Louis Bélanger asked me to inform you that he has been hospitalised on July 16, 2010, and that he will not be able to resume his activities before mid-August. He thanks you for your messages of encouragement to which he will not have the possibility to answer.
With his cordial greetings,
Stéphane Thibault
Webmaster
The end of the “apparitions” announced by the Lady of Medjugorje has raised one of the most, if not the most important objection that has hindered the recognition of their supernatural character.
According to the visionaries’ tape recorded declarations, the Gospa – the Croatian word meaning the Madona or the Virgin Mary – announced, on June 30, 1981, that she would appear to them three more times. On July 3, ten days after the beginning of the happenings, the visionaries confirmed, before five adults, three of whom were priests, that their meetings with the Gospa were once and for all over.
Twenty-nine years later, in 2010, the daily encounters of some of the visionaries with the Gospa continue to attract millions of pilgrims. What has happened?
In this editorial post on the historical grand concealment, we will try to establish the facts that constitute the solid basis of that troubling cover-up.
Then, in the next editorial post on the actual duplicity, we will identify the manoeuvers deployed by informers and key protagonists to conceal those informations that were interpreted as a threat to “the good cause”.
They consist in the first section of Vicka’s Diary, one of the visionaries, and of 15 transcripts of taped interviews conducted by the Medjugorje pastoral personnel with the six visionaries, between the 27th and the 30th of June, 1981. I have presented elsewhere my encounter with Franciscan Father Ivo Sivric and the modalities of our collaboration that led to the publication of La face cachée de Medjugorje, in 1988, and its English translation, The Hidden Side of Medjugorje, in 1989.
The authenticity of the magnetic tapes that contain the conversations that have been transcribed is no more open to doubt. The original tapes are stored in the St. James parish archives and the duplicates are left at the 
bishopric of Mostar and at the residence of Mr. Grgo Kozina, a parishioner who has generously reproduced them for his friend, Fr. Sivric, and for Mrs. Daria Klanac, a Canadian citizen of Croatian origin and Medjugorje devotee, who published her transcriptions in French, in 1998.
Are our transcriptions reliable?
In 1987,I asked the Ordinary of Mostar to confirm in writing his permission to publish by validating each of the 38 documents and their translation into the French language that he knew well. He accepted with good grace as indicated by these first two pages of a complete list that he marked with his signature.
Donal Anthony Foley, who knows French well, has compared our transcriptions with those made by Mrs Klanac who published her own French version of them, ten years after our publication. His “judgment” is positive: our transcriptions are reliable… Please read his analysis in his book that I highly recommend, Understanding Medjugorje – Heavenly Visions or Religious Illusion? (p. 38-43) and on the Internet in a document that keeps the same pagination. He agrees that these tapes “are of primary importance in understanding Medjugorje, and that is why a study of their contents forms one of the central aspects of [t]his book. The reality is that they are a severe embarrassment to the official position held by supporters of Medjugorje.” (p. 43)
Ivan Zeljko, a theologian and psychologist whose mother tongue is Croatian also paid an hommage to Fr. 
Sivric in his doctoral thesis in theology (452 pages, 1621 notes) published in 2004: Marienerscheinungen – Schein und Sein aus theologischer und psychologischer Sicht – Dargestellt am Beispiel der Privatoffenbarungen in Medjugorje.
A short excerpt that I have translated from German reflects his respect for the work of Fr. Sivric: “It is, to my knowledge, the only work on the events in Medjugorje that has a scientific foundation. [...] In that critical study, Sivric presents in addition to numerous important informations and documents on Medjugorje the first taped interviews that have been made available to the public for the first time.” (p. 27-28)
As for the fervent and prolific chronicler of the “apparitions” at Medjugorje, Fr. René Laurentin, he reacted rapidly to the publication of La face cachée de Medjugorje by acknowledging the merit of the work:
Let us speak instead, about the merits of Father Sivric. He published and translated numerous interviews of the seers recorded from the first days, and gathered on tape by Monsignor Zanic and his commission.
