‘Come to Medjugorje a place of grace’

Andrea Tornielli

The year 2024 was an important one for Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia and Herzegovina which, over the last 40 years, has become one of the most visited Marian centres in the world. Last May, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published new norms on alleged supernatural phenomena that make it easier to give the green light to devotions without committing the Holy See to a declaration of supernaturalness. In September, a Note entitled ‘The Queen of Peace’, dedicated to the spiritual experience of Medjugorje, was published, granting the Marian phenomenon the ‘nihil obstat’ — the highest recognition among those included in the new norms. Since then the ‘alleged messages’ that the visionaries receive are published ‘with ecclesiastical approval’.

Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, 78, discusses the topic in an interview with Vatican media. He’s a lifelong papal diplomat who, in November 2021, was sent by Pope Francis as Apostolic Visitator to Medjugorje. The following is an abridged version of the interview.

For some years now, you have been living in the parish of Medjugorje and meeting pilgrims. What has your experience been?

[...] I’ve been there for three years: it’s a normal place, without anything special, and it has become, by grace, a spiritual place where people come from all over the world. They come and begin to pray there. They enter into communion with the Lord Jesus, and the Virgin Mary accompanies them. It is a simple prayer: they want to change their lives, to live better than before, they want to solve or deal well with the problems they have. This change is called conversion, and it takes place in a special way in the sacrament of penance. This normally happens in Medjugorje.

What strikes you when you look at the many pilgrims?

Young and old alike come to Medjugorje. They come without any sponsorship. They all come with one purpose: to meet the Lord and the Virgin Mary. They find nothing to see or visit: as a site for religious tourism we have nothing to offer. But here young people and adults begin to pray. [...]

Thanks to the new Norms implemented by Pope Francis, the procedure for examining and pronouncing on these cases now focuses more on spiritual fruits.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has examined two points that can be documented. The first concerns the fruits. Thousands and thousands come to Medjugorje from all over the world. This year, two million adults and young people came. Almost 50,000 priests came to pray, to convert. Then other very important fruits are the many vocations. So many people praying. The second element that was examined was the messages. Each message was compared against the tenets of the faith and it was found that the messages corresponded to them. Very positive fruits, and positive messages for the faith: this has allowed us to say that Medjugorje is a place of grace.

You are personally involved in the publication of messages that are released once a month. What actually happens in that process?

It’s very simple: when there is a message, the person who received it writes it down and sends it to me in the language they write in, which is Croatian. It’s immediately translated for me into Italian. This process is very interesting: there are at least two very important human mediations: that’s why we always speak of ‘alleged messages’, even if we are in favour, to the point that at the end of the message we write: ‘with ecclesiastical approval’. But beware, the messages are called ‘alleged’ because they go through two human mediations: Our Lady does not write, the person receiving writes. The second mediation is the translation from Croatian to Italian: they are two totally different languages. We say that the message is good, that it corresponds to faith, and we invite people to read and meditate on it because it is positive. [...]

It’s well known that no private revelation, hence none of the Marian apparitions, adds anything to divine Revelation. What attitude should we take towards the revelations and what risks should we avoid? [...]

Last May, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published Norms that are fundamental for understanding the decision on Medjugorje. It recalled that first of all Revelation, the Word of God, is composed of the Bible alone, and that this Revelation ended with the Apocalypse of John. This does not take away from the fact that the Holy Spirit can make use of messages and private revelations entrusted to people and which serve to better implement the one true Revelation. None of this adds anything to Revelation, but it can be useful. That is the importance of the messages. [...]

At some point somebody made an objection because none of [the visionaries of Medjugorje] had become priests or nuns...

Everyone has their own vocation! They are simple, good people. I have nothing to say. We see each other often, we have coffee together. They are people who grow in faith, each in their own way. [...]

In Medjugorje, Our Lady called herself ‘Queen of Peace’, a relevant message.

One of the first alleged messages, from 1981, is very profound in this regard. It says: peace, peace, may peace reign. But be careful: not peace among us, but first of all between God and us, and then afterwards among us humans. This is fundamental. [...]

The alleged apparition took place in a land where different religions coexist and which has been marked by terrible violence in recent times. There are messages that touch on this theme. What can you say about this?

The word we use is dialogue. Dia logos, dialogue between us, but logos means: I present to you my identity, I present to you my way of living, of thinking, of believing, of acting. You present your identity to me. In dialogue, we get to know each other, each maintaining our own identity. If we lose our identity, we no longer dialogue. Then comes tragedy. There are different religions there, different ways of living. We must dialogue. And in Medjugorje we have a clear identity: the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Lord for us.

The new Norms published last May by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith are an expression of Pope Francis’ pastoral spirit, and demonstrate his great attention to the faith of ordinary people, and popular devotion. How important is this aspect?

We must put up some very strong religious points of reference. Popular faith is enriched by placing the Mother of God as a reference point, and the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute reference point. [...]