The Vatican has said reports that Pope Francis is to soon name a special administrator for Medjugorje are “premature”.
But a National Catholic Register article stated that this remains a hypothesis among others currently under consideration.
In a note to journalists on July 4, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said “in recent days rumours have been circulating about the possible appointment of an apostolic administrator for the Medjugorje shrine”.
Such an administrator would “report directly to the Holy See”.
Such a possibility is a “hypothetical subject for study among others”, Fr Lombardi said.
He added “there has still been no decision” about it.
“And so it is premature to speak of it as a direction already taken, or as an imminent decision.”
Over the past few days, reports in Croatian media have claimed that Pope Francis would soon appoint a special administrator of the Holy See for Medjugorje, possibly taking over in the next few months.
The establishment of a special shrine at Medjugorje would appear to signal Vatican approval for the authenticity of the many reported apparitions there.
This would also theoretically remove the site of the reported Marian apparitions from the control of both the Franciscans who administer the local parish and the bishops who have cautioned strongly against the “Medjugorje phenomenon”.
The friars would lose their autonomy in decision-making over the shrine.
But they would not have to continue battling the local bishop, as they have done for 35 years.
More than a year ago, a special commission created by the Vatican to investigate the Medjugorje phenomenon delivered its report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Last June, Fr Lombardi told reporters that he expected an announcement on the subject from the CDF within “a few months.”
Sources