I do not ignore these cassettes, I use them step-by-step in my book “Account of the Apparitions” and, moreover, having had them translated by some Croatian friends…
His sources are fundamental… The numerous Croatian documents which he translated in the course of his work, will provide a service to all specialists…
One can only congratulate him then for having deciphered and edited conscientiously these trying interviews. Such is the first part of Vicka’s diary… Whoever has a critical sense can pry from these spontaneous interviews some useful elements…
Briefly, the author is sincere and conscientious, …his tremendous documentation, …his intentions peaceful… Fr. Sivric’s presentation is systematic and passionate… it would be rude , false and insulting to call it deceitful. …Father Sivric’s zeal is sincere, thus laudable in intention. [Seven Years of Apparitions - Latest News From Medjugorje - Number 7 - Fall, 1988, p. 43-50]
The parish priest, Fr. Jozo Zovko, interviews Mirjana Dragicevic in the rectory [cf The Hidden Side of 
Medjugorje, Appendix 14, p. 331]:
Father ZOVKO: What do you think, is she going to come tonight?
MIRJANA: I think that she will, it’s for sure, she told us.
Father ZOVKO: Perhaps she won’t.
MIRJANA: I am going to question her on how many [more] days she is going to remain with us, to tell us exactly how many [more] days she is going to be with us…
[...]
Father ZOVKO: What do you think, how many [more] days will you be seeing her?
MIRJANA: Something keeps telling me: two to three more days…
Before reproducing some parts of the interview with the visionaries, it is important to situate the context of the event.
The “apparition” does not take place on the Podbrdo, but rather in the village of Cerno, which is six or seven kilometers from Medjugorje; specifically, it happens along the road connecting Mostar to Citluk and Ljubuski. Two young women are with five of the visionaries, since the beginning of the afternoon. Ivan is absent.
Here is how Fr. Sivric presents the sudden turn of the situation: [The Hidden Side of Medjugorje, p. 63-65]
My second cousin, Mica Ivankovic, is employed by the county as a social worker in Citluk. Now married, she is not a Party member and goes to Mass and Communion every Sunday.
Ljubica Vasilj-Gluvic lives in Sarajevo. An employee of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Republic, she works on the Executive Council and is a member of the Communist Party. Ljubica is a very charming girl, well spoken of even by the visionaries, who had nothing but praise for these two young women.
In Cerno, they were with the visionaries, and, as we stated earlier, they suggested the questions for them to ask the Gospa. But, some hours later, in front of the visionaries and Father Zovko, they declared that they themselves had “seen and heard nothing.”
I am pointing out these facts because later, all sorts of disparaging stories were circulated in many places about these two fine people. Other innocent people have also been maligned.
The underlying idea in all of these calumnies was and still is to make people believe that God has a grudge against those who do not approve of or do not give their support in any way whatsoever to the Gospa’s apparitions in Medjugorje, or who are against them.
When Father Zovko asked who had the idea to go to Cerno, and whether others had induced them to do so, the visionaries protested vehemently and were unified in saying:
“It was our idea and we decided on the place!” It was Vicka who protested the most strongly, adding: “We chose the place and the rest and we didn’t need anyone to tell us what to do!”
As for their stopping in Cerno, it was really just happenstance. They arrived there at 6 p.m. Mica said that the communist authorities in Citluk were not considering removing the visionaries from Medjugorje that day, nor that they, Mica and Ljubica, had been sent by any official to carry out that task.
The idea of leaving Medjugorje came originally from the visionaries themselves in order to verify that the Gospa could appear to them elsewhere.
Thus, Mica and Ljubica took all the visionaries except Ivan for a ride in the car. First they went to an amusement park in Pocitelj, then stopped in Capljina, and then at the Kravica falls before returning to Medjugorje.
When the time came for the visions, Ljubica stopped the car and they all got out. The visionaries withdrew in order to have their vision, but the two young women kept close to them to see what they would ask. This time, Mirjana talked to the Gospa and asked some questions. On the way back, the visionaries stopped at the parish house in Medjugorje where they were questioned by Father Zovko.
