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After being open to the Apparitions of Medjugorje, Bishop
Zanic of Mostar changed his mind and turned against the Apparitions: mainly
for political reasons regarding the rivalry of the Bishop with the Franciscans.
Medjugorje is a Franciscan Parish. The Bishop is a diocesan priest.
Bishop Zanic, therefore, in 1986, through a Commission,
was about to declare the Apparitions non authentic. But the Holy See did
not like it.
Rome, through Cardinal Ratzinger, has therefore rejected
the negative conclusions of this first Commission and gave the jugement
to a new Commission under the authority of the Bishop's Conference of Yugoslavia.
This new Commission's chairman was not Bishop Zanic,
but Bishop Komarica of Banja Luka.
On November 21, 1990 Bishop Komarica comes to Medjugorje
and celebrates the evening Mass for the pilgrims. This, of course,
was a statement on his behalf: he wanted to encourage Medjugorje. In his
homily during this Mass Bishop Komarica said:
"The Commission acknowledges the good fruits of
Medjugorje."
On November 28, 1990 the Commission sends a private statement
to Rome saying that the investigations could not yet prove the authenticity
of the Apparitions at the time being, meaning that further investigations
were needed. Especially because a final judgment cannot be made until the
end of the Apparitions. This secret statement was published by the adversaries
of Medjugorje.
Then on April 11, 1991 in Zadar the Bishop's Conference
of Yugoslavia accepts Medjugorje as a place of prayer.
The new Bishop of Mostar Msgr. Peric has made declarations
in 1998 to the effect that he considers that Medjugorje was condemned by
the Church. Rome again intervened by a letter of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith saying that the declarations of the Bishop of Mostar
only reflect a personal opinion.
One should be directed to the declaration of Zadar, which
accepts Medjugorje as a place of pilgrimage and leaves the door open to
future investigations.
In the meanwhile Rome states strongly that private
pilgrimages with pastoral accompaniment for the faithful are permitted.
So let us conclude that pilgrims may go to Medjugorje
and do so in complete obedience to the Church.
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