An exorcist tells: The reasons that convince about Medjugorje

Don Gabriele Amorth: The reasons that convince about Medjugorje

One of the first and most direct witnesses of the "events of Medjugorje" narrates his experience on the most sensational Marian event of the last twenty years. - The current situation and the future of a reality lived as authentic by devotees from all over the world.

On June 24, 1981, the Virgin appeared to some boys from Medjugorje on an isolated hill called Podbrdo. The vision, very bright, frightened those young people who hurried to run away. But they could not refrain from reporting what happened to the family, so much so that the word spread immediately in those small villages that are part of Medjugorje. The following day the boys themselves felt an irresistible impulse to return to that place, accompanied by some friends and onlookers.

The vision reappeared, invited the young people to come closer and spoke to them. Thus began that series of apparitions and messages which continues still. Indeed, the Virgin herself wanted that June 25, the day she started speaking, to be remembered as the date of the apparitions.

Every day, punctually, the Virgin appeared at 17.45 pm. More and more the rush of devotees and onlookers swelled. The press reported what had happened, so much so that the news spread quickly.
In those years I was editor of Mother of God and of the fifty Marian magazines connected to it of the URM, the Marian Editorial Union, which still exists. I was part of the Marian Link, organizing various initiatives, also at national level. The most beautiful memory of my life is linked to the prominent part that I had in the years 1958-59, as promoter of the consecration of Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Basically, my position made me feel obliged to realize if the apparitions of Medjugorje were true or false. I studied the six boys to whom Our Lady was said to appear: Ivanka aged 15, Mirjana, Marja and Ivan aged 16, Vicka aged 17, Jakov aged just 10. Too young, too simple and too different from each other to invent such a play; moreover, in a fiercely communist country like Yugoslavia was then.

I add the influence that the opinion of the Bishop, Msgr. Pavao Zanic, who at that time had studied the facts, had convinced himself of the sincerity of the boys and was therefore prudently favorable. So it was that our magazine was one of the very first to write about Medjugorje: I wrote in October 1981 the first article that came out published in the December issue. Since then, I have traveled many times to the Yugoslav country; I wrote over one hundred articles, all the result of direct experience. I was always favored by P. Tomislav (who led the boys and the Movement that was growing more and more, while the parish priest, P. Jozo, was imprisoned) and by P. Slavko: they were precious friends for me, who always admitted me to attend the apparitions and they acted as interpreters with the boys and with the people I wanted to talk to.

Me, witness from the beginning

Don't think it was easy to go to Medjugorje. In addition to the length and difficulty of the journey to reach the town, it also had to do with the rigorous and picky passage of customs and with the blocks and searches by the patrols of the regime police. Our Roman group also had many difficulties in the early years.

But I especially point out two painful facts, which proved to be providential.

The Bishop of Mostar, Msgr. Pavao Zanic suddenly became a bitter opponent of the apparitions and remained so, as his successor is on the same line today. From that moment - who knows why - the police began to be more tolerant.

A second fact is even more important. In communist Yugoslavia, Catholics were allowed to pray only inside churches. Praying elsewhere was absolutely forbidden; Moreover, several times the police intervened to arrest or disperse those who went to the hill of the apparitions. This too was a providential fact, since thus the whole Movement, including the apparitions, moved from Mount Podbrdo to the parish church, thus being able to be regulated by the Franciscan Fathers.

In the early days, naturally inexplicable events took place to confirm the truthfulness of what the boys told: a large MIR (meaning Peace) sign remained in the sky for a long time; the frequent apparition of the Madonna next to the Cross on Mount Krisevac, clearly visible to all; phenomena of colored reflections in the sun, of which abundant photographic documentation is preserved….

Faith and curiosity contributed to spreading the messages of the Virgin, with particular interest in what most tickled the desire to know: there was constant talk of the "permanent sign" that would suddenly arise on Podbrdo, confirming the apparitions. And there was talk of the "ten secrets" that the Madonna was gradually revealing to young people and which, evidently, would concern future events. All this served to link the events of Medjugorje with the apparitions of Fatima and to see an extension of them. Nor were alarming rumors and false news missing.

Still, in those years, I found myself esteemed as one of the best informed on the "facts of Medjugorje"; I received constant calls from Italian and foreign groups asking me to specify what was true or false in the rumors that were spread. For the occasion I strengthened my already old friendship with the French Fr. René Laurentin, recognized by all as the best known Mariologist in the world, and who then went to Medjugorje many times and many books he wrote on the facts of which he became witness.