As soon as they arrive to the rectory, the visionaries tell Fr. Zovko what happened in Cerno: [The Hidden Side of Medjugorje, Appendix 16, p. 346]
Father ZOVKO: Please tell me in detail, what did you talk about with the Gospa?
MIRJANA: I asked her how many [more] days she is going to stay with us, exactly how many [more] days she is going to stay with us. She said: “Three [more] days.”
Father ZOVKO: More…
MIRJANA: Three more days, which means until Friday. Then, we asked her if she was angry because we left the hillside [Podbrdo] and because we came here to the other place. She said that she was not angry.
Father ZOVKO: Where is it?
MIRJANA: We left a marker over there where we’ve been.
Father ZOVKO: Was it near the road?
MIRJANA: Yes. Then we asked her if she would be angry if we don’t go to the hillside [Podbrdo] anymore but rather into the church. She was rather indecisive when we asked her this question. It looked as if she didn’t like it. But finally, she said she wouldn’t be angry.
One of the visionaries: She would appear at the same time.
MIRJANA: She [the Gospa] asked about Ivan: “Where is the other boy?”
Father ZOVKO: Wait! Is that going to be in the church at 6:30 p.m.?
MIRJANA: Yes.
Father ZOVKO (very much surprised): What?
MIRJANA: That we may come to church at 6:30.
Father ZOVKO: When?
MIRJANA: Until Friday, which means Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Father ZOVKO: Therefore, you will be in the church tomorrow?
MIRJANA: Yes.
Mica IVANKOVIC: …Then I told them to ask if the Blessed Virgin Mary would be willing to appear in the church. They responded that she smiled and said that she would. Then Mirjana asked at what time. I didn’t ask them this. The Gospa said: “At the same time.”
And she asked more. How many [more] times she was going to appear to them. They said in unison: “Three times.” Then Mirjana-I don’t remember now whether it was Mirjana or somebody else-asked [her] to leave a sign.
JAKOV: That was me.
Mica IVANKOVIC: Then only Mirjana asked: “At what time?” She [the Gospa] said: “At the same time!” Then Mirjana asked again how many more times she would appear. She said: “Three more times!”
? (most probably Father KOSIR): Who said that?
ONE of the visionaries: The Gospa.
? (most probably Father KOSIR): Which of you said that?
MIRJANA (most probably): I.
?:… (incomprehensible). Ivo Sivric’s remark: Everyone is talking at once.
Father ZOVKO: Well, this interests me. “Three more times!” Well, when is all this going to end?
ALL the visionaries (in unison): On Friday.
Mica IVANKOVIC: Later on they said: “On Friday.”
Father ZOVKO: Where is it going to end on Friday?
JAKOV: In the church.
MIRJANA: Except perhaps if the Gospa tells us that she would prefer to appear on the hillside on the last day…
What have we shown in that first part of The Grand Concealment?
Our sources are authentic, the transcripts are reliable and even appreciated by one of the most famous propagandists of Medjugorje.
In a very explicit manner, without the least ambiguity, the visionaries transmit with precision, by mutual agreement, the announcement of the end of the “apparitions” by the Lady of Medjugorje.
One would expect that such a capital announcement would have been communicated with all of its veridical content by the Medjugorje eminent protagonists who knew about it since the beginning of the events.
Nothing came to light.
The cover-up remained until the publication of The Hidden Side of Medjugorje, and even after, since the majority of the fervent pilgrims and of the devotees who are intolerant to critique are ignoring that announcement.
In our next editorial post on the actual duplicity, we will identify the manoeuvers deployed by informers and key protagonists to conceal those informations that were interpreted as a threat to “the good cause”.
Your commentaries are welcome, except the “anonymous” ones that will be discarded.
Your subscription to News from the past… – right column – will trigger an automatic recall at their publication… that will come out more frequently than the editorial posts.
With my cordial greetings,
Louis Bélanger
On March 17th, 2010, the Holy See Press Office has announced the creation of a Fourth Commission of inquiry on Medjugorje by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
There seems to be something very peculiar with this case of alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six Croatian visionaries since 1981.
