, and officially remove those responsible from their offices, be they civil servants, mayors, judges or even ministers.

These plenary powers are in any case never invoked in the case of decisions related to political questions, behind them the Muslim party of the Democratic Alliance (SDA) stands, as they are permitted by corresponding directives from the American Government.  The SDA is the strongest party in Bosnia since 1990 and has formed all of the governments.  The Catholic Croatians with some 17 percent are not only the smallest of the three Bosnia-Herzegovina populations and religious communities united by force, but they are certainly the most discriminated against.

(Corrispondenza Romana/Giuseppe Nardi, Bild: de.academic.ru)

Also reported on,  here. 

Translated from katholisces...