I am not mincing what I have to say. Why do think Pope Francis has not made a decision on Medjugorje?
I have no clue why and frankly I'm not at all concerned or bothered by it. I'm still unclear as to what you are driving at? It appears you are linking the pope to the Pharisees in the gospel you mentioned . Do yo think the Pope is a Pharisee?
I'm a little sleepy.. forgive me, but try asking yourself these few basic questions: Why has Jesus not returned yet? Why do we suffer? Why am I going bald.. A little humour. Etc... etc... How about.. Yes. Yes. Yes - to the things you do have. Why this; way that - would drive anyone up the walls. Just say (Yes -and- trust in Jesus. Your life will be less stressful. Medjugorje? Leave that to His divine providence. I feel a... yawn coming. That is all! God bless you!
MS7 has mentioned Ivan meeting the Pope when he was a cardinal. It seems he was positive about Medjugorje. I'm not sure if it is up to the Pope to make a decision on Medjugorje. These apparitions are ongoing and I doubt there will be a decision while they are. http://motheofgod.com/threads/did-pope-francis-show-his-hand-on-medjugorje.5202/#post-47407 http://motheofgod.com/threads/medjugorje-bombshell-in-the-us.5333/#post-49410
First, I apologize for perhaps coming on too strong...probably should not respond late at night after a tough day at work. Second, I think it's perfectly ok to comment or discern the Pope as a human being who like our first Pope acknowledges his failings and sins like the rest of us. I just think it needs to be done carefully and clearly. Peace.
Priest’s Appointment to Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Draws Concern (1110) Critics say Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe has a history of clashing with Church teaching.by EDWARD PENTIN Comments on Homosexuality But critics say Father Radcliffe’s perspective on universal love goes too far — and that in particular his comments on homosexuality run contrary to Church teaching. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are “of grave depravity,” “intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law,” as they “close the sexual act to the gift of life.” For this reason, the Church has strongly opposed any promotion of such lifestyles. In 2005, as the Vatican debated whether men with same-sex attraction should be admitted to seminaries, following the clerical sex-abuse scandals, Father Radcliffe said the inclination should not bar men from the priesthood, but that those who oppose their candidacy should be. In a talk in Los Angeles in 2006, Father Radcliffe called for the Church to “accompany [homosexuals] as they discern what this means, letting our images be stretched open. This means watching Brokeback Mountain [a movie about a homosexual relationship], reading gay novels, living with our gay friends and listening with them as they listen to the Lord.” In 2012, in support of same-sex civil unions, he wrote in The Tablet that homosexual relationships should be “cherished and supported” and that the “God of love can be present in every true love.” And Father Radcliffe has often celebrated Masses for homosexual Catholics — the so-called “Soho Masses” — in London. And, writing in an Anglican journal in 2013, he said when considering same-sex relationships, “we cannot begin with the question of whether it is permitted or forbidden! We must ask what it means and how far it is Eucharistic. Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and nonviolent. So in many ways, I think it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.” He said homosexual relationships can be “expressive of mutual fidelity, a covenantal relationship in which two people bind themselves to each other forever.” But he also went on to say that “gay marriage” is not equivalent to marriage, as it is not “inherently unitive.” The English Dominican has also voiced his support for relaxing restrictions on holy Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried, writing in America magazine in 2013 that he had two “profound hopes”: that a “way will be found to welcome divorced-and-remarried people back to Communion” and that women will be allowed to preach at Mass. John Smeaton, executive director of Britain’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said he was “surprised” by the news of Father Radcliffe’s appointment, which he considered “particularly inappropriate,” given his views relating to human sexuality. He referred to a televised talk on July 10, 2009, at a Catholic parish in Mashpee, Mass., in which Father Radcliffe said: “It’s not that sexual ethics are particularly important. I don’t think they are.” “Father Radcliffe’s frank admission is completely opposed to the position set out in Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity and Truth),” Smeaton told the Register. “Pope Benedict taught us that the Church’s teaching on the unitive and procreative meaning of human sexuality placed the married couple at the foundation of society.” Quoting St. John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Value and Inviolability of Human Life), Smeaton added, “The Church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics, fully aware that ‘a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized.’” Father Radcliffe has also spoken up in support of the German bishops’ desire to admit the divorced and remarried to Communion, a contentious suggestion that has been opposed by the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, as it was by Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II. Last year, EWTN chose not to televise Ireland’s Divine Mercy Conference, as it customarily does, because Father Radcliffe had been chosen as a keynote speaker at the event. And in 2011, Father Radcliffe was scheduled to speak at the general assembly of Caritas International, a confederation of worldwide Catholic charities. The Vatican intervened to prohibit his address, and he was replaced by Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the pontifical household. In light of Father Radcliffe’s appointment, it is worth noting the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1986 letter to bishops on the pastoral care of homosexual persons, which warned that, in the face of “enormous pressure” on the Church to “accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered and to condone homosexual activity,” the Church’s ministers “must ensure that homosexual persons in their care will not be misled by this point of view, so profoundly opposed to the teaching of the Church.” “The risk is great,” the letter added, and there are “many who seek to create confusion regarding the Church’s position and then to use that confusion to their own advantage.” Catholic News Agency contributed to this report. Edward Pentin is the Register’s Rome correspondent Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/priests-appointment-to-pontifical-council-for-justice-and-peace-draws-conce/#ixzz3c119VKOs
Pope Francis: poverty afflicts too many families http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-poverty-afflicts-too-many-families 39Print 2015-06-03 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says poverty today afflicts too many families. Speaking during the weekly General Audience, the Pope continued his catechesis on the family opening up his reflections to a new perspective: the difficulties and problems that put families to the test in modern society. Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni: (from Vatican Radio)
It sounds to me like Pope Francis is warning us of Wars and Rumours of Wars. Pope Francis says he senses an 'atmosphere of war' in the world Read more: http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-p...ere-of-war-in-world-2015-6?r=US#ixzz3cIMRkjdk Pope Francis arrived in Sarajevo on Saturday for a visit aimed at bolstering reconciliation between war-scarred Bosnia's Serb, Croat and Muslim communities. Pope Francis said the world was beset by an "atmosphere of war" and attacked those who are guilty of inciting and fomenting it. Many conflicts across the planet amount to "a kind of third world war being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global communications, we sense an atmosphere of war," the pontiff said in a mass at Sarajevo's Olympic Stadium during a one-day visit to the Bosnian capital. The one-day trip comes 20 years after the end of a 1992-95 conflict that ripped the Balkan state apart and left it permanently divided along ethnic lines. Around 5,000 police officers were on duty for the ten-hour visit, during which more than 100,000 people are expected to turn out to see the Argentinian pontiff. As Francis's plane touched down just after 0700 GMT, tens of thousands of people were already waiting for him in Sarajevo's Olympic stadium ahead of an open air mass later in the day. "I am here because I want peace across the whole world and an end to war and hate," said Branimir Vujca, 50, a doctor from Kiseljac in central Bosnia, who had come with his wife and three children. Around 20,000 visitors from neighbouring Croatia, which is predominately Catholic, were expected to join the crowds. "Sarajevo has been called the Jerusalem of the West," Francis told reporters on his flight from Rome. "It is a city that has suffered much in its history but is now on a beautiful path of peace. "That is why I am making this trip, as a sign of peace and a prayer for peace." While the Vatican has played down security concerns surrounding the trip, local media have made much of a video published this week by a group of Islamists claiming to be members of the Islamic State (IS) who called for jihad in the Balkans. More than a third of Bosnia's mostly Catholic Croats have left Bosnia since the war and the country of 3.8 million people is divided in two between a Bosnian Serb republic and a Croat-Muslim federation. Sarajevo, once a beacon of multiculturalism, is also now largely split along ethnic lines. Against that backdrop, Vatican officials believe Francis can have a positive impact by promoting the kind of inter-faith dialogue he holds dear. The trip is Francis's eighth abroad in just over two years as the leader of the world's Catholics. Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State who heads up the Holy See's diplomacy, said a key goal of the trip would be boosting the morale of the Catholic community. "The consequences of war have been felt particularly by the Catholic community. In some parishes there are very few families left, many of them elderly," Parolin said. "In December the 20th anniversary of the war will be remembered but the traces and the wounds of war are still there."
