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CONSERVATIVES FALL ON BOTH SIDES OF APPARITIONS AS ALSO ON BOTH SIDES OF SYNOD DEBATE

Just as there are conservatives on both sides of the discussion about the recent Synod (and Pope Francis), so are there conservatives, and liberals, on both sides of various debates over apparitions of Our Blessed Mother.

Archconservative Cardinal Gerhard Müller, for example, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ardently and even vociferously opposes appearances by seers from the under-Vatican-consideration site of Medjugorje. He sought to scotch one visionary's recent appearance at an event in Italy, and earlier halted another from appearances in the U.S.

While Cardinal Müller seems not so warm to apparitions, and also has fallen on the side of arch-conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke in objecting to certain language at the Synod, Cardinal Burke has shown strong support of the apparition known as Our Lady of America (which like Medjugorje has not yet won full pastoral approval).

Meanwhile, another powerful cardinal, Christoph Schöborn, the highest ranking prelate in Austria, and an advisor to the current and previous Popes, not only believes the seers from Medjugorje should appear publicly -- and in churches -- but has hosted that same visionary nixed in America at his own cathedral in downtown Vienna (and is hosting him again at the cathedral Saturday, 11/12/14, as he also has hosted a third visionary from Medjugorje). [Photographed: Müller is to the left; Schöborn, right.]

In Italy, the prohibition of an appearance by seer Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic  was at the behest of a local bishop named Lorenzo Loppa of the Alagni-Alatri diocese.

However, wait: a speaker on behalf of Medjugorje is being allowed to appear in a nearby diocese, apparently at the approval of the bishop of Concordia-Pordenone, Giuseppe Pellegrini.

It's not quite" cardinal against cardinal, bishop against bishop" (in the way of an prophecy from Akita, Japan, one with Church approbation), but it seems to be edging there, at least in the media, which would like nothing better than a schism. It has been intriguing, and some of it is actual news, seeing that former Pope Benedict XVI made a pointed statement on the importance of traditional family before the recent Synod, while several cardinals and bishops took stands for or against certain statements from the Synod, some that seemed aimed, in a way we have not seen in many years, at the Pope himself.

It was intriguing to see the way it went down, how there are conservatives for the way the Holy Father is handling matters (such as Cardinal George Pell of Australia, now a high-ranking Vatican official) and conservatives against. Moderates and liberals have tended to side with the Holy Father's approach (although liberals in general are antagonistic to apparitions) -- if we can even tell, at this point, what position the Pope takes, for he had not even uttered any public opinion as yet on either the essential aspects of the Synod nor on Medjugorje (but rather seemed to treat the Synod as a way of airing out various views).

As (conservative) columnist George Will has said, the "default reaction" of everyone these days is "outrage." As conservatives, we lament that.

Perhaps we all need to wait and see what the Pope actually says. Will it come down to simply annulment reform? Or is a "revolution" (as one liberal put it) in the offing? Time will tell what is going on, and fairly soon. Stay tuned. It is good to be circumspect, and not to treat this like a political matter. In fact, it has sometimes resonated of talk radio -- both issues -- more than discernment.

Mary Undoer of Knots plus The Holy Cloak novena, $7.25

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