Medjugorje, “reality-tele-visions” and the cruel absence of pastoral care

By Louis Bélanger

"The undersigned physicians also recommend that the apparitions take place only in the presence of responsible priests, with the exclusion of any form of public presence. This is, not only to render the spiritual atmosphere more adequate, but also to eliminate any reinforcement of a suggestive type." - In science and conscience. Varese, January 12, 1986

"..The visionaries are exposed or expose themselves to an enormous pressure from the media and the pilgrims who desire to meet and touch them before, during and after the so-called apparitions of the “Gospa”.

The pastoral personnel of Medjugorje with the complicity of other priests, bishops and even cardinals all over the world bear an important part of responsibility for that pastoral mess.

They ignored and are still ignoring the professional warnings and recommendations signed by an international team of three medical doctors and two pastoral psychiatrists and sent to the Bishop of Mostar, to Frs. Slavko Barbaric and Tomislav Vlasic, to the Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and to Pope John-Paul II, in 1986..."

"...In spite of the documented proofs of falsifications of historical documents concerning the Lady of Medjugorje and of the enlightened conviction of the legitimate and competent authority, Mgr Ratko Peric, expressed in his constat de non supernaturalitate, the Medjugorje Franciscans have indeed mobilized misinformed priests, bishops, cardinals and millions of faithful, with the power of lies, a political agenda and a tremendous amount of money.

14 years ago, the Ordinary of Mostar expressed his hope that the Holy See would establish a Commission that should give a final judgement on the Medjugorje case. His voice has only been heard last year. What happened?..." (continued)

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• Medjugorje, “reality-tele-visions” and the cruel absence of pastoral care

Medjugorje - The construction of the “Lady of Medjugorje”

From Louis Bélanger:

"..For now, let us be reminded that Medjugorge’s promoters and critics do agree on the formulation of the said Norms and on the need to enact them with a certain rigour.

Let us be reminded also that the competent ecclesiastical authority was able to acquire more certainty on the Medjugorje phenomenon and that it proceeded to render a decision of “non constat de supernaturalitate” in 1986, reaffirmed in 1991, and still valid in 2010.

Yet Medjugorje promoters apparently do not want to understand what “non constat” does mean. According to them, the 24-year old decision was and should be of “constat de supernaturalitate”. The protagonists-promoters-players behave as if the Virgin Mary is appearing in Medjugorje… and in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, with the benevolent permission of Cardinal Schönborn.

Unfortunately, while knowing the rules of the game and showing the apparent intention to apply them, key protagonists-promoters-players have engaged in duplicity by breaking them so seriously that their credibility has to be questioned. Attached to the non constat is a precise pastoral directive that has been first published in 1987:

“it is not permitted to organize either pilgrimages or other religious manifestations based on an alleged supernatural character attributed to Medjugorje’s events.”
The Hidden Side of Medjugorje, p. 140

I repeat: —  religious manifestations — based on an alleged supernatural character — attributed to Medjugorje’s events.

Is it not clear that each of the religious manifestations organized with or without the visionaries in Medjugorje with the Lady of Medjugorje presented as the supernatural character “Gospa” constitutes a mighty coup de force [takeover by force] against the competent authority that formulated the directive? One is looking already to a religious war here…"

*snip*

The credibility of the Lady of Medjugorje (LoM)

The credibility of the LoM has been tainted a few times over the first days, in particular when she “spoke” of incredulous Judases. We know that Fr. Svetozar Kraljevic and the theologian Mark Miravalle have tried to “help” her as they corrected incredulous and changed it for the adjective unfaithful. Moreover historian René Laurentin changed the name of Judas into Thomas because, as he told me in a 1988-08-04 telephone conversation: « un historien doit tenir compte des lapsus » [“an historian must take lapsus into account”].


But the credibility of the LoM is most questionable when she overrides her announcement of her apparitions’ termination for the 3^rd of July, 1981, by continuing to manifest herself during the following days. That breach of truthfulness and coherence seemed too “human”. One had to correct that blunder. Consequently, the pastoral personnel and René Laurentin, among other promoters, decided to silence the mistake of the LoM. I will show it very soon with the help of authentic documents that reveal the historical falsification...

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Medjugorje : The Grand Concealment

From Louis Bélanger's blog Medjupedia:

“Three more days!”

Mica IVANKOVIC: Then only Mirjana asked: “At what time?” She [the Gospa] said: “At the same time!” Then Mirjana asked again how many more times she would appear. She said: “Three more times!”

? (most probably Father KOSIR): Who said that?

ONE of the visionaries: The Gospa.

? (most probably Father KOSIR): Which of you said that?

MIRJANA (most probably): I.

?:… (incomprehensible). Ivo Sivric’s remark: Everyone is talking at once.

