Medjugorje: the true or false apparitions how to distinguish them?

The true or false apparitions, how to distinguish them?
Don Amorth replies

The history of the Church is punctuated by continuous Marian apparitions. What value do they have for the faith of Christians? How to distinguish the real ones from the fake ones? What does Mary mean to the man of today? Questions that make you think. Jesus was given to us through the Virgin. It is therefore no wonder that through Mary God God calls us to follow his Son. The Marian apparitions are a means which Mary uses to fulfill her mission as our Mother.

In our century, starting from the great apparitions of Fatima, one has the impression that the Madonna personally wants to bring her appeal to all continents. Mostly these are apparitions that transmit messages; sometimes they are Marian images that shed abundant tears, even tears of blood. I quote some examples: in Akita, Japan; in Cuepa, Nicaragua; in Damascus, Syria; in Zeintoun, Egypt; in Garabandal, Spain; in Kibeho, Rwanda; in Nayu, Korea; in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina; in Syracuse, Civitavecchia, San Damiano, the Tre Fontane and many other places in Italy.

What does Our Lady want to achieve? Its purpose is always to encourage men to do everything that Jesus said; it is clear that the apparitions add nothing to the revealed truths, but only recall them and apply them to actuality. We can summarize the contents in three words: diagnosis, remedies, dangers.

Diagnosis: man has given himself passively to sin; he remains inert before the duties he has towards God and unabashedly does not observe them. He needs to be shaken by this spiritual torpor to get back on the path of salvation.

Remedies: a sincere conversion is urgently needed; it needs the help of prayer, indispensable for being able to live righteously. The Virgin recommends in particular family prayer, the Rosary, reparatory communion. It recalls the works of charity and penance, such as fasting.

Dangers: humanity is on the brink of an abyss; scientists also tell us this when talking about the immense destructive power of weapons in the possession of states. But Our Lady does not make political questions: she speaks of the justice of God; it tells us that prayer can also stop war. Talk about peace, even if one way of peace is the conversion of entire nations. It seems that Mary is the great ambassador of God, charged with bringing misguided humanity back to Him, remembering that God is a merciful Father and that the evils do not come from Him, but it is men who procure them among themselves because, not recognizing God anymore they do not even recognize themselves as brothers. They fight instead of helping each other.

Of course, the theme of peace has wide space in Marian messages; but it is in function and consequence of an even greater good: peace with God, the observance of his laws, on which the eternal future of each depends. And that's the biggest problem. «May they no longer offend God Our Lord, who is already very offended»: with these words, pronounced with sadness, the Virgin Mary concluded the messages of Fatima, on October 13, 1917. The errors, the revolutions, the wars, are consequences of sin. At the end of that same month of October the Bolsheviks gained power in Russia and began the nefarious work of spreading atheism around the world.

Here are the two fundamental features of our century. The first characteristic of the modern world, according to the philosopher Augusto Del Noce, is the expansion of atheism. From atheism we easily pass to superstition, to the various forms of idolatry and occultism, magic, divination, witchcraft, oriental cults, satanism, sects ... And we pass to all depravations, bypassing all moral laws. Just think of the destruction of the family, which culminated with the approval of the divorce, and the contempt for life, legalized with the approval of the abortion. The second characteristic of our century, which opens to trust and hope, is precisely given by the multiplication of Marian interventions. God gave us the Savior through Mary and it is through Mary that he calls us back to himself.

Apparitions and faith. Faith is born from listening to the word of God. It is believed because it is God who has spoken and revealed realities that cannot be seen and can never have a scientific demonstration. On the other hand, what God has revealed has absolute certainty. To convey the truths to us, God has appeared many times and has truly spoken. What he said was not only passed down verbally, but was also written with the infallible assistance of the Holy Spirit. Thus we have Sacred Scripture, which fully reports divine revelation.

The beginning of the Letter to the Hebrews, which presents the Old and New Testaments, is solemn: "God, who in ancient times had spoken to our Fathers through the prophets, in a succession and variety of ways, in this end of time he spoke to us through his Son "(1,1-2). In the Bible there is the whole truth, all that is necessary for salvation and that is the object of our faith. The Church is the custodian of the word of God, spreads it, deepens it, applies it, gives it the right interpretation. But it doesn't add anything to it. Dante expresses this concept with the famous triplet: «You have the new and the old Testament, it is the pastor de la Chiesa who guides you; this is enough for your salvation "(Paradise, V, 76).

