Chairman of the Pope’s Commission of Cardinals appears alongside Medjugorje seer Ivan Dragicevic this weekend. By placing himself next to Ivan in an event that honors Medjugorje, the Cardinal dismisses the Prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office for the second time this week.
Pope Francis with Cardinal Maradiaga last year on October 1, at the first meeting of the Commission of Cardinals chaired by Cardinal Maradiaga
Overtones of power struggles inside the Vatican are present when Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga opens the second annual Youth Festival in Danli, Honduras, on Friday. The overtones are amplified by the presence of visionary Ivan Dragicevic as one of five speakers from Medjugorje.
The participation of Cardinal Maradiaga, the chairman of the Commission of cardinals, the Pope’s so-called G8 group of close advisors, and his inner circle in preparing Church reforms, is being confirmed by the director of the university campus that stages the event in an environment unambiguously inspired by Medjugorje, complete with replicas of St. James Church, Cross Mountain, and Apparition Hill.
Cardinal Maradiaga opening the first Youth Festival in Honduras on February 7th 2013 when Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic also was present
“For the second year there will be this beautiful activity in honor of the Virgin Mary of Medjugorje beginning on Friday January 24 at 8 am with Holy Mass presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga and Auxiliary Bishop Juan José Pineda. During the day we will share testimonies, and hike to Cerro de la Cruz (replica of Cross Mountain, Medjugorje) and Cerro de la Virgen which is the replica of Apparition Hill” university campus director Victor Fernandez tells the Spanish website Religion Confidencial.
Ivan during a public apparition in Monforte, Italy, in 2012. Cardinal Maradiaga appears by his side by a time when American Catholics have been banned from attending arrangements that take the authenticity of the apparitions “for granted”, through a document that made specific mention of Ivan’s public arrangements
By appearing alongside Ivan Dragicevic, by presiding over Mass at an event modeled on the Youth Festival in Medjugorje, and by honoring the Virgin Mary of Medjugorje in an environment which is a three-fold replica of Medjugorje, Cardinal Maradiaga openly dismisses Archbishop Gerhard Müller, the Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In October last year, Cardinal-designate Müller asked the papal nuncio to the United States to instruct the Catholic clergy and laity that they were not allowed to participate in arrangements that take the authenticity of the apparitions in Medjugorje “for granted”. With specific mention of Ivan Dragicevic’s public apparitions in the United States, the papal nuncio wrote on behalf of Archbishop Müller:
Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who initiated the restrictions on Medjugorje arrangements in the United States. Cardinal Maradiaga’s appearance along a Medjugorje represents the second time when he distances himself from the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office in less than a week
“Clerics and the faithful are not permitted to participate in meetings, conferences or public celebrations during which the credibility of such “apparitions” would be taken for granted. In order, therefore, to avoid scandal and confusion, Archbishop Müller asks that the Bishops be informed of this matter as soon as possible.”
Cardinal Maradiaga will appear side by side with the Medjugorje visionary only four days after publicly criticizing Archbishop Müller. On January 20, the German newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger published an interview with Cardinal Maradiaga, brought up the exclusion of remarried Catholics from receiving Holy Communion, and noted that Archbishop Müller is in favor of upholding the Church’s position on the issue, through giving preference to Church teaching and authority over the mercy oftentimes stressed by Pope Francis. According to the paper, Cardinal Maradiaga laughed and gave this reply:
Inspired by Medjugorje: the logo of the second annual Youth Festival in Danli, Honduras, on January 24-25
“I have read it, yes. And I thought, “Okay, maybe you are right, but maybe not.” I mean, I understand him: He is German – yes, I have to say that on top of that he is a professor, a German professor of theology. In his mentality there is only right or wrong, that is it. But I say: “The world, my brother, the world is not like that. You should be a little flexible when you hear other voices, so that you do not only listen and say, ‘No, here is the wall’. So I believe he will get there, to understanding other points of view. But now he is still just at the beginning, just listening to his own advisors staff” Cardinal Maradiaga told Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
- Will you be offering him your advice?
“Until now we have not spoken with each other. But we will be talking, certainly. It is always good to lead a good dialogue” Cardinal Maradiaga replied. The two days festival in Honduras is expected to bring together 8,000 young people from all over the world. Last year on February 7, Cardinal Maradiaga and Ivan also teamed up in opening the first festival, an event that coincided with the opening of the replica of Cross Mountain in Danli. The Cardinal has not been to Medjugorje – but has been talking warmly of the place, and said he might visit.