...If Mother Teresa were alive now, she would have been the first in line to visit Medjugorje and Pope John Paul II would have undoubtedly joined her. As he said to one of the visionaries of Medjugorje, Mirjana Dragicevic: “If I weren’t pope, I would be in Medjugorje to confess.”
Is this pastoral change Francis’s way of signaling that, after the approval of organized pilgrimage for pastoral benefits “aimed at encouraging and promoting the fruits of good,” as the announcement specified, and the good of the faithful, the approval of the private Medjugorje revelations will follow? Probably.
Pope Francis is using the argument of “pastoral benefit,” pastoral having more weight than doctrinal in Francis’s pontificate, to give credence to Medjugorje’s private revelation. Through the latest announcement, the Medjugorje phenomenon is, therefore, gaining some degree of authentication....
As the author admits, it is impossible for the Church to grant formal "authentication" of Medjugorje because the "apparitions" continue on a daily basis.
There's no question that prayer and fasting for the sake of the Church and our salvation is good. But we didn't need Medjugorje to tell us that.
Nothing is impossible, of course; but some things are extremely unlikely.
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