Maybe.
Catholic News Service posted the following on X Monday morning:
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will hold a news conference Thursday to speak about “the spiritual experience of Medjugorje.” pic.twitter.com/qSKHspPLH3
— Catholic News Service Rome (@CatholicNewsSvc) September 16, 2024
Speakers will incude Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Monsignor Armando Matteo, Secretary for the Doctrinal Section of the same Dicastery, and Andrea Tornielli, Editorial Director of the Dicastery for Communication.
The first “apparitions” of the Virgin in the Bosnian town date back to 1981, when two young girls saw a “lady” standing on a small cloud near a hill.
The position of the Catholic Church has never been clear on the phenomena of Medjugorje, which over the years has become a destination of pilgrimage for thousands of faithful.
Pope Francis, in 2019, had decided to authorize such pilgrimages, but the Holy See had announced “further investigations.”
Last spring, Cardinal Fernández offered some indications of what may be coming:
Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández presented a new set of norms for evaluating the authenticity of Marian apparitions and other spiritual phenomena, saying a ruling on the famed occurrences in Medjugorje is still in the works.
Speaking to journalists during the May 17 presentation of the new norms, which stipulate that the Vatican will no longer deem apparitions or other similar spiritual events as ‘supernatural’ in nature, Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), said of Medjugorje, “we’ll see.”
“I haven’t read the material in the dicastery. I know some details, but we must study to arrive at a conclusion with these new norms,” he said.
Among other things, the new norms state that instead of ruling on the supernatural nature of apparitions or other similar phenomena, the DDF will now issue one of six possible rulings, the most positive being a declaration of Nihil obstat, or, “nothing stands in the way” of encouraging devotion.
They also include other rulings such as Prae oculis habeatur, “it should be kept in mind,” to be given in cases in which “positive signs are recognized” surrounding an alleged spiritual event, as well as “some aspects of confusion or potential risks.”
In this regard, Fernández reference to Medjugorje urged faithful to “Keep in mind that a phenomenon can be considered good, not dangerous at its origin, but it can have some problems in the later development.”
Stay tuned.
Photo: “…your local connection” whl travel / Flickr/ Creative Commons
