Report: Pope to meet Medjugorje pastor
Reports in Rome are circulating that Pope Francis is soon to meet Medjugorje’s parish priest. That Fr. Marinko Sakota will be in Rome from October 11 is a sure fact
Mary Shovlain, Rome producer for the tv station EWTN, has learned that Pope Francis and Medjugorje’s parish priest Fr. Marinko Sakota are soon to meet, and that shrine status for Medjugorje is a possible part of the agenda.
“Reports circulating that Pope will meet with reps from Medjugorje tomorrow, may grant it status as a Shrine” Shovlain wrote on Twitter late on October 9.
However, such a meeting cannot take place today, as the parish priest will leave Medjugorje only at 3 pm on October 10, and go to Italy by ferry from Split at 8.30 pm, to arrive in Ancona in the morning of October 11, and go on to Rome from there.
Mary Shovlain
According to Medjugorje Today’s informations, Fr. Marinko Sakota has been invited to Rome by the Vatican Commission on Medjugorje, along with 35 parishioners who will be in Rome on October 10-15. All of the 35 also lived in Medjugorje in June 1981 when the Virgin Mary’s apparitions began. Medjugorje Today further learns that the invitation was addressed to “the pastor of the Marian Shrine of Medjugorje”.
With Fr. Marinko Sakota as a possible exception, the parishioners left Medjugorje for Rome without knowing if the programme would include a private audience with the Pope, like the one reported about by Mary Shovlain. The group is invited to be present at the Marian Day of Prayer, to be held in Rome on October 12. On the following day, the Pope will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Fr. Marinko Sakota
These days, led by Bishop Ratko Peric, another group from the Diocese of Mostar is undertaking an official pilgrimage to Rome. During the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on October 9, Pope Francis sent a special greeting to this group of pilgrims from the Medjugorje area:
“With joy I greet and bless all the Croatian pilgrims, but especially the faithful from the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno and Trebinje-Mrkan in Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with their pastor, Msgr. Ratko Peric! Dear friends, I would like to encourage you to be distinctive witnesses of our Lord. Being a Catholic is to be a missionary in your multi-ethnic, multi-religious environment, and to love everyone as Jesus Christ loves us. Please bring this love to your country. Praised be Jesus and Mary!” the Pope said, according to the local news portal....Glas Brotnja.
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