Father Livio explains the meaning of Medjugorje and the pontificate of John Paul II

The ecclesial significance of Medjugorje acquires an even greater importance in the light of the pontificate of John Paul II, which has a Marian connotation, as had never happened before in the history of the Church. The attack, of which the Holy Father was the victim on May 13, 1981, particularly binds his person to Fatima. The gesture made by him to go on a pilgrimage to the Cova da Iria to deliver the bullet from which he had been hit to the Madonna, indicates the Pope's conviction that he had been saved from Mary's maternal intervention. In a certain sense it could be said that, having obtained the salvation of the Holy Father from God, the pontificate, starting from that 13 May, was more than ever placed under the light and guidance of the Mother of God and Church.

But it is precisely the month following the attack, on June 24, 1981, the feast of St. John the Baptist, that the apparitions of the Queen of Peace in Medjugorje begin. Since then it is as if the Holy Virgin has accompanied the tireless apostolic action of the Successor of Peter, calling the lost men along the paths of evil to conversion, awakening the faltering faith of many Christians and leading them, with infinite patience, to the very heart of the Christian experience, through prayer and the practice of the sacraments. Even some of the most successful pastoral initiatives of this pontificate, such as World Youth Day and that of families, have received extraordinary inspiration and impulse from Medjugorje.

And yet the Queen of Peace herself, in a message of 25 August 1991, to tie Medjugorje to Fatima. Our Lady asks for our help so that everything she wishes to accomplish according to the secrets started in Fatima can be accomplished. It is about the conversion of the world to God, the divine peace that will come as a consequence and the eternal salvation of souls. The Mother of God closes the message by urging us to understand the importance of her coming and the seriousness of the situation. Then he concludes: "I want to save all souls and offer them to God. Therefore, let us pray, so that everything that I begin can be fully realized".

With this message the Virgin embraces the last century of the second millennium. Time of darkness and fratricidal wars, persecutions and martyrdom, on which, however, Mary opens her maternal arms. John Paul II is part of this project as the Pope of Mary. He is the realizer par excellence of the Marian project. The very fall of communism and the consequent religious freedom in Eastern European countries, Russia in particular, would be incomprehensible without his courageous action and the moral strength that emanates from his figure. In Fatima Our Lady had heralded the triumph of her immaculate Heart, at the end of a long time of errors and wars. Can we say that this is happening? It is not easy to read the signs of the times. However, it is admirable to note that, with the beginning of the third millennium, it is towards this goal that the Queen of Peace turns our gaze, asking for our help. You say that it is impatient for the new world of peace to come true and for humanity to enjoy spring time soon. But precisely because this marvelous utopia materializes, John Paul TI consecrated the new millennium to Mary, so that men, having reached the crossroads of their history, choose the way of life and not of death, the way of peace and not of destruction.

Could there have been a more singular convergence of objectives between the Mother of the Church and the Successor of Peter? John Paul II led the Church to the threshold of the third millennium. Before entering, however, that October 7, 2000, in front of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, he wanted to consecrate it to his immaculate Heart. Can we say that it will be the millennium of Mary? Will our children see the rivers of divine peace flooding the earth? It will depend greatly on our response in this time of grace of the permanence of the Mother of God among us.