Famed conservative archbishop in favour of Medjugorje apparitions

A BISHOP WHO KNOWS OPPOSITION WELL: 'BOOKS WHICH CRITICIZE MEDJUGORJE MOVED ME TO COME AND SEE WITH MY OWN EYES'


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‘I HAVE PERSONAL REASONS TO THINK THESE APPARITIONS ARE AUTHENTIC’
Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard with visionary Vicka Ivankovic

  • ‘I KNOW THE LOCAL BISHOP IS IN FIERCE OPPOSITION’
  • CONSIDERED ‘MOST TRADITIONAL PRELATE IN BELGIUM’
  • ‘UNDERSTANDS OPPOSITION’ BUT CALLS BOOK ‘POLEMICAL’
  • DESCRIBES ‘THE PRESENCE OF VICKA’ – ‘SUFFERING, COMPLETELY DEVOTED, ALWAYS SMILING’
  • SPECULATES ‘NEUTRAL’ VATICAN PRONOUNCEMENT
WORLD FAMOUS conservative Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard has declared his personal belief in the apparitions of Medjugorje since reflecting on a week spent with Medjugorje visionary Vicka Ivankovic who had her daily apparitions in his presence whilst on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Mgr Leonard has since reflected on the trip that took place back in September 2013 on the Maranathawebsite and shared his compelling thoughts on the apparitions that he witnessed:
“I was confronted by a fundamental and delicate fact: The lady who helped me tremendously to organize this pilgrimage, Sabrina Covic, had invited one of the ‘visionaries’ (under reserve), Vicka, to join us. This meant that during the great assemblies the rosary was interrupted at 18h40 by what many believe to be an apparition of the Virgin Mary.”
5T2T5797Mgr Leonard celebrating the Extraordinary Form Mass with FSSP General Superior Fr Berg and consecrates priests to the traditional fraternity [Note. Mgr Leonard is not an FSSP confrère and The FSSP have no affiliation to Medjugorje]

topicMgr Leonard praying for FEMEN protesters who douse him with water.

Mgr Leonard is more famously known for being a staunchly catholic, tradition-loving bishop. His appointment to Brussels by Pope Benedict XVI on January 18, 2010 arrived with a vow to restore a more ‘worthy’ liturgy and traditional Catholic values back in the country.
Recently traditional catholic bloggers Rorate Caeli wrote ‘truly traditional Catholics need no convincing of the highly problematic nature and false claims of Medjugorje’. Yet Archbishop Leonard, who actively promotes the traditional movement and regularly celebrates the Tridentine Mass, also speaks in defence of Medjugorje although he says the judgement of the apparitions is ‘not his business’ but the business of the Vatican Commission, so he ultimately waits to hear the official ruling.
Vatican Journalist Andrea Tornelli called him ‘the most traditional bishop in Belgium’ and Rorate Caeli described him as ‘offering breathing space for orthodoxy’ by installing in his diocese the FSSP- the traditional Priestly Fraternity of St Peter established by Pope St John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger and 15 former lefebvrian clergymen – and offered ‘the first Tridentine Mass celebrated by a Belgian Primate in over 40 years’.

In 2013 his opposition brought him to international fame when ‘gay rights FEMEN’ activists doused him with water during a conference.
“TWO RISKS EXIST: THE RISK THAT WE ARE BEING DECEIVED IN MEDJUGORJE AND THE RISK THAT WE ARE BYPASSING A GIFT OF GRACE. I PREFER TO TAKE THE RISK OF OPENNESS AND PRUDENCE”

Archbishop Leonard described in his reflections of the visionary as having a presence:
“The presence of a Vicka: suffering from poor health, always smiling, completely devoted to the local Christians, especially the sick, certainly contributed in attracting the crowds.”
“I have personal reasons to think that these apparitions are authentic. I also know that the local bishop on the spot, the bishop of Mostar, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, is on the contrary, in fierce opposition. This has not prevented Rome from not feeling tied down by his judgment alone, since an international commission of experts has been appointed to study the phenomena.”
He speculated on the outcome of the commission’s findings commenting:
“According to some, its likely to be neutral, perhaps even lenient, without being able to settle the matter in a peremptory fashion, neither positively nor negatively, since the phenomena are still going on.”
“I DO NOT WISH TO JUDGE THINGS, SITUATIONS, AND PERSONS FROM A DISTANCE, ONLY FROM BOOKS. I WOULD RATHER TAKE A LITTLE MORE PERSONAL LOOK.”