Don Amorth: I immediately believed in the apparition of Medjugorje

Question: When did Am Amorth become interested in the apparitions of Our Lady in Medjugorje?

Answer: I could answer: immediately. Just think that I wrote my first article on Medjugorje in October 1981. Then I continued to deal with it more and more intensely, so much so that I wrote over one hundred articles and three books in collaboration.

Q. Did you immediately believe the apparitions?

R.:No, but I immediately saw that these were serious facts, worthy of being investigated. As a professional journalist specializing in Mariology, I felt compelled to become aware of the facts. To demonstrate how I immediately saw myself facing serious and worthy episodes of study, it is enough to think that, when I wrote that first article of mine, Bishop Zanic ', bishop of Mostar, on whom Medjugorje depends, was decidedly favorable. Then he became fiercely opposed, as is his successor, whom he himself first requested as Auxiliary Bishop.

Q .: Have you been to Medjugorje many times?

R.: In the early years, yes. All my writings are the result of direct experience. I had learned about the six seer boys; I had made friends with Father Tomislav and later with Father Slavko. These had acquired full confidence in me, so they made me participate in the apparitions, even when every stranger was excluded, and they acted as an interpreter to speak with the boys, who at the time did not yet know our language. I also questioned the people of the parish and the pilgrims. I have deepened some extraordinary healings, in particular that of Diana Basile; I followed very closely the medical studies that were done on the visionaries. These were exciting years for me also due to the many acquaintances and friendships I had with Italian and foreign people: journalists, priests, leaders of prayer groups. For a time I was considered one of the main experts; I received constant calls from Italy and abroad, to give updates and to sift the true news from the false ones. At that time I strengthened my friendship with Father René Laurentin even more, esteemed by all as the main living Mariologist, and far more deserving of me to have deepened and spread the facts of Medjugorje. I also do not hide a secret hope: that in order to evaluate the truth of the apparitions, a commission of international experts would be assembled, to which I hoped to be called together with Father Laurentin.

Q .: Have you known the visionaries well? Which of them do you feel most in tune with?

R.:I have spoken with all of them, except with Mirjana, the first to whom the apparitions ceased; I always had the impression of total sincerity; none of them had mounted their heads, on the contrary, they had only reasons for suffering. I also add a curious detail. In the first months, until Msgr. Zanic 'showed himself in favor of the apparitions, the communist police had behaved very harshly towards the visionaries, towards the priests of the parish and towards the pilgrims. When instead Msgr. Zanic 'became a decided opponent of the apparitions, the police became much more tolerant. It was a great asset. Over the years my relationship with the boys has died out, except with Vicka, the one I also kept on contacting afterwards. I like to remember that my main contribution to getting to know and make Medjugorje known was the translation of a book that will always remain one of the fundamental documents: "A thousand encounters with the Madonna". This is the narration of the first three years of apparitions, resulting from a long series of interviews between the Franciscan father Janko Bubalo and Vicka. I worked on the translation together with the Croatian father Massimiliano Kozul, but it was not a simple translation. I also went to Father Bubalo to clarify many passages that were obscure and incomplete.

D .: Many expected that the lucky boys would consecrate themselves to God. Instead five of them, therefore except Vicka, got married. Wasn't it a disappointment?

A .: In my opinion they did very well to get married, since they felt inclined to marriage. Ivan's seminary experience was a failure. The boys often asked Our Lady what they should do. And Our Lady invariably replied: “You are free. Pray and decide freely. " The Lord wants everyone to make us saints: but for this there is no need to live a consecrated life. In every state of life one can sanctify oneself and everyone does well to follow his inclinations. Our Lady, continuing to appear also to married boys, clearly demonstrated that their marriage did not constitute an obstacle to relations with her and with the Lord.

D .: You have repeatedly stated that you see a continuation of Fatima in Medjugorje. How do you explain this relationship?

A .: In my opinion the relationship is very close. The apparitions of Fatima constitute the great message of Our Lady for our century. At the end of the First World War, he says that if the Virgin had not followed what was recommended, a worse war would have begun under the pontificate of Pius XI. And there has been. Then he went on to ask for the consecration of Russia to his Immaculate Heart, if not ... It was perhaps made in 1984: late, when Russia had already spread its errors throughout the world. Then there was the prophecy of the third secret. I do not stop there, but I only say that it has not yet been achieved: there is no sign of Russia's conversion, no sign of sure peace, no sign of the final triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In these years, especially before this Pope's trips to Fatima, the message of Fatima had been almost shelved; the calls of the Madonna had been rejected; meanwhile, the general situation of the world was worsening, with a continuous growth of evil: loss of faith, abortion, divorce, prevailing pornography, the course of various forms of occultism, especially magic, spiritualism, satanic sects. A new push was indispensable. This came from Medjugorje, and then from other Marian apparitions around the world. But Medjugorje is the pilot apparition. The message points, as in Fatima, to the return to Christian life, to prayer, to sacrifice (there are many forms of fasting!). It focuses decisively, as in Fatima, on peace and, as in Fatima, it contains war dangers. I believe that with Medjugorje the message of Fatima has regained strength and there is no doubt that the pilgrimages to Medjugorje go beyond and integrate the pilgrimages to Fatima, and have the same purposes.

Q .: Are you expecting a clarification from the Church on the occasion of the twenty years? Is the theological commission still operating?

A .: I don't expect anything at all and the theological commission sleeps; on my wall it is completely useless. I believe that the Yugoslav episcopate has already said the last word when it recognized Medjugorje as a place of international pilgrimage, with the commitment that pilgrims find religious assistance (Masses, confessions, preaching) in their languages. I wish to be clear. It is necessary to distinguish between the charismatic fact (the apparitions) and the cultural fact, that is, the coming of pilgrims. At one time the ecclesiastical authority did not pronounce on the charismatic fact, except in case of cheating. And in my opinion there is no need for a pronouncement which, moreover, does not commit to being believed. If Lourdes and Fatima had not been approved, they would have the same influx. I admire the example of the Vicariate of Rome, regarding the Madonna delle Tre Fontane; it is a behavior that copies the methods of the past. A commission has never been assembled to verify whether the Madonna really appeared at Cornacchiola or not. People went to pray insistently at the cave, for which it was considered a place of worship: entrusted to the Conventual Franciscans, the Vicar was concerned that the pilgrims would receive religious assistance, Mass, confession, preaching. Bishops and cardinals celebrated in that place, with the sole concern of praying and making people pray.

Q .: How do you see the future of Medjugorje?

A .: I see it in growing development. It was not only the reception houses, such as guesthouses and hotels, that multiplied; but stable social works have also multiplied, and their construction is growing. Moreover, the good that derives from the pilgrims of Medjugorje is a fact that I have observed in all these twenty years. Conversions, healings, liberations from evil evils, are not counted and I have many testimonies. Because I too lead a prayer group in Rome where, on the last Saturday of each month, one experiences an afternoon as it is in Medjugorje: Eucharistic adoration, explanation of the last message of Our Lady (which I always refer to passage of the Gospel), rosary, Holy Mass, recitation of the Creed with the seven Pater, characteristic Ave Gloria, final prayer. 700 - 750 people always participate. After my explanation of the message, there is room for testimonials or questions. Well, I have always noticed this characteristic of those who go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje, everyone receives what they need: a particular inspiration, a confession that gives a turn to life, a sign now almost insignificant and sometimes miraculous, but always in accordance with the need the person.