Pro-lifers gather in St Peter’s Square as Francis meets Chilean president Pope and Michelle Bachelet discuss 'the protection of human life' As Chilean president Michelle Bachelet met Pope Francis on Friday, a dozen people dressed all in white laid in the form of a cross in St Peter’s Square. The demonstrators, along with a dozen others who were holding little white boxes marked with a cross, wanted to call the world’s attention – and particularly the attention of Ms Bachelet – to the victims of abortion. Some of the demonstrators were from Chile and have participated in demonstrations of women dressed in white, known as the Mujeres de Blanco, who have been protesting Ms Bachelet’s introduction of a law to legalise abortion up until the 12th week of pregnancy. The law is still being discussed in Chile’s congress. The demonstrators from Chile were joined by Chileans living in Rome and by several Italians, including priests and nuns, who led the entire group in prayer in the square. Pope Francis and Ms Bachelet spent more than 45 minutes speaking privately. In a statement, the Vatican said the two spoke about “issues of common interest such as the protection of human life, education and social peace”. “In this context, emphasis was placed on the role and the positive contribution of Catholic institutions in Chilean society, especially in relation to human promotion, education and assistance to those most in need,” the Vatican statement said. Source: Catholic Herald
I'm under the impression that a positive decision can only be made on an apparition after the messages end Daily News Pope Francis on Medjugorje: It’s Almost Decision Time Pope Francis told journalists on board his June 6 flight from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina to Rome that an announcement on the apparent Marian apparitions in Medjugorje could be near. BY ELISE HARRIS/ CNA | Posted 6/6/15 at 10:56 PM PAPAL FLIGHT — When asked by a Bosnian journalist about the status of his decision on the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje on his flight from Sarajevo to Rome, Pope Francis said that after a lengthy study, a decision could be coming soon. “We’re at this point of making decisions … and then they will be announced,” the Pope told journalists on board his June 6 flight from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina to Rome. Bosnian Croat journalist Silva Tomasevic brought the topic up to the Pope during his brief in-flight news conference in route to Rome following his June 6 apostolic visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina. When Tomasevic noted that there is a great interest in Bosnia regarding his judgment on the authenticity of the apparitions, the Pope responded by recalling how Benedict XVI created a commission to study the reports surrounding the alleged apparitions. Presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, emeritus vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, the commission was created by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2010 under Benedict XVI, and was composed of an international panel of bishops, cardinals, theologians and various experts. It was established to further investigate “certain doctrinal and disciplinary aspects of the phenomenon of Medjugorje.” Pope Francis said that commission “made a study and Cardinal Ruini came to me and consigned the study to me after many years. I don’t know, three or four years, more or less.” He said the commission “did good work,” and revealed that Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the current prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told him that “he would do a ‘feria quarta,’ in these times.” A “feria quarta” is a once-a-month meeting in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during which current cases are examined. “I believe that (the feria quarta) has been done the last Wednesday of last month, but I’m not sure,” Francis said, explaining that a decision could be made soon and that “some guidelines will be given to bishops on the lines they will take.” The alleged apparitions originally began June 24, 1981, when six children in the town of Medjugorje, located in what is now Bosnia, began to experience phenomena which they have claimed to be apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to these six “seers,” the apparitions contained a message of peace for the world, a call to conversion, prayer and fasting, as well as certain secrets surrounding events to be fulfilled in the future. These apparitions are said to have continued almost daily since their first occurrence, with three of the original six children – who are now young adults – continuing to receive apparitions every afternoon because not all of the “secrets” intended for them have been revealed. Originally said to have occurred on a hilltop in the town where a cross commemorating the Redemption rests, the apparitions are also said to have taken place in various other locations, including the local parish church and wherever the visionaries happen to be located during the time of Mary’s appearance. Since their beginning, the alleged apparitions have been a source of both controversy and conversion, with many flocking to the city for pilgrimage and prayer, and some claiming to have experienced miracles at the site, while others claim the visions are non-credible. In April 1991, the bishops of the former Yugoslavia determined that “on the basis of the research that has been done, it is not possible to state that there were apparitions or supernatural revelations.” On the basis of those findings, and because the commission was still in the process of its investigation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith directed last October that clerics and the faithful “are not permitted to participate in meetings, conferences or public celebrations during which the credibility of such ‘apparitions’ would be taken for granted.”
