Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jul 23, 2018 / 09:25 am
The Vatican's apostolic visitor to Medjugorje, appointed by the pope to oversee the pastoral needs at the site of alleged Marian apparitions, began his mandate Sunday.
Archbishop Henryk Hoser, retired archbishop of Warsaw-Prague, celebrated Mass at St. James church in Medjugorje July 22 to mark the beginning of the directive, which follows his service as papal envoy to the site in 2017.
In his homily at Mass, the apostolic visitor said that "the fundamental question" about Medjugorje is why so many people go there every year, and said the answer is that they go "to meet someone: to meet God, to meet Christ, to meet His Mother."
He pointed to Lumen gentium, a document from the Second Vatican Council, which emphasizes that Marian devotion is approved and encouraged by the Church as it develops "in harmonic subordination" to worship of Christ, which he said the popular devotion at Medjugorje achieves.