The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a letter to all of the U.S. bishops about Medjugorje. So yeah just another quite Catholic news day.

Jimmy Akin as usual has provided his usual excellent service of distilling what this means with things to know and share about the new letter on Medjugorje.

One thing I find interesting is that the letter was sent to the U.S. Bishops specifically. Possibly other Bishop conferences are receiving similar letters. Or maybe the majority of visitors to Medjugorje are from the United States. It seems to me that many bishops have seemed to turn a blind eye to “unofficial official” pilgrimages there despite the 1991 letter from the Bishops of the former Republic of Yugoslavia. In my own diocese these “unofficial official” pilgrimages appear in parish bulletins and on local Catholic radio along with parish priests “unofficially” going along.

Another thing of interest was the way the letter was written with language such as “so-called visionaries” and later “apparitions” used with scare quotes.

Years ago I reviewed Donal Foley’s book “Understanding Medjugorje Heavenly Vision or Religious Illusions”. Information since then has only confirmed my belief that it is a hoax on some level. When I first came into the Church I was very interested in apparitions. I think my previous atheism was seeking for evidential proofs to confirm I had not gone crazy with this “faith thing.” Medjugorje interested me and I had even gone to a parish where one of the “seer’s” spoke. Not long after that though I found out what the Bishop’s of Medjugorje had said and decided to pay no more attention to it along with the whole idea of seeking apparitions. After all even such apparitions that the Church considers worthy of pious credence and declaring them constat de supernaturalitate might emphasize an area of the faith, but teach nothing new.

The situation reminds me of the rich man who had feasted sumptuously while ignoring the plight of Lazurus.

And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ (Lk 16:27–30)

We are in the same situation where we have the scriptures, sacred tradition, and the teaching authority of the Church and yet look for other sources instead of “hearing them.” Still I think God in his mercy does act via some apparitions to call us to what has already been revealed. Valid apparitions (and valid with all necessary caveats) are a sign of our weakness and not favor.

When it comes to Medjugorje I find it fascinating that it produces two contradictory fruits. That of disobedience and conversion. There has been so much shameful disobedience surrounding followers of the so-called seers and disobedience to their bishop from the “seer’s” themselves. Yet around this there have been genuine conversions. Evidence that God can draw straight lines out of anything and of course anywhere there is the Mass, the sacraments, and repentance; there will also be conversions.

Since I was under ten at the time and had no connection to the Catholic Church the Second Vatican Council was a total non-entity for me. Still in retrospect I have wondered about the disconnect between what the Council actually taught and how it was perceived by Catholics and the world-at-large. Information about the Council was almost entirely filtered through the media. Even for Catholic who were watching closely there was a lot of misinformation to wade through and as the actual documents were published there were relatively few who read them. So partly it is easy to comprehend how the “Spirit of Vatican II” developed in an atmosphere of cultural upset and expectation of change.

I think I have a better understanding now how this dynamic worked. The reason I say this is I believe there is a “Spirit of Pope Francis” dynamic working right now. Once again change seems to be expected and that dogma and doctrine is up for grabs. The media amplifies anything interpreted to be in this direction; a grasping at straws and straw-men. It has been quite ludicrous when it comes to dogmatic teachings related to abortion, homosexual acts, women’s ordination are going to result in a total rewrite of the Catechism. Areas concerning discipline and not dogmas spin out of control on something totally unsubstantial. For example Archbishop Pietro Parolin’s answer regarding clerical celibacy that was anything but a signaling of future change. More recently all the talk about women Cardinal’s being appointed.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi said yesterday:

“Being a cardinal is one of the roles in the church for which, in theory, one does not have to be ordained as a priest,” Lombardi said. “But to move from that point to suggesting the pope will name female cardinals for the consistory is not even remotely realistic.”

So of course the media reports “Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi fuels rumours on female cardinals”

More evidence of the “Sprit of Pope Francis” at work. You don’t need actual statements or documents just and expectation of change. The media, non-Catholics, and some Catholics not exactly friendly to the Church see Pope Francis as a “breath of fresh air.” So since they like him many assume that he can’t possibly be a “dogmatic” Pope and someone that actually believes all that the Church authoritatively teaches. The Pope’s repeated claims that he is a “son of the Church” is rather lost on them. He’s a humble guy with an obvious love for the poor so of course that means he is a political liberal. Some of the imprecision in the Pope’s language also contributes to agenda interpretations regarding what he has said. Some missteps such as the interview with Eugenio Scalfari that was not recorded and published based on Scalfari’s memory. There are reports that the Pope “regretted” the publication of the interview in “L’Osservatore Romano” and “complained of it to the director, Gian Maria Vian, in Assisi on Oct. 4.”

So there are many things that lead to the “Spirit of Pope Francis” and once again obvious contradictions don’t matter. Pope Francis can preach repeatedly about the reality of the devil and at the same time is expected to eject everything that went before. So just like the “Spirit of Vatican II” the “Spirit of Pope Francis” is full of contradictions between what is actually written and what is expected. The question is how is this to be overcome? Just the fact that the Pope won’t be changing these teachings will not be enough for those Bullwinkle Catholics who keep thinking “This time, for sure!”