Cardinal Víctor Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will lead a press conference on the “spiritual experience” of Medjugorje this Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Vatican.
The Vatican Press Office informed that at Thursday’s press conference on Medjugorje, which will take place at 11:30 a.m. local time, Fernández will be joined by Monsignor Armando Matteo, who serves as secretary to the dicastery’s Doctrinal Section, along with Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication.
The press conference is scheduled to be broadcast live on Vatican News’ YouTube page.
Although no additional details about the event have been released, the press conference is being held within the framework of the new “Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena,” published in May by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Since then, the Holy See has issued rulings on various alleged Marian apparitions and devotions.
What’s happening in Medjugorje?
The alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje (Bosnia-Herzegovina) began on June 24, 1981. Six children were said to have been the recipients of the Virgin’s messages, of which three say they continue receiving messages daily.
In January 2014, the then-Congregation — now 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 chief of the post office who would send messages every day,” without specifically mentioning Medjugorje.
Summarizing the content of the report, in 2017 Pope Francis indicated that the initial apparitions are something that “must continue to be investigated” while with regard to “presumed current apparitions, the report has its doubts.”
On that same occasion, the Holy Father pointed out “people go there and convert. People encounter God, change their lives.” This isn’t a result of “magic,” he said, but is a valid spiritual and pastoral fact that “can’t be ignored.”
Earlier that same year, the pontiff had appointed Bishop Henryk Hoser as “special envoy” to Medjugorje. When he died in 2021, he was replaced by Monsignor Aldo Cavalli.
Since May 2019, Pope Francis has officially authorized the organization of pilgrimages to Medjugorje while cautioning that such pilgrimages should avoid “creating confusion or ambiguity under the doctrinal aspect.”
In recent years, including 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, Pope Francis has also sent messages to youth festivals held at Medjugorje.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Walter Sanchez Silva is a senior writer for ACI Prensa. He has experience in researching and covering international ecclesiastical events such as World Youth Days (WYD) in Cologne 2005, Madrid 2011, and Rio 2013; the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Council in Aparecida; as well as the trips of Pope Benedict XVI in May 2007 to Brazil and in 2012 to Mexico. He covered Pope Francis' trip to South Korea in 2014 and the Synods of Bishops in the Vatican in 2015 (on the family) and 2019 (on the Amazon). He was also sent to cover the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and served as a field producer in Buenos Aires in 2013 for the documentary "Pope Francis: The Pope of the New World".
