date: 06.06.2023.
Five years ago, on May 31, 2018, the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Henryk Hoser, retired bishop of Warsaw-Prague, as the Apostolic Visitor with a special role for the parish of Medjugorje, for an indefinite period. It was a purely pastoral service, continuing the mission of the special envoy of the Holy See for the parish of Medjugorje, which was entrusted to Msgr. Hoser on February 11, 2017 and which he completed in the previous months.
Archbishop Hoser loved young people, and since his arrival he was actively involved in the organization of the Youth Festival.
"Jesus is a definite Teacher. Don't be late to enroll in His school. In the same school you will also find one Teacher: Mary, Mother of God, Mary the Educator and Queen of Peace! One such school is worth more than the world's best universities! Mary never tires of pointing us to her Son,'' he explained to young people in his homily at the end of the Youth Festival in 2018. A year after the Holy Father made a decision approving pilgrimages to Medjugorje, which from May 2019, can be officially organized by dioceses and parishes and are no longer only in a 'private' form, as it was until then, Archbishop Hoser went to Medjugorje and invited numerous cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests who came from all over the world with the pilgrims to the Youth Festival.
Let the Queen of Peace guide us
Archbishop Hoser, celebrating Holy Mass at the Youth Festival in 2019, said that in practice we are "surrounded by chains of sin" and that "sometimes we ourselves contribute to their increase", and that God breaks those chains and frees us.
"The fight between good and evil takes place in our heart. God knows this human heart perfectly. "For man looks at the eyes, but the Lord looks at what is in the heart" (1 Sam 16:7). Jesus reads our hearts and knows our weaknesses, but above all He knows our possibilities to do good. And He wants to help us, He wants to support us and He wants to be with us and even dwell with the entire Holy Trinity in that human heart! Accordingly, we are guided by the Mother of God and our Mother: from Częstochowa, from Vilnius, from Lourdes, from Fatima, from Kibeho and from Medjugorje, the Queen of Peace. Let's let her lead us!" said Hoser.
This year's 34th Youth Festival is held under the motto "Behold my mother and my brothers!" (Mt 12, 49). The Youth Festival was also held, with epidemiological measures, in 2020 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic under the slogan 'Come and you will see!' (John 1:39).
'Come and see!'
Emphasizing that the attitude of the Holy See towards Medjugorje is very good and positive, Archbishop Hoser, on the eve of the 31st International Youth Prayer Meeting in Medjugorje, also referred to the Medjugorje phenomenon.
"Each festival has its own title, its own name... This year we chose the words 'Come and you will see!'" as the theme. These are the words of Jesus when He spoke to the disciples of John the Baptist. They asked him: 'Teacher, where do you live?', and Jesus answers them: 'Come and you will see!', and this exactly corresponds to what is called the phenomenon of Medjugorje. For almost forty years, there have been controversies on the subject of Medjugorje, and these controversies relate to the issue of apparitions. It is, therefore, not only about controversies surrounding apparitions, but also about pastoral activity itself. Some are ardent advocates, and some are against and even challenge our orthodoxy, and a very adequate answer is this: 'Come and you will see!' and then you will be able to witness about what you saw and experienced", said Msgr. Hoser, who died on August 13, 2021, and was buried in the Warsaw-Prague Cathedral.
After the death of Archbishop Hoser, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Aldo Cavalli on November 27,2021, as the Apostolic Visitor with a special role for the parish of Medjugorje, for an indefinite period and ad nutum Sanctae Sedis.