A verdict that was so evident to the diocesan Church authority, 24 years ago in Mostar, is re-examined by the highest authorities of the universal Church, today in Rome.
What has made the situation apparently so complex, and the critical observers so perplexed?
In the weeks and months ahead, this new website will try to unloosen the Medjugorjean knot by throwing some light on the complex Medjugorje problem and first by taking my own itinerary into account.
Louis Bélanger
My name is Louis Bélanger. I was born in Quebec City in 1941. After my studies in humanities and political science (International relations) at Laval University in Quebec City, I pursued my research in psychology and parapsychology at Freiburg University in West Germany (1968-1974). In 1975, I began conducting the study of paranormal phenomena while teaching at the Faculty of Theology of the Université de Montréal and at the Department of religious studies of the Université du Québec à Montréal. I retired in 2005.
In 1984, I watched a French TV documentary suggesting that the Virgin Mary was appearing daily to youngsters in Yugoslavia.
These encounters claiming a transcendent source caught my attention some 40 months after they began. My mother had just died. Profound grief left me unable to pray. Would Our Heavenly Mother deign to aid me in my agonizing grief?
In January, 1985, I went to Medjugorje with a “declaration of intent” that I presented to the Franciscan parish personnel and to the Bishop of Mostar, Mgr Pavao Zanic.
I come to Medjugorje, not motivated by faith but rather in the spirit of scientific research. The Bishop’s firm position on alleged collective hallucinations doesn’t prevent me of having a favourable bias toward the possibility of authentic phenomena at the beginning of the events (luminous phenomena, ecstatic behaviour).
I do not side with the Franciscans nor the Bishop and I wish to meet them in a spirit of research.
I am interested in the physics, the physiology, the psychology and the parapsychology of the apparitions. In that perspective, I am highly interested in the field reports that have been written by scientists who have observed and tested the visionaries and I would like to have access to their research material.
If those scientific disciplines can not explain the observed phenomena, one will have to consider a possible “transcendent” dimension that has to be respected, even if the scientific rules can not allow the researcher to pronounce a judgement on that dimension.
Medjugorje - January 1985
The village was enveloped in a Siberian winter, as was all of the Bosnia-Herzegovina region in which Medjugorje lies.
In that desert of ice, I mixed with a few stalwart pilgrims and other scattered faithful. While filming the visionaries, I searched closely for signs of their ecstasy, but seemed only to see that they were adept at keeping up the appearances demanded by their newfound roles.
Back in Canada, I felt the need to articulate my disenchantment. Some among the pious reproached me, one even surmising that my disaffection was the work of Satan, whose head the Virgin would crush soon. Eventually, a fractured vertebral column cancelled my enthusiasm for developing a critique of Medjugorje. At least until a Franciscan priest, born and raised there, encouraged me to pursue my quest for transparence.
Ivo Sivric, OFM
Father Ivo Sivric reached me at the Université de Montréal. From his adopted country, the United States, he sent me a manuscript he had just completed on the events in Medjugorje. “If I had written favorably and without critical examination, I would have no difficulty finding a publisher. What, then, do you suggest?”
I proposed that we unite our efforts in order to perfect our respective theological and psychological points of view. We were animated by the same spirit: to plumb the depths of Medjugorje’s events and to attract readers who would support our approach in order to clarify the questions involved. Father Sivric immediately accepted my proposal. At this point in time, our general agreement became a confirmed collaboration.
It was important to me that the taped documents he had be carefully translated, tapes that were apparently identical to those given to me by the Bishop of Mostar. At my request, Father Sivric began to make a Croatian transcript and then dictated an English translation of these interviews with the visionaries conducted by the parish priest and his assistants in Medjugorje beginning with the fourth day of the “apparitions”.
During my first weeklong stay with Father Sivric in St. Louis, Missouri, in July, 1986, we exchanged tapes and verified that our sources were complementary. It was also necessary to translate rapidly “newfound” documents before Father Sivric’s next departure for Yugoslavia. His vacations, or rather, his three months of “field research,” were very carefully planned.
