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The unsubstantiated words of Amorth do nothing but report the rumors that were notoriously circulating among the Medjugorje pilgrims, roughly since the mid-1980s. That is why it is not a testimony.

 

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But what is the original source of these rumors?

 

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Probably Father Jozo Zovko. But his story, on one hand, does not seem to stand up and, on the other, flatly contradicts the version reported by Amorth, from the point of view of chronology.

 

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We read, from the book-length interview Incontri con Padre Jozo, the account of an event that allegedly occurred a few days before August 17, 1981, when Father Jozo was arrested (the question is by Sabrina Cović, the reply by Father Jozo):

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The newspapers were blaming you, but the bishop was still supportive of the  children. What was your relationship with the bishop when the attacks against you began?

We had a good relationship ... The bishop also had been accused. One day he asked me to come to him. [...] The bishop wanted to see me alone. He took me to the window of the living room and, with tears in his eyes, said to me: "Father Jozo, today I was summoned to Sarajevo ... They told me that if I protect Medjugorje, if I side with Medjugorje, they will arrest me. I cannot go to prison for Medjugorje. I am a bishop!"

[Sabrina Covic, Incontri con padre Jozo, Les éditions Sakramento, 2006, pp. 63-64]

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As we have seen, Father Jozo places the summons of the bishop to Sarajevo before his own arrest.

 

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The version reported by Father Amorth places the calling of the bishop to  Sarajevo after the arrest of Father Jozo and after the intervention of the bishop in defense of Father Jozo ("...he proved courageous in defending the parish priest, Fr. Jozo Zovko, when he was arrested. But then, what happened? He was summoned by the Sarajevo Executive Council").

 

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Now, let's see if we can present three theoretically possible hypotheses, followed by my observations.

 

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Hypothesis 1: Father Jozo is the original and direct source of a truthful story.

 

First observation: it would hardly be credible that the bishop would have made such an admission spontaneously, knowing that he would thus be setting himself against the whole parish and would lose face. A coward is a coward. Likely, the "whimpering" bishop would have kept the secret to himself.

 

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Second observation: the chronology does not square with the sequence of established historical events. In fact, on the subsequent 1 September, the bishop did exactly what he was never supposed to do, if Father Jozo's story were true: he defended the Franciscans from the reprisals they were suffering from the government and he did so in ringing tones and addressing himself to the highest political authority, the president of the Yugoslav Federation, Sergej Kraigher:

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Mister President,
in the newspapers, on the radio, on television broadcasts, it was reported that on 17 August 1981 a meeting of the municipal conference of the Citluk Socialist Union of Working People took place in Citluk. [...]
It was declared that it was necessary to explain even more clearly to the people what the priests Jozo Zovko, parish priest of Medjugorje, his colleague Ferdo Vlasić, the bishop of Mostar, Žanić, and other extremists have planned and intend. [...]

I consider it my duty and my right to vigorously protest against such slanders, totally devoid of any foundation. As a Catholic bishop and as the Ordinary responsible for the diocese of Mostar, I myself am saddened, along with my priests put into question, by these slanders and irresponsible attacks, whose bad taste certainly cannot help anyone to serenely observe the events that have taken place in the parish of Medjugorje. Fundamental human rights and rights  as a citizen are offended by such proceedings.

I ask you to accept my protest (I address it to the person who holds the highest office in Yugoslavia) and to react firmly against such attacks.

[Letter (1 September 1981) from the bishop of Mostar Pavao Žanić to the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in René Laurentin, La Vergine appare a Medjugorje?, Queriniana, 1991, p. 61]

 

 

Again on November 2, 1981, the assistant pastor Tomislav Vlašić wrote in the parish chronicle:

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Today I went with Vicka to Fr. Bishop P. Žanić. I wanted him to receive the information directly. He listened to Vicka with great openness and encouraged her. He told her to always be sincere and free in saying what she experiences ... "

[Tomislav Vlašić, Kronika ukazanja u župi Međugorje (Chronicle of the apparitions of the parish of Medjugorje), initial unnumbered volume, under the date 2/11/1981, document in the archives of the curia of Mostar and of the parish of Medjugorje. Original text: «Danas sam s Vickom bio kod o. biskupa P. Žanića. Htio sam da dobiva informacije direktno. On je slušao Vicku s velikom otvorenošću i ohrabrio ju je. Lui rekao joj je da lei uvijek bude iskrena i slobodna da lei kaže sve što lei doživljava ... "]

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This would be very strange behavior for someone who knew he had made an admission that in the meantime had obviously already been leaked to the whole parish.

 

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In fact, from the words written in the Chronicle it is evident that in November the Franciscans of Medjugorje (specifically the vicar Vlašić) knew nothing of what Father Jozo, a few years later, would assert had happened in August, days before his arrest.

 

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Hypothesis 2: Father Jozo is the original source, but the story was invented by him (after February 1983, when he was released from prison) to neutralize the bishop's opposition.

 

In this hypothesis, Father Amorth's version (which the latter may have simply reported as it circulated) would constitute a correction of the original one, modified to make it more consistent with the chronology of known facts and therefore more "credible" (this version, in fact, places the "confession" after the bishop’s public defenses of the Franciscans and of father Jozo himself, already arrested).

 

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In any case, Father Amorth contradicted himself, since - according to what is reported - he said: "In the first months of the apparitions, the Communist police behaved very harshly [...]. It was the period in which Monsignor Žanić was particularly favorable to Medjugorje. When the bishop became a strong opponent, the police became much more tolerant..."[G. Amorth, Un esercito contro il male. La mia verità su Medjugorje, BUR, 2019, pp. 14-15].

 

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And this is pure truth: Monsignor Žanić always found himself on the opposite side from the government.

 

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Hypothesis 3: The original story was invented by an unknown source.

 

In this hypothesis, which is entirely theoretical, after his release, Father Jozo allegedly "took" a rumor that was circulating and, in retrospect, inserted  himself into the story, but with an implausible chronology.

 

In any case, it is not the first time that a testimony by Father Jozo is in conflict with chronology (see M. Corvaglia, La verità su Medjugorje. Il grande inganno, Lindau, 2018, pp. 43-48]

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Finally, it is fitting to underscore that there is no mystery about the reasons Msgr. Žanić always gave for having begun to be suspicious.  They were based on some serious contradictions for which Vicka and Jakov became responsible in April 1982, in relation to the Herzegovina “question”. The bishop himself made note of them in the “Supplement to the ‘Information’” sent as a circular letter to the pastors of Herzegovina, protocol number 1213/82, on 16 December 1982.

 

Go to Part 8: Medjugorje, the Church, and the Strategy the Commission Suggested

                                                                                           Marco Corvaglia

Article published on 30 December 2021

English linguistic revision by Richard Chonak

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This article has been legally deposited at Copyright.eu