Father ZOVKO: Well, this interests me. “Three more times!” Well, when is all this going to end?

ALL the visionaries (in unison): On Friday.

Mica IVANKOVIC: Later on they said: “On Friday.”

Father ZOVKO: Where is it going to end on Friday?

JAKOV: In the church.

MIRJANA: Except perhaps if the Gospa tells us that she would prefer to appear on the hillside on the last day…

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New Blog About Medjugorje - "Medjupedia" by Louis Bélanger

My name is Louis Bélanger. I was born in Quebec City in 1941. After my studies in humanities and political science (International relations) at Université Laval in Quebec City, I pursued my research in psychology and parapsychology at Freiburg University in West Germany (1968-1974). In 1975, I began conducting the study of paranormal phenomena while teaching at the Faculty of Theology of the Université de Montréal and at the Department of religious studies of the Université du Québec à Montréal. I retired in 2005.

My visit to Medjugorje

In 1984, I watched a French TV documentary suggesting that the Virgin Mary was appearing daily to youngsters in Yugoslavia.

These encounters claiming a transcendent source caught my attention some 40 months after they began. My mother had just died. Profound grief left me unable to pray. Would Our Heavenly Mother deign to aid me in my agonizing grief?

In January, 1985, I went to Medjugorje with a “declaration of intent” that I presented to the Franciscan parish personnel and to the Bishop of Mostar, Mgr Pavao Zanic…

You can read the continuation of that story in Medjupedia, a new Blog launched in May 2010 where I invite the readers to get acquainted with my itinerary which led to the publication of The Hidden Side of Medjugorje. The book wishes to be a faithful exposé of contradictions, ambiguities and misleading conduct, all established at the time of our research.

See Louis in the above video. 

Hence the motto as an epigraph to Medjupedia of which I reproduce, here, the complete quotation:

From now on, no more lying:
that each one speak the truth to his neighbor;
aren’t we members of one another?

Ephesians, 4, 25

Read more at his blog MEDJUPEDIA 
http://en.louisbelanger.com/

Why, since 1986, is the Lady of Medjugorje not considered to be the Virgin Mary? – 1) An itinerary

By: Louis Bélanger

On March 17th, 2010, the Holy See Press Office has announced the creation of a Fourth Commission of inquiry on Medjugorje by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

There seems to be something very peculiar with this case of alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six Croatian visionaries since 1981.

A verdict that was so evident to the diocesan Church authority, 24 years ago in Mostar, is re-examined by the highest authorities of the universal Church, today in Rome.

What has made the situation apparently so complex, and the critical observers so perplexed?
In the weeks and months ahead, this new website will try to unloosen the Medjugorjean knot by throwing some light on the complex Medjugorje problem and first by taking my own itinerary into account.

Personal background

My name is Louis Bélanger. I was born in Quebec City in 1941. After my studies in humanities and political science (International relations) at Laval University in Quebec City, I pursued my research in psychology and parapsychology at Freiburg University in West Germany (1968-1974). In 1975, I began conducting the study of paranormal phenomena while teaching at the Faculty of Theology of the Université de Montréal and at the Department of religious studies of the Université du Québec à Montréal. I retired in 2005.

My visit to Medjugorje

In 1984, I watched a French TV documentary suggesting that the Virgin Mary was appearing daily to youngsters in Yugoslavia.

These encounters claiming a transcendent source caught my attention some 40 months after they began. My mother had just died. Profound grief left me unable to pray. Would Our Heavenly Mother deign to aid me in my agonizing grief?

In January, 1985, I went to Medjugorje with a “declaration of intent” that I presented to the Franciscan parish personnel and to the Bishop of Mostar, Mgr Pavao Zanic.

I come to Medjugorje, not motivated by faith but rather in the spirit of scientific research. The Bishop’s firm position on alleged collective hallucinations doesn’t prevent me of having a favourable bias toward the possibility of authentic phenomena at the beginning of the events (luminous phenomena, ecstatic behaviour).

I do not side with the Franciscans nor the Bishop and I wish to meet them in a spirit of research.
I am interested in the physics, the physiology, the psychology and the parapsychology of the apparitions. In that perspective, I am highly interested in the field reports that have been written by scientists who have observed and tested the visionaries and I would like to have access to their research material.

If those scientific disciplines can not explain the observed phenomena, one will have to consider a possible “transcendent” dimension that has to be respected, even if the scientific rules can not allow the researcher to pronounce a judgement on that dimension.

Medjugorje - January 1985

The village was enveloped in a Siberian winter, as was all of the Bosnia-Herzegovina region in which Medjugorje lies.

In that desert of ice, I mixed with a few stalwart pilgrims and other scattered faithful. While filming the visionaries, I searched closely for signs of their ecstasy, but seemed only to see that they were adept at keeping up the appearances demanded by their newfound roles...

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