Yet God's mercy has continuously come to support our faith, supporting it with sensitive signs. The last beatitude pronounced by Jesus to the unbelieving Thomas is valid: "Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are those who, although they have not seen, will believe" (Jn 20,29:XNUMX). But the "signs" that the Lord has promised are equally valid, confirming the preaching, as well as answering the prayers. Among these signs I place the miraculous healings and liberations from the devil that accompanied the preaching of the apostles and of many holy preachers (St. Francis, St. Anthony, St. Vincent Ferreri, St. Bernardino of Siena, St. Paul of the Cross ...). We can remember the long series of Eucharistic miracles, confirming the real presence of Jesus in the sacred species. And we also understand the Marian apparitions, of which we register over nine hundred in these two thousand years of ecclesiastical history.

In general, in the places where an apparition took place, a shrine or a chapel was built, which have become destinations of pilgrimages, centers of prayer, of Eucharistic worship (the Madonna always leads to Jesus), opportunities for miraculous healings, but especially of conversions. The apparition is a direct contact with the afterlife; while not adding anything to the truths of faith, it reminds them and encourages their adherence. So feed that faith on which our behavior and destiny depend. Just think of the influx of pilgrims to the shrines, to understand how the Marian apparitions have a great pastoral relevance. They are a sign of Mary's concern for her children; they are certainly one of the ways used by the Virgin to fulfill her mission as our mother, which Jesus entrusted to her from the Cross.

True and false apparitions. Our century is characterized by a wide succession of authentic Marian apparitions, but it is also marked by a colluvian of false apparitions. On the one hand, there is a great ease of the people to rush to false seers or pseudo-charismatics; on the other, there is a preliminary tendency of the ecclesiastical authorities to label any possible manifestation of supernatural facts as false, even before any investigation. It is up to the ecclesiastical authority to discern these facts, which should be accepted "with gratitude and consolation", such as Lumen gentium, in n. 12, says for charisms. Instead, one has the impression that a preconceived unbelief is considered prudence. Typical is the case of the Patriarch of Lisbon who, in 1917, fought the apparitions of Fatima; only on his deathbed, two years later, he regretted having so opposed facts about which he had not assumed any information.

How to distinguish true from false apparitions? It is the task of the ecclesiastical authority which is obliged to pronounce itself only when it deems it appropriate; for which a large part is left to the intuition and freedom of the faithful. Most of the time the false apparitions are fires of straw, which go out on their own. Other times it turns out that there is deception, interest, manipulation, or that it all comes from some deranged or exalted mind. Even in these cases it is easy to draw conclusions. When, on the other hand, the participation of the people proves to be constant, growing for months and years, and when the fruits are good ("From the fruits you know the plant," says the Gospel), then things must be taken seriously.

But note well: the ecclesiastical authority may consider it appropriate to regulate the cult, that is, to guarantee religious assistance to pilgrims, without ruling on the initial charismatic fact. In any case, it would be a pronouncement that does not bind consciences. I take as a model the behavior of the Vicariate of Rome regarding the apparition of the Virgin at the Three Fountains. Since the participation of the people to pray in front of that cave was regular and growing, the Vicariate took steps to place stable priests, to regulate the cult and to provide pastoral service (masses, confessions, various functions). But he never had the concern to pronounce on the charismatic fact, if indeed the Madonna appeared to Cornacchiola.

Precisely because truths of faith are not in question, this is a field in which the faithful are free to act, based on their beliefs derived from the testimonies and the fruits. One is very free not to go to Lourdes and Fatima, and instead go to Medjugorje, Garabandal or Bonate. There is no place where going to pray is forbidden.

We can conclude. The Marian apparitions have no influence to add any new truth of faith, but have an immense influence to recall the evangelical teachings. Just think of the millions of people who attend the most famous sanctuaries, or the village crowds that crowd the smaller sanctuaries. One wonders what evangelical preaching would have been in Latin America if the apparitions of Guadalupe had not taken place; to what would the faith of the French without Lourdes, or of the Portuguese without Fatima, or of the Italians without the many sanctuaries of the Peninsula, be reduced.

These are questions that cannot fail to reflect. God gave us Jesus through Mary, and it is no wonder that through Mary he reminds us to follow the Son. I think that the Marian apparitions are one of the means that the Virgin uses to fulfill that mission of our Mother, a mission that continues "until all the families of the peoples, both those with the Christian name, and those who still ignore their Savior may they be happily united in peace and harmony in one people of God, for the glory of the most holy and indivisible Trinity "(Lumen gentium, n. 69).