Une Minute avec Marie
Faire connaître et aimer Marie
Italian Archbishop Aldo Cavalli was appointed Apostolic Visitor to the parish of Medjugorje (1) by Pope Francis. This Bosnian-Herzegovinian town has become one of the most visited Marian sites in the world over the last forty years. Below is an interview for Vatican News (extracts):
Thanks to the new norms intended by Pope Francis, the procedure for examining and judging these cases (of conversion) now focuses more on the spiritual fruits.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has examined two points that can be documented. The first concerns the fruits. Thousands and thousands of people come to Medjugorje from all over the world. This year, two million adults and young people came. Nearly 50,000 priests came to pray and be converted. Other very important fruits are the many vocations. So many people are praying!
The second element examined was the messages. Each message was examined against our faith, and it was found that all the messages are aligned with it. The fruits are very positive, and so are the messages for our faith: this allowed us to say that Medjugorje is a place of grace.
Have you met the Medjugorje visionaries? Some have objected that none of them have become priests or religious...
Yes. And I can say that they are simple people, that they have their own family, that they have the problems of any family. We see each other often, we have coffee together. These are people who are growing in their faith, each in their own way, and becoming wiser and wiser. I keep in touch with them: they haven't become priests or nuns, but each has his or her own mission.
When simple people come here with all their problems, they meet the Mother of God who has suffered as they have. Changing your life doesn't mean leaving your family or your job... When you go back to your old life, you're changed inside. You know that with the Lord you can face any problem. That's the faith of the simple; with the Rosary, the Eucharist and Eucharistic adoration.
Last summer, I witnessed 30 to 40,000 young people in adoration, in absolute silence. There, in that transformed bread, is the real and substantial presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He looks at me, I look at him, he speaks to me, I speak to him. Countless people have told me: "Here, I heard the Lord speak to me."
Međugorje is a town in Bosnia-Herzegovina that has become a Marian shrine and Catholic pilgrimage site since the Virgin Mary first appeared on the “hill of apparitions” in 1981. These apparitions continue to this day, particularly every 25th of the month.