This no decision til the end sounds like a made up rule to me. I suppose it protects them from looking stupid and us from being duped. But where's the faith. It's just like that excuse for not healing the sick despite the explicit order of Jesus to do so. They say the number of early miracles was only necessary to build numbers. I think they don't do it because if they say "throw away your crutches" and Sandy falls on his face they will lose face. OH them of little faith.
The fruits are very evident. When there recently we bumped into a couple we haven't met in 20 years. They were on holidays driving around and just called into Medjugorje. Pat, the husband, had an experience of Our Lady's pres.hence when he knelt in front of her statue in the church. He was on fire. This guy is a hard nosed businessman. I think his life has taken a new turn. The confession lines are a mile long. 30,000 attended adoration on Saturday evening outdoors. If Satan is responsible for all of this he is messing up big time.
Either that, Mary Rose, or Satan has pulled out all the stops and taken a great gamble to create a massive diabolical disorientation knowing what injury, chaos and division a negative ruling will cause. Either way Satan must be suffering the greatest agony in the face of the mountains of apparant good fruits. A victory for him in the form of schism would be worth all the agony. There is a priciple that a good end can never result from a bad means. That is why I use the word apparant. Even if the Church cannot confirm a supernatural origin perhaps in her wisdom she will still find a way to turn the tables on Satan and preserve the faith that has been found by millions in Medjugorje. That preservation will then be the good means that produces a good end. Your story about the businessman, lines for confession and adoration is very compelling. I for one hope it is the power of Christ that compells. Meantime we are safe in the arms of Mary.
I agree and if negative I think many will continue to wait for a change of heart. I don't see it as a schism. The faithful will continue to attend Mass and confession and pray privately. The seers will disappear from public. That's what I think would happen. It would be looked at as a testing like Divine Mercy. There is little time left for testing though. We are almost there. If God doesn't act soon millions of souls, a generation, will be lost
Thank you once again Mary Rose for your kind and loving perspective. I agree, a waiting time of private prayer and devotion is very possible. The only reservation I have would be activated if the worst verdict was given. That, and its only my opinion, would be time to wash one's hands of it all unless, of course, the Church could mine the depths of the good hearts of the faithful and salvage what has been built there. This, I believe, is where the Church is found when united with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I cannot believe that Jesus and Mary would let those genuine good souls go. As has been said, the Church does not like to destroy. What a waste of good intentions that would be and God, we are told, looks to the intentions of the heart. The world tells us that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. As usual the world has got its directions mixed up.
I also agree with you Mary Rose that the time for testing is nearly gone. I am a very average Catholic (that is not false humility, I am ashamed to say) so my spititual opinions are not too weighty. But I try and God loves a trier. Another cliche but hopefully this one is true. I look at the state of the peoples of the world and wonder why the Church has not grabbed with both hands and complied fully with at least the approved requests such as Fatima and Amsterdam. Why has it not publicised more visions such as Akita and La Salette. Is it not better to frighten society than forego salvation. The Church should have risked ridicule and told the truth. We are damned to hell if we do not comply with God's will as proclaimed by Rome. What an unfashionable opinion. Only the Warning can bring about a change of heart that will induce such obedience. Such an unfashionable word, obedience, and yet without it there is no love and no virtue. No salvation. The danger is that obedience has also been used to abuse and subvert but that is not the obedience of love. As our priest said today, if you choose to love, prepare to suffer. That's the way to heaven.
