With priest gone, what will happen at Medjugorje?
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The death of Father Slavko Barbaric, long-time spiritual director at the famous Catholic apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, has raised questions about whether the local bishop, long antagonistic to the situation, will bring a new assault against claims that the Virgin Mary is appearing there.
The bishop, Ratko Peric, has been denouncing the apparitions since taking office and before that served as a chief consultant to Bishop Pavao Zanic, who had originally believed in the apparitions but soured on the situation after an unrelated dispute between the diocesan office and Franciscans, who oversee the parish at Medjugorje.
Father Slavko, a psychotherapist, was sent to Medjugorje in 1983 and turned into an avid believer in the events, wrote extensively about the messages, and became spiritual director to all six seers, as well as coordinator for the liturgies attended by million of pilgrims from around the world -- mainly Catholic but also Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim as well.
According to a well-placed source, Slavko had been under pressure from the bishop to leave Medjugorje and last summer confided that he would take his fight to the Vatican. His death opens the possibility of further attack against Medjugorje, which like Fatima and Lourdes has been criticized as everything from a hoax to hallucination or a demonic deception.
In 1987 Bishop Zanic moved to formally condemn the site, but his authority to rule on the matter was taken away by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the Vatican's Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in a move that saved the apparitions.
Since that time the local bishop has not been authorized to rule on Medjugorje. The issue is currently in the hands of a commission of bishops that has not been publicly active since the beginning of warfare in Bosnia in the early 1990s. (Its only statement left the matter open and neither rejected nor condemned the apparitions, saying only that there was thus far no official proof of the supernatural.)
Father Slavko kept an even hand on the keel and guided Medjugorje through many turbulent times, including the rise to power of Bishop Peric, who succeeded Zanic and is similarly hostile to the Medjugorje Franciscans. Without Slavko, Bishop Peric, a close ally of Zanic, may see another opportunity to shut down the apparitions, which have led to the conversion of countless pilgrims.
Those fruits have been overlooked by the bishop. On May 16, 1997, he stated that "Medjugorje has become a place of religious disorder, disobedience, and anti-ecclesiastical activity."
But in a letter dated May 26, 1998, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary to Cardinal Ratzinger, declared that any adverse statement from Bishop Peric concerning the apparitions themselves was unofficial and "should be considered the expression of the personal conviction of the Bishop of Mostar which he has the right to express as Ordinary of the place, but which is and remains his personal opinion."
Ironically, the crucial Vatican clarification -- which once more removed power from the local bishop -- was received by an inquiring authority on June 24, anniversary of the first apparition.
The Holy See further stated that "as regards pilgrimages to Medjugorje, which are conducted privately, this Congregation points out that they are permitted on condition that they are not regarded as an authentication of events still taking place and which still call for an examination by the Church."
While official parish pilgrimages are disallowed until a final determination is made, unofficial pilgrimages are permitted and have even been privately encouraged by Pope John Paul II.
What will happen when John Paul dies is a greater question for the apparitions. His warm feelings to Medjugorje were expressed to a friend of mine several years ago when, encountering the Pope during a small audience, the site was mentioned and the Pope smiled and nodded. "Medjugorje... Medjugorje," he said softly.
Thousands of priests, hundreds of bishops, and dozens of cardinals -- including Cardinal Ratzinger in cognito -- have visited Medjugorje despite widespread and unrelenting attempts at discrediting it. Medical tests have also been conducted.
In recent years antagonism has heightened. Scandal has plagued several supporters of Medjugorje and the site has been lumped with a flurry of other apparitions that are far less credible. Through lack of information (and sometimes mischief) many continue to circulate the inaccurate notion that the apparitions have been condemned. As at historic sites of apparition such spiritual warfare is expected to increase before the secrets dispensed at Medjugorje materialize.