date: 19.09.2025.
On September 19, 2024, a press conference was held in the Vatican to release the document “The Queen of Peace”: Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje. After the release, the Note was presented by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. He said on that occasion that “from what we have been able to see thus far, what stands out in the Pontiffs is an attitude of great respect towards a devotion that is very widespread among in the People of God, which translates into an analysis of the positive spiritual phenomenon that occurs in the heart of the people, rather than in a conclusion on the origin, supernatural or otherwise, of the phenomenon.”
At the aforementioned conference, he spoke about the messages and fruits of Medjugorje. He also presented the position of the three popes, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. What he said about the attitude of the three popes towards Medjugorje is given below:
Saint John Paul II
On 6 July 1995, a visit by John Paul II to Medjugorje was announced, during the apostolic journey to Sarajevo. The Pope, in some private letters, had in in fact referred positively to Medjugorje, and had expressed the desire to visit the place. Informed of this, Bishop Perić of Mostar asked the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to avoid such a visit. Two letters of Pope Saint John Paul II are of special importance, of which I will provide some passages:
“ (…) I thank Sofia for what she has told me about Medjugorje. I too visit this place every day when I pray; I join with all those who pray there and receive from there a call to prayer” (Letter of 8 December 1992 to Marek and Zofia Skmarnickidi, in Emmanuel Maillard, The hidden child of Medjugorje, Shalom, 2012);
“(…) Unfortunately, I have never been to Medjugorje, even though my gaze is turned towards that place. Tell your wife this. I look towards that place and it seems to me that the terrible things happening now in the Balkans cannot be understood without Medjugorje” (Letter of 6 December 1993 to Mr. Marek, Ib.).
According to various witnesses, who repeat what is said in these letters, several times the Holy Father expressed an intense wish to visit Medjugorje.
Benedict XVI
We have clear thought from the then-Cardinal Ratzinger with regard to Medjugorje, dating from 1985. The then-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said: “One of our criteria is to separate the aspect of the true or presumed “supernaturalness” of the apparition from that of its spiritual fruit. The pilgrimages of ancient Christianity were directed towards places about which our critical spirit as moderns would sometimes be perplexed as to the ‘scientific truth’ of the tradition attached to them. This does not detract from the fact that those pilgrimages were fruitful, beneficial, and important for the life of the Christian people. The problem is not so much that of modern hypercriticism (which then ends up, among other things, in a form of new credulity) but that of evaluating the vitality and orthodoxy of the religious life that develops around these places”.
You can see, in this passage, that Cardinal Ratzinger uses the expression “around”. In the recently published norms it states “in the midst of”, but in the final analysis it affirms the same thing: beyond the origin of the apparitions, supernatural or otherwise, what really happens “around” or “in the midst of” Medjugorje? Is there spiritual vitality, faith, conversion, positive results? Can it be seen that God is doing good work? We do not say that he does so “because of” or “through” the apparitions, on whose origin we do not express a judgement. That criterion of the then-Cardinal Ratzinger is the same as Pope Francis’, and it is what is applied in this Note.
Francis
Pope’s Francis view is very explicit in the words pronounced on the return flight from Fatima in 2017:
“As for Medjugorje, a commission was set up headed by Cardinal Ruini. Benedict XVI set it up. At the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014, I received the results from Cardinal Ruini. The commission was made up of good theologians, bishops and cardinals. Good, good, good people. The Ruini report is very, very good. Then, there were some doubts at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Congregation judged it appropriate to send each member … the entire documentation, even the things that seemed contrary to the Ruini report. … It didn’t seem right to me; it was like putting the Ruini report up for auction – sorry for this word – a report which had been done very well. … The real core of the Ruini report: the spiritual fact, the pastoral fact, the people go there and are converted, the people who meet God, who change their lives… For this there is no magic wand, this spiritual-pastoral fact cannot be denied” (Press Conference of the Holy Father during the return flight from Fatima, 13 May 2017).
In that press conference, Pope Francis also said that he had decided to appoint a special envoy to see the situation on the ground, to be able to say something in relation to it.
When Archbishop Henryk Hoser was appointed as Holy See Special Envoy “to examine” the situation in Medjugorje, it is known that the conclusions of his examination, after having lived for a period in Medjugorje, were very positive, in line with the Ruini report.
Years later, the current Apostolic Visitator, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, although he prefers not to give an opinion on the supernatural character of the messages, also had a very favourable outlook, due to his experience on the ground. Indeed, some days ago I spoke at length with him, and he recounted to me his daily life in Medjugorje, which in his opinion is an oasis of peace and faith where God, through the Queen of Peace, does a great deal of good. Then there are countless positive fruits throughout the world, of which Pope Francis is well aware.
On 14 January 2019, a disposition of the Holy Father was made public, according to which “it is possible to organize pilgrimages to Medjugorje, always taking care to avoid that they be interpreted as an authentication of the events”.
The book “The Queen of Peace”: Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje (Text of the Note and Interventions at the Press Conference on September 19, 2024 on the occasion of the determination of nihil obstat for Medjugorje), published by the Information Center “Mir” Medjugorje will be presented on Sunday, September 21, at 8 p.m., in the John Paul II Hall.
The editor of the book Nedjeljka Sr. Valerija Kovač, the apostolic visitor with a special role for the parish of Medjugorje, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, and the parish priest of Medjugorje, Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić will speak about this book. The Director of the Information Center “Mir” Medjugorje, Vedran Vidović, will deliver a welcoming address, the program will be hosted by Sanja Pehar, and the musical part will feature the Medjugorje parish choir ”Kraljica Mira”.
The presentation program will be translated into the following languages: ITALIAN FM 99.7 and ENGLISH FM 94.3
We kindly ask all pilgrims to bring their own devices to listen to the translation of the program.
