Collection of John Paul II statements on Medjugorje
http://www.ministryvalues.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=863&Itemid=125
New detail: John Paul II had the nickname "Protector of Medjugorje" inside the Vatican. Also the article contains a fairly exhaustive list of his statements to bishops and priests about Medjugorje.
It also says the Pope knew the place and the apparitions in more details than many experts of his time. Another great little detail that was new to me: Medjugorje was called "a theatre of holiness" by the eminent German theologian Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthazar, a close personal friend of Benedict XVI. What a lovely and most fitting nickname!
Denis Nolan's excellent book "Medjugorje And The Church" has an even longer list of papal second-hand endorsements - as well as a handful of his hand-written letters to friends of his in Poland, leaving no doubt that he was convinced the apparitions are genuine.
Now, how has all this affected the anti-Medjugorje Catholics? It hasn't affected them at all. They started out doubting and denying the second-hand statements. When the amount of them grew to make that impossible, they took the freedom of saying "the Pope is old" (though his mind was clear until he died). When we got his hand-written letters, their reaction was one of keeping silent. All in accordance with the strategy summed up by one Medjugorje supporter as "What they cannot understand, they deny. And what they cannot deny, they keep silent about". John Paul II kept far from silent, and his statements remain a source of encouragement to all the rest of us, especially at times of fierce opposition. Enjoy! _________________"Through you I will triumph". - Source-Medjugorje Forum
http://www.ministryvalues.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=863&Itemid=125
New detail: John Paul II had the nickname "Protector of Medjugorje" inside the Vatican. Also the article contains a fairly exhaustive list of his statements to bishops and priests about Medjugorje.
It also says the Pope knew the place and the apparitions in more details than many experts of his time. Another great little detail that was new to me: Medjugorje was called "a theatre of holiness" by the eminent German theologian Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthazar, a close personal friend of Benedict XVI. What a lovely and most fitting nickname!
Denis Nolan's excellent book "Medjugorje And The Church" has an even longer list of papal second-hand endorsements - as well as a handful of his hand-written letters to friends of his in Poland, leaving no doubt that he was convinced the apparitions are genuine.
Now, how has all this affected the anti-Medjugorje Catholics? It hasn't affected them at all. They started out doubting and denying the second-hand statements. When the amount of them grew to make that impossible, they took the freedom of saying "the Pope is old" (though his mind was clear until he died). When we got his hand-written letters, their reaction was one of keeping silent. All in accordance with the strategy summed up by one Medjugorje supporter as "What they cannot understand, they deny. And what they cannot deny, they keep silent about". John Paul II kept far from silent, and his statements remain a source of encouragement to all the rest of us, especially at times of fierce opposition. Enjoy! _________________"Through you I will triumph". - Source-Medjugorje Forum
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