The Phony Apparition Of A False Sect

One year ago, on May 12, 2019, the now Unholy See occupied by the false pope and Argentinian apostate, Jorge Bergoglio, officially permitted pilgrimages to Medjugorje. Most people, even the irreligious, have heard about the alleged "apparitions" of the Blessed Virgin Mary that began in 1981 and supposedly continue to this very day. Bergoglio has tacitly given credence to the biggest hoax regarding an apparition of the Blessed Mother. (See https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2019/08/vatican-confirms-medjugorje-approval-by-joining-youth-festival/). It is obvious that a false pope would approve a false apparition. However, it goes farther than that. Medjugorje perfectly reflects everything that is wrong with the Vatican II sect.

Many people have asked why I disbelieve the alleged apparitions of Medjugorje when so many flock there and claim to be "healed," or "spiritually enlightened." What I've done for the purposes of this post is to condense the large volume of writings on the apparition into a concise summation of everything that's wrong with it. There are members of the Vatican II sect that might convert to the One True Church, but these "apparitions" keep them in Bergoglio's clutches. To write on every aspect of an almost thirty-nine year continuing so-called apparition would take more than a hundred posts in order to fully cover what's wrong. What I've done is to give the most salient points under four main categories dealing with the serious defects regarding: the "seers," the "Blessed Virgin," the clerics involved, and the content of the messages. It should (God willing) be enough to remove any doubt from a Traditionalist's mind that Medjugorje is a Satanic fraud, and will hopefully provide enough information to keep anyone you care about away from it (or even to abandon it).

A Brief Background

 The alleged apparitions began on June 24, 1981 in the small town of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The "seers" were four boys and two girls; to wit: Mirjana Dragicevic, Marija Pavlovic, Vicka Ivankovic, Ivan Dragicevic, Ivanka Ivankovic and Jakov Colo. Three were born in 1965, one in 1964, one in 1966, and one in 1971. (Due to the length of their surnames, I will refer to them by their first names). According to the official website medjugorje.org: The BVM has come there "In Her own words She tells us, 'I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and peace, you must return to God'.

Our Lady's mission is one of peace. She has come to earth to reeducate us and to help us convert and recenter our lives back to God. Our Lady's role has always been one of guiding people to Her Son, Jesus. What an amazing opportunity we have before us! Our Lady's call to conversion is urgent, and we should respond with all our hearts." The six seers (referred to as "visionaries") have received apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary since June 24, 1981. In addition to Her public messages, Our Lady is to give each of the six visionaries a total of ten "secrets" of happenings that will occur on earth in the near future. Some of the secrets pertain to the whole world while others concern the visionaries themselves or the local village. Only one of the secrets has so far been revealed by the visionaries. In the third secret Our Lady has promised to leave a supernatural, indestructible, and visible sign on the mountain where she first appeared. "Our Lady" said: "This sign will be given for the atheists. You faithful already have signs and you have become the sign for the atheists. You faithful must not wait for the sign before you convert; convert soon. This time is a time of grace for you. You can never thank God enough for His grace. The time is for deepening your faith, and for your conversion. When the sign comes, it will be too late for many."

Finally, we are told, "Since the apparitions began in 1981, approximately 40 million people of all faiths, from all over the world, have visited Medjugorje and have left spiritually strengthened and renewed. Many bring back stories of miracles in the form of healings (of mind, body and spirit), supernatural visual signs, and deep conversions back to God. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones, to investigate with an open mind and heart the messages which are given to us by Our Lady of Medjugorje. I invite you to read these messages and decide for yourself how they will affect your life and that of your family." (Emphasis mine). I have accepted their invitation, and my findings on how these messages will affect anyone foolish enough to get involved, follows in the rest of this post. My sources will be listed prior to the conclusion.