And I had many new friendships, and many persist, as do the various "Prayer Groups" raised by Medjugorje in all parts of the world. There are also various groups in Rome: the one I have led has lasted for eighteen years and always sees the participation of 700-750 people, on the last Saturday of each month, when we live an afternoon of prayer as we live in Medjugorje.

The thirst for news was such that, for a few years, in every issue of my monthly Mother of God I published a page entitled: The corner of Medjugorje. I know with certainty that it was very popular with readers and that it was regularly reproduced by other newspapers.

How to summarize the current situation

The messages of Medjugorje continue pressing, to encourage prayer, fasting, to live in the grace of God. Those who marvel at such insistence are blind to the current situation in the world and the dangers that lie ahead. The messages give confidence: "With prayer wars stop."

Regarding the ecclesiastical authorities, the following must be said: even if the current local bishop does not cease to insist on his unbelief, the provisions of the Yugoslav episcopate remain firm: Medjugorje is recognized as a center of prayer, where pilgrims have the right to find spiritual assistance in their languages.

Regarding the apparitions, there is no official pronouncement. And it is the most reasonable position, that which I myself had vainly suggested to Msgr. Pavao Zanic: distinguishing worship from the charismatic fact. In vain I presented him with the example of the Vicariate of Rome at the "Three Fountains": when the leaders of the diocese saw that people continued to flow more and more frequently to pray in front of the cave of the (true or presumed) apparitions, they placed friars Franciscans to ensure and regulate the exercise of worship, without ever bothering to declare whether the Madonna had really appeared to Cornacchiola. Now, it is true that Msgr. Zanic and his successor have always denied the apparitions in Medjugorje; while, on the contrary, Msgr. Frane Franic, Bishop of Split, where having studied them for a year has become a tenacious supporter.

But let's look at the facts. To date, over twenty million pilgrims have flown to Medjugorje, including thousands of priests and hundreds of bishops. The interest and encouragement of the Holy Father John Paul II is also known, as are the numerous conversions, liberations from the devil, healings.

In 1984, for example, Diana Basile was healed. Several times I found myself holding Conferences together with her, who sent 141 medical documents to the Commission established by the ecclesiastical Authorities to verify the facts of Medjugorje, to document her illnesses and her sudden recovery.

What happened in 1985 was also of great importance, as this had never happened before: two specialized medical commissions (one Italian, led by Dr. Frigerio and Dr. Mattalia, and a French one, chaired by Prof. Joyeux) submitted the boys during the apparitions, to analysis with the most sophisticated equipment available to science today; they concluded that "there was no evidence of any form of makeup and hallucination, and that there was no human explanation for any of the phenomena" to which the visionaries were subjected.

In that year, a personal event occurred to me that I consider relevant: while I was studying and writing more about the apparitions of Medjugorje, I had the highest recognition to which a Mariology scholar can aspire: the appointment as member of the 'Pontifical Marian International Academy' (PAMI). It was a sign that my studies were judged positively also from a scientific point of view.

But let's continue with the narration of the facts.

To spiritual fruits which the pilgrims received with such breadth in what is today, in fact, one of the most frequented Marian shrines in the world, important events were added: newspapers on Medjugorje in many countries; Prayer groups inspired by the Virgin of Medjugorje almost everywhere; a flourishing of priestly and religious vocations and the foundations of new religious communities, inspired by the Queen of Peace. Not to mention big initiatives, such as Radio Maria, which is becoming increasingly international.

If you ask me what future I foresee for Medjugorje, I answer that just go there and open your eyes. Not only the hotels or pensions have multiplied, but religious houses have been established there, charitable works have arisen (think, for example, of the 'Drugstore houses' of Sr. Elvira), buildings for spirituality conferences: all buildings initiatives that meet the requirements to prove stable and fully efficient.

In conclusion, to those who - like my successor in the current direction of the magazine Mother of God - ask me what I think of Medjugorje, I answer with the words of the evangelist Matthew: “You will recognize them by their fruits. Every good tree bears good fruit and every bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit "(Mt 7, 16.17).

There is no doubt that the messages of Medjugorje are good; the results of the pilgrimages are good, all the works that arose under the inspiration of the Queen of Peace are good. This can already be said with certainty, even if the apparitions continue, precisely because Medjugorje has probably not yet exhausted what it has to tell us.

Source: Marian monthly magazine "Mother of God"