A Newfound Respect for Pope Francis (relating to Prophesy & Visions)

Catholic Living Spirituality
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Anyone who knows me knows that I was never a fan of Pope Francis, however, I recently listened to a podcast about The Church and Medjugorje. And in it, the hose talks about Pope Francis’ response when asked about the validity of Medjugorje.

Pope Francis had responded, as I agree with, that a Christian needs to be careful of individuals who make claims of modern-day prophesy, especially if they claim to have secret knowledge or make demands that are contrary to the Faith. For these things can lead the faithful astray.

But, the part that I loved the most was when he said, “Look, Our Lady is a Mother and she loves us all. But she is not a postman who sends messages every day.”

I do believe that a lot of good happens at the place where some believe Mary appeared in Medjugorje. There have been many conversions. I recently listened to an interview with an Australian girl who had left the Faith and was in an Atheist band in her youth. She later experience a profound conversion back to Christ at Medjugorje. She even went to Reconciliation and received the Blessed Sacrament there. And her life has never been the same. So, I do believe many lives are changed there, but I do not believe the claims that Mary appeared to a seer and told her all of these things ascribed to her.

There were a lot of political things going on in that Diocese between the Bishop and a religious Order at that time. And there were also a lot of dishonest claims that this party or that party alleged to have said that were not said. And just a lot of politicking going on around it.

And then when you look at what Mary had allegedly said to the visionary, there are a lot of red flags.

Currently the Church does not say that you cannot believe in the apparition, but has pointed out some problems with some of the alleged messages that the faithful must reject. Personally, I think that the Church does not want to deal with an uprising by many good-hearted people who buy into the claims, by definitively saying that the Church does not approve of the claims of Medjugorje. And, as I pointed out, many have come to Christ at this place, so even if untrue, it has become a holy place, in spite of false prophesies that had taken place there (in my opinion).

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What, specifically, are these supposed red flags?

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Where do I begin. If you read through them, many of them are centered on “The Message.” Mary would point us to her Son. She would not give secret knowledge and get involved in the politics of the Church.

I am in a men’s Bible Study and the founder of this group feels that God gave him the words to a Poem he wrote, which took nearly three months to complete. This poem got this gentleman through a tough time in his life recently. He had some health issues. And I do not doubt that this poem might have been a gift to him during this time in his life, but I do not believe it was public revelation. He recently tried to implement this poem, which he refers to as “The Gift” into our Bible Study, where he wanted us to reflect on one stanza each week. As a group, we discussed his request and all, but one man, pushed back on this. We gather each week in Jesus’ name to study the Bible, not to reflect on private revelation that may or may not have been received from God. That is not what this group is about. I get that this good man is closer to death and wants to leave a lasting legacy, but I’m sorry, this is his gift, not ours. And there are parts in his poem that are very beautiful and true, but it feels very cult-like to study a founder of a group’s writings called “The Gift” and I want nothing to do with it. Jesus founded the Catholic Church and He wrote nothing down, other than in the sand when the woman was caught in adultery, but we do not know what he was writing. The Bible never tells us.

There are parts in some of the messages of Medjugorje that are also quite beautiful and true, but then there are some things that sound like something that Mary would never say. Two different investigations were conducted by the Vatican on the validity of the claims of Medjugorje and in both, there were individuals who came to the conclusion that this was not a valid apparition. And a couple even thought that it could be demonic, though I would not go that far. For the simple fact that a demon would not tell you to read the Gospels, Pray more, and sin less. So, that leaves two other options: These kids (four girls and two boys) believed they were receiving revelations from Mary, to the point where they were even having visions of her, or they were making it up.

Why might someone or a group of someone’s make something up? I can think of a few reasons. They like the attention. He/she might be a compulsive liar (but, if it is a group, it is highly unlikely that they are all compulsive liars. Or to get others to accept their side in a certain conflict happening in that Diocese at that time.

I chalk this up to Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS Church’s claims. If you believe Joseph Smith’s claims is true, then you should convert to the LDS Faith. But, if he wrongly believed he was receiving these prophesies and visions, but they were in his own head, the you should not become Mormon. Or the only other option, besides demonic trickery, is that he was a conman; in which you should then also not join the LDS Church.

I’m not telling anyone they cannot buy into either Joseph Smith’s claims or the six visionaries (or seers) of Medjugorje: Vicka Ivanković (age 17), Mirjana Dragićević (age 16), Marija Pavlović (age 16), Ivan Dragićević (age 16), Ivanka Ivanković (age 15), and Jakov Čolo (age 10) when Mary allegedly first appeared to them.

When I was around 10 years old, I swear that I saw a black panther off of a path where my cousins and I were picking wild raspberries. Black panthers are not native to Ohio. So, either I did see what I saw, I imagined it (maybe I was a shadow in my peripheral and my mind filled in the gaps), I was making it up intentionally (I assure you that this is not the case), or something else that I am not considering.

You can believe whatever you want, but it does not make it therefore true because you believe it to be true.