Problems with the "Visionaries"

• Unlike the seers of approved apparitions, the visions began with disobedient and sinful teenagers. Only one (Jakov Colo) was a true child at the time, being ten years of age. The average age of an approved seer is eleven, and those who were older led virtuous lives like St. Catherine Laboure, who was a holy nun of 24 when the Immaculate Virgin started appearing to her. These false "visionaries" were materialistic, disinterested in religion, and corrupted by the influences of the world in the 1980s

• The first vision was allegedly seen by Mirjana (age 16) and Ivanka (age 17) when they saw a light which Ivanka claimed to be the Gospa (i.e. "Our Lady"). What were these two young teenage girls doing prior to this event? They had each stolen cigarettes from their father and went to smoke and listen to evil rock music. It reminds me of the false apparition of Garabandal where the seers had stolen apples prior to the first "vision." 

• It was claimed, on reliable testimony, that Mirjana both used drugs and gave them to others

• The visionaries were caught in numerous discrepancies ("lies") about various aspects of their experiences. They also claimed they were oblivious to anything when in "ecstasy" watching the Gospa

• When in an "ecstasy" staring at the ceiling of the church where the Gospa was present (1985), a pilgrim named Jean-Louis Martin, was able to get near and went close to Vicka's eye with his finger as if to poke her. She jerked her head back and ran out of the room. She came back to explain that it wasn't the finger of Martin that made her move her head and run away, it was the impression she got that the Gospa was about to drop the Infant Jesus she was holding. God can't "fall," and Mary can't "drop the Divine Child." The very idea is manifestly absurd. In addition, none of the other visionaries thought this was happening. The discrepency was never explained. Their "spiritual director"  had the "apparition room" of the church closed to the public after that day

• Threats: Ivan said in a letter to the Vatican II sect "bishop" who was refusing to approve the apparitions, that the Gospa demanded his "immediate conversion" and that he should stop emphasizing the "negative side" of Medjugorje (how could a visitation of Mary have anything "negative"?), otherwise she and her Son would punish him.

• Vicka had frequent headaches and blackouts. In the opinion of the medical authorities who examined her, it was the result of an "hysterical stupor" and a psychologically unhealthy need of attention. Not only was she deemed psychologically unstable, she was ignorant of basic religious truths, such as the significance of the Annunciation. Yet we are to believe Mary appeared to her on a daily basis.

• When their "spiritual director," the invalidly ordained "Fr." Vlasic, wanted to start a "mixed-sex religious community" in 1987, Mirija said the Gospa approved of such an abomination. The V2 priest started it with a woman named Agnes Heupel. When the Vatican II sect "bishop" ordered it closed, Marija retracted her statement in a writing in which she stated, "My first statement (about approval from the Gospa)...does not correspond to the truth" (Letter of July 11, 1988; Emphasis mine). Her change of heart might be explained by the fact that Vlasic and Heupel shared a room together which was locked at night. It is rumored that Mirija caught the couple having sex and didn't want the Medjugorje events damaged by such a revelation. Hence, her prior and clearly articulated approval (which came from Mary) was somehow "misunderstood" and not a lie

• Unlike the seers of approved apparitions, none of the six visionaries became nuns, priests, or brothers. They were worldly and made huge sums of money off those with a dangerous desire for the miraculous. All kinds of "relics," religious articles, books, and even tours of Medjugorje made them opulent. The promoters of Medjugorje stated on the official website, "I know Marija, Vicka, and Ivan all seriously considered a religious vocation, but after much prayer, they discerned that their vocation was married life. We should not consider the decision to be parents and to bring life into the world a less important or holy vocation than a religious vocation."  (Emphasis mine) Compare the infallible decree of Trent: On Matrimony: CANON X.-If any one saith, that the marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony; let him be anathema. It was also stated on the official website: "Ivanka was the first to decide that her calling was married life, and asked for Our Lady's blessing. Our Lady joyfully gave Ivanka her blessing, and added that she had chosen the harder path for her life." (Emphasis mine). 

• Today, the visionaries live in mansions with double garages and security gates, and one even has a private tennis court. They drive fancy cars (BMWs)  go on frequent and expensive foreign trips, and all have married.Ivan married a former Miss Massachusetts, Loreen Murphy, a beauty queen who dresses immodestly. He is obese (so much for frequent fasting); and this, by the way, is "the harder path for [their] life." 

