Now Here's An Interesting Item

"Vatican denounces group's claim of seeing the Virgin Mary more than 40,000 times as 'work of the devil'"

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:54 PM on 01st June 2008


"The Vatican has denounced a group who claim to have seen the Virgin Mary more than 40,000 times in the past 27 years.

"The six Bosnian 'seers' attract five million pilgrims a year to their home town of Medjugorje, providing a lucrative trade for local businesses.

"Hundreds of thousands travel there each year from Britain alone.

"But now one of the most respected voices in the Roman Catholic church has accused the visionaries of perpetuating a 'diabolical deceit'.

"Andrea Gemma, 77, a bishop and once the Vatican's top exorcist, told a magazine in Italy: 'In Medjugorje everything happens in function of money: Pilgrimages, lodging houses, sale of trinkets.

'This whole sham is the work of the Devil. It is a scandal.' He said the Vatican would soon crack down on the group.

"The Medjugorje phenomenon began on June 25, 1981, when six children told a priest they had seen the Virgin on a hillside near their town.

A church investigation dismissed the vision, and the Vatican banned pilgrimages to the site in 1985. But many Catholics ignored the ban.

"Today, the seers own smart houses with security gates and tennis courts and expensive cars. One is married to a former U.S. beauty queen.

"Catholic officials in the U.S. have recently banned the group from speaking on church property during their world tours, on which they allegedly take the Virgin with them."



Any comments?

Anybody want to tell their Medjugorje story?

Comments

  1. Anonymous5:25 PM

    I personally have no story, but I am going to trust the Vatican on this one. This world is full of people constantly searching for answers and I believe they cab be easily taken advantage of.\
    Darlene

    ReplyDelete
  2. From the text of the article...Bloody protestants strike again.

    No matter what "one of the most respected voices" says, it's not an official finding of the Vatican until that commission from, what, '06 announces it and that finding is reviewed.

    I really don't care one way or the other about Medjugorje, apparitions aren't my thing, I just start twitching when the secular press can't bother to find out what the @#$#@ they're talking about-- like that bloody "Vatican Announces New Sins!" story of a few months back.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:22 AM

    Why should we chase after any of these private revelations if we truly believe in the Eucharist.

    The stories of people seeing our mother on the side of a building or a cloud or the bark of a tree or in an oil spot on the driveway. They all make me wince.

    J

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:20 PM

    Ahhhh but what about the rosary and brown scapular?

    I agree we should not chase these crazy visions...however not all have been crazy now have they?
    Bible Babe

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:16 PM

    Good point Babe. The rosary being the second most powerful prayer after the Eucharist, and all.

    I suppose we let Mother Church tell us when things are coming from Mother Mary. This other unapproved stuff borders on gnosticism (I know great mysteries no-one else has access to), spiritual pride, and higher gas prices.

    J

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous3:21 PM

    What do Bible Babes do, anyhow?

    J

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous3:41 PM

    Do???

    "We are!"

    Bible Babe

    ps we comment on the "comments"

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'd guess that Bible Babes are pretty and religious. *shrug*

    BTW, J, don't group all "apparitions" in the same area-- it's much like any other modern miracle/religious occurrence.

    This is a good round-up of basic stuff:
    http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9810fea4.asp

    I would like to know why you think that belief in the Eucharist rules out apparitions?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous4:18 PM

    Oh Foxfier...you are SO right! We try to be humble, but.. well... we are working on that! Bible Babe

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous5:46 PM

    I'm not saying the Eucharist rules out apparitions. I'm saying there is no bigger ongoing miracle than the Eucharist.

    I'm down on reported apparitions until the Church approves them, because they tend to distract us from the source and summit of the Christian life. Bible Babes excepted.

    J

    ReplyDelete

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