Once in Medjugorje, he sent me answers to several hundred questions with which I had entrusted him. He then dedicated himself tirelessly to the interviewing of witnesses of the first days, as well as to consulting the Archives of the Mostar Diocese.
During my second extended visit to St. Louis in January, 1987, Father Sivric took stock of his third trip to Medjugorje since 1981 while I collected the documents that could not be sent by post. The resulting cache proved impressive: his manuscript, including the transcripts intended for publication, had tripled in fourteen months. Thus, the rest of that year had to be devoted to a reorganization of the material, to an attentive and repeated listening to the tapes, to the arduous and very perilous translation, back and forth, from Croatian to English, and from English to French.
Taking into account the then available resources, we wanted to publish it in French. However, through the ensuing weeks and months…even years, the first manuscript was enriched by a sizeable number of additional texts, interviews, notes, bibliographical references and updates. All of these inevitably led to the editorial necessity of considerably revising the existing manuscript. That is how the final text resulted in Volume I of La face cachée de Medjugorje (1988), which became The Hidden Side of Medjugorje (1989) in its English translation.
We have remained faithful to the original edition in French to the point of alerting our readers to any error or update in the chapters by a specific bottom note. The English edition has been augmented by an important addendum from Father Sivric on private revelations and apparitions (see Appendix 17), and thus benefits from a worthy complement to the original edition’s Chapter 2.
This first volume deals entirely with Father Sivric’s attempt to highlight the incongruities, contradictions, half truths and falsities in what has occurred in Medjugorje, all of which have been simply omitted or consciously lied about all this time.
In the first two chapters, the author presents his native village, his sources of documentation, the visionaries and the position of Church teachings on Marian apparitions.
The three following chapters mainly treat the first ten days of the “apparitions”, heavenly signs which are not such, and certain attitudes and conduct of the visionaries which pose a problem.
In Chapters Six through Nine, Father Sivric presents the result of his research on the role of the Franciscans of Medjugorje, as well as the position and interventions of the Bishop, and of the Commission mounted to evaluate the entire question.
Finally, in the last two chapters, the author sets forth an account of the latest events occurring in Medjugorje and a possible explanation of the alleged apparitions.
He invites readers to judge for themselves whether from now on one may still see in these events the presence and action of the Madonna.
* * *
In the next two segments of our first editorial, we will lift the veil of some artifices executed by promoters of the Lady of Medjugorje. According to our analysis, those fallacious activities constitute the core of crucial objections examined by three Commissions that led up to the non constat de supernaturalitate or, in other words, to the absence of clear proof that the Lady of Medjugorje is the Virgin Mary.
Unfortunately, the scope and significance of the non constat do not seem to be well understood. Ten days ago, the Vice President for theology at EWTN, Colin Donovan, had to explain to a fervent of Medjugorje, who ignored it, that a judgement had been made — no evidence of supernaturality — with the help of two Commissions [in Mostar in 1986 and in Zadar in 1991]. That verdict had been reached by the majority of 34 experts and by 19 of the 20 Yugoslavian bishops.
If the 20 members of the new Commission do not still see the “imminent Great Sign“ announced by the Lady of Medjugorje in 1981, or something miraculously new since the Zadar Declaration, will it not be delicate for them to reverse the first diocesan judgement made 24 years ago — and later confirmed by the Bishops’ Conference of Yugoslavia — without discrediting the discernment of their predecessors?
However that may be, since most of the documents and reliable sources are available, is it not more pertinent for the proactive faithful to understand the significance of the preceding judgement than to wait for or speculate about the next one?
Before leaving the readers who may enrich this new blog with their own reactions, I would like to state my own limitations in our next mutual communication.
I am a newcomer in the blogosphere and do not yet master its technical aspects. The language difficulty is another disadvantage that will slow down the writing process. The French part of the site will have more contributions, at least during the first months. Many documents will have to be translated from French to English and that will take some time as will the moderation of the comments. Please note that the anonymous comments will be discarded.
Please take those limitations into account when posting your questions. I welcome your constructive critical analysis, comments and insights.
Cordially,