Problems with the "Gospa" as She Appeared

• Ivan claimed that the hands of the Gospa "trembled." This is clearly out of character for the serene Queen of Heaven, and she was not making a point about something; e.g., how people will tremble with horror for their sins, etc. That was simply how he perceived her.

• The Gospa said nothing at the beginning of her appearances. Then she would merely answer questions from the visionaries. This is a complete departure from all approved apparitions whereby Mary had a mission and was never there for a "question and answer" session.

• The visionaries claimed to be able to "kiss and touch" the Gospa, while she "laughed." In approved apparitions, Mary has occasionally been said to smile, but not laugh, nor was she "kissed and touched." It reminds me of Garabandal where the phony seers said Mary laughed and "played hide and go seek." 

• It is asserted that one of the visionaries sprinkled the Gospa with Holy Water to make sure she wasn't a demon in disguise. Later, Vicka claimed it was only ordinary water but "contained some blessed salt."

• Unlike all approved apparitions, the Gospa of Medjugorje appeared only gradually out of some orbs of light (sometimes a "blue mist"), as if she were composed of it. By contrast, in approved apparitions, Mary appears immediately with any light being totally distinct from her. 

• The Gospa would "bless" the religious objects from pilgrims (as the visionaries collected donations), and impart to the six a "special grace" they could then give unto others. Only priests can bless religious objects, and Mary is not a priest. Imparting "special grace" (whatever that means) to have the six visionaries impose hands and pass it on sounds like an imitation sacrament from ersatz "priests" and "priestesses"

• The Gospa would "burst into spontaneous laughter"

• The Gospa would recite the Our Father with the visionaries. This is heretical and blasphemous to suggest. How could Mary ask God to "forgive us our trespasses" when she is without stain of sin?

• Why is it taking almost 40 years--with no end in sight--for the Gospa to reveal her message to the world? Mary always gave a message in a short time in all approved apparitions. Whereas Fatima had three secrets given in less than a year, the Gospa has sixty (60) to give, and most of the content is virtually unknown to this day. 

 Problems with the Clerics

•  "Father" Tomislav Vlasic (b.1942) was invalidly ordained in 1969. He was the "spiritual director" of the visionaries. There is much evidence he may have concocted much of the story by manipulating the kids. In 1976, he impregnated a Vatican II sect nun, Sr. Rufina (born Manda Kozul). He moved her to Germany where she gave birth to their child conceived in broken vows and lust. Vlasic made her swear never to reveal his paternity, and suffer in silence "like Mary" (!)

• Kozul wrote Vlasic love letters and asked him to keep his promise to leave the priesthood and marry her. One of the letters fell into the hands of Kozul's landlord who turned it over to one "Cardinal" Ratzinger. Despite his knowledge of what happened, Vlasic was not defrocked until Ratzinger became "Pope" Benedict XVI, and Vlasic was formally laicized in 2009. 

• After being involved with the "Charismatic Catholic (sic) Movement" he heard about Medjugorje, and immediately went there to be the "spiritual director." The money came rolling in soon after his involvement. The Gospa gave messages to the visionaries about Vlasic's "sanctity."

• He started the "mixed sex" religious congregation mentioned above, where he was accused of having sex with the woman co-founder, Agnes Heupel, who claimed a visit to Medjugorje "cured her partial paralysis."

•  Vlasic was finally investigated in 2008 for "dubious doctrine," "manipulation of consciences," "suspected mysticism" [i.e.,occult practices], "sins against the Sixth Commandment" and "disobedience." Rather than be excommunicated, he asked to be reduced to the lay state ("laicized") and Ratzinger let him leave. 

• As of 2012, Vlasic and his latest concubine joined "Central Nucleus," a New Age religious movement that engages heavily in pagan astrology. 

