Apparitions/Private Revelations

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

66 "The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such "revelations."

EWTN.com

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Holy Cannoli

May 3, 2014

In November 1983, Bishop Žanić of the diocese of Mostar-Duvno, in which Medjugorje is situated, sent a study on Medjugorje to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who asked him for his position on the apparition. Zanic said the apparition could not be from God because of the "disorder and disarray" it caused, but that it was probably a hoax because "From the outset one can notice that the children have sometimes lied".[4]

Bishop Ratko Perić, the successor of Zanic, stated in Međugorje: Secrets, messages, vocations, prayers, confessions, commissions that he came to definitively disbelieve in the Medjugorje apparitions when the alleged visionaries claimed Our Lady was against the papal decree Romanis Pontificibus.[4]

In 1985, 1995 and 1998, the Holy See forbade official pilgrimages to Medjugorje: "pilgrimages, whether private or public, are not allowed if they presuppose the authenticity of the apparitions, since this would be in contradiction to the declaration of the Bishops’ Conference of Yugoslavia".[4]

Also in 1998, Cardinal Ratzinger said, “The only thing I can say regarding statements on Medjugorje ascribed to the Holy Father and myself is that they are complete invention” – frei erfunden.[4]

On 10 April 1991, the Yugoslav Episcopal Conference issued at Zadar a declaration that states: "It cannot be affirmed that these matters concern supernatural apparitions or revelations."[2]

Continued
Catholic Church response to the Medjugorje apparitions

Holy Cannoli

May 3, 2014

Certainly, however, the faithful benefit the most from the judgment of the bishop of the diocese in which the apparition occurs. He has the authority to assemble a commission of scientific and theological experts, to judge the case, as well as the grace of vocation to carry out this pastoral service. While his decision is not infallible, it has the presumption of being correct and should receive the respectfully adherence of the faithful (Canon 753). Thus, such decisions should generally be decisive in the prudential judgment of the faithful. It would require very weighty and sound theological reasons (not feelings or mere agreement with the content of the alleged apparition) to find defect in such a decision. Such intellectual disagreement, however, does not permit acting out of communion with the bishop. (See my FAQ on Medjugorje for the attitude of the Holy See in one such case.)