• The official Medjugorje website has this to say of the demonic wretch Vlasic: "First, it is not important to go into detail of the charges against Vlasic, it can only make us become what the media sources are today – Scandal-makers. The Vatican itself sets that example with forgiveness and stopping the study of the Vlasic case, as a result of his request to be laicized." (Emphasis mine).  What spin-doctoring! "Who am I to judge?" 

• There were two other "priests" involved with the visionaries: "Fr" Ivan Vego, who also impregnated a nun, and "Fr." Jozo Zovko (declared "saintly" by the Gospa) who was accused of multiple affairs and sexually assaulting an American woman, apparently while she was on a pilgrimage.  

Problems with the Messages of "the Gospa"

• The Gospa accepts Vatican II and the "popes" from Roncalli to Bergoglio

• The reason Bergoglio approves of Medjugorje is because it promotes ecumenism and has a sappy, "feel good" message

• The stated purpose of the Gospa: "Our Lady's mission is one of peace. She has come to earth to reeducate us and to help us convert and recenter our lives back to God. Our Lady's role has always been one of guiding people to Her Son, Jesus." (Emphasis mine). Her message is one of peace? In what sense? Did not Our Lord say, "Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword." (St. Matthew 10:34). "Reeducate"? Yes, to brainwash the world into accepting Modernism. While the real Blessed Virgin Mary does indeed "guide people to her Son Jesus," this "Gospa" is leading people away from Christ. There is only salvation in the One True Church, yet the Gospa says otherwise

• Gospa: Once stated that most souls go to Purgatory and not Hell. So the world has gotten more holy since Fatima?

• Gospa: "All religions are equal before God" This is "Positive Indifferentism," the teaching that all religions are equally good and all roads lead to God. There is no One True Church

• Gospa: "...Jesus prefers that you address your petitions directly to Him, rather than through an intermediary." This is Protestantism

• Gospa: "In God there are no divisions or religions; it is you in the world who have created divisions."
• Gospa: "...The Muslims [Moslems] and the Orthodox, like the Catholics, are equal before my Son and before me, for you are all my children." (Emphasis mine)

• In addition there is the problem of what the Gospa never says. If you go to the "Concordance" of the official website, where you can search for key words in the messages of the Gospa since at least 1984, here are words that the Gospa never uses: abortion, contraception, homosexual, molestation, and divorce. With these huge evils, and almost four decades of hundreds of messages, Mary never condemns the murder of innocent unborn children? She never condemns the proliferation of contraception and its acceptance by over 85% of the Vatican II sect? No mention of sodomite "marriage" and sodomite clergy molesting thousands of children? No mention of the ease of divorce and sinful remarriage? (See https://www.medjugorje.ws/en/messages/concordance) 

Sources

Davies, Medjugorje After Fifteen Years: The Message and the Meaning (1998)

Foley, Understanding Medjugorje: Heavenly Visions or Religious Illusion? (2006)

Laurentin & Ljudevit, Is the Virgin Mary Appearing at Medjugorje (1988)

Laurentin, Medjugorge Testament: Hostility Abounds, Grace Superabounds (1999)

Weible, The Final Harvest: Medjugorje at the End of the Century (1999)

Official Medjugorje website: medjugorje.org

Various websites that have referenced and corroborated the information above.

The works by Fr. Laurentin are pro-Medjugorje as is the official website; the other sources are critical. 

Conclusion

 I have frequently wrote against those I label "Apparitionists:" They are people who exalt private revelations and apparitions whether approved by the Church (such as Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Lourdes) or not (such as Our Lady of the Roses or Garabandal) over the teaching of the Church. It should be painfully apparent how placing these apparitions over doctrine leads to people being trapped in falsehood. Whether Satanic, fraudulent, or a combination, one thing is certain: they do not come from or lead to God, and the Blessed Virgin Mary never appeared there.

Now, the Vatican II sect has approved pilgrimages to a place where heresy is taught, people are swindled out of their hard-earned money to make phony, disreputable visionaries rich, and it was promoted by invalid priests who led debaucherous, pagan, evil lives. If anyone thinks a true pope could approve anything connected with this abomination, I question not only their faith, but their sanity.