{"id":2537,"date":"2016-12-13T10:49:13","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T15:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/mysticpost\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2016-12-13T10:49:14","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T15:49:14","slug":"american-catholic-media-afraid-medjugorje-big-story-not-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mysticpost\/2016\/12\/13\/american-catholic-media-afraid-medjugorje-big-story-not-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is American Catholic Media so Afraid of Medjugorje?\u00a0 It’s a big story, why not report on it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow Mystic Post on Facebook<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

By Stephen Ryan<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\"csm_IMG_8263_2ef680a686\"
Pope Francis with Friend of Medjugorje Cardinal Schonborn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have followed the events of Medjugorje for a number of years and for me the best news\u00a0reporting on Medjugorje comes from secular media.<\/p>\n

A couple of months ago Cardinal Schonborn, a man at the top of most lists to be the next Pope, invited Medjugorje seers into his Cathedral to give testimony about their experiences with the Virgin Mary. This incredible event was met with silence by the entire United States Catholic media.<\/p>\n

In contrast to Catholic media\u2019s boycott on all things Medjugorje, late last year National Geographic\u2019s award-winning author\u00a0Maureen Orth<\/a>\u00a0came back from Medjugorje and wrote a lengthy \u00a0cover story about the Virgin Mary<\/a>. \u00a0 Ms. Orth\u00a0admits she was personally moved by Medjugorje and was impressed by how the Virgin Mary \u00a0was so important to so many people around the world.<\/p>\n

In Ms Orth\u2019s \u00a0piece on Medjugorje, not only did she not find fault with Medjugorje, \u00a0she concluded that the Virgin Mary is the \u201cMost powerful woman in the world\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

American Catholic journalists, on the other hand, takes a passive approach on Medjugorje. Rather than report on the extraordinary activity taking place at Medjugorje they almost cowardly hide behind proclamations issued by American bishops on how to speak about Medjugorje.<\/p>\n

Where is the journalistic freedom and investigative reporting we should expect from our Catholic media? Medjugorje is a fascinating news story important to millions of Catholics around the world yet the story is almost universally ignored.<\/p>\n

Search Medjugorje \u00a0in \u201cGoogle News\u201d and you \u00a0will find dozens of articles from European magazines, particularly glossy Italian magazines discussing news worthy events and celebrations taking place in Medjugorje, now one \u00a0the fastest growing tourist destinations in Europe. \u00a0\u00a0You will also find a handful of stories about Medjugorje written by American journalists, but the content there is not so happy.<\/p>\n

American Catholic media publishes stories about Medjugorje that are positioned \u00a0in a negative light \u2013 articles about censorship of Medjugorje public events, limitations on Medjugorje \u201cSeer\u201d activities, Pope Francis NOT going to Medjugorje. \u00a0Medjugorje is a \u201cfraud!\u201d, etc. \u00a0\u00a0American Catholic media reporting on Medjugorje is universally negative.<\/p>\n

In stark contrast, Italian magazines gleefully reported a meeting between Pope Francis and \u00a0Paolo Brosio. Paolo Brosio is \u00a0a famous Italian journalist, TV personality and now full time advocate for Medjugorje . \u00a0The writers wrote about the warm welcome the Pope gave the Medjugorje promoter. The articles were accompanied by large glossy photographs of a smiling Pope including one of Pope Francis happily receiving gifts from Medjugorje. \u00a0It was reported that the Pope recognized Mr. Brosio\u2019s Medjugorje experience as the Virgin Mary\u2019s work:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hugged me, I told him my story. And he said that is definitely the work of the Madonna which is great. I gave him the shirt (for Brosio\u2019s current Medjugorje hospital project, ed.), I had a picture taken, and look at it: it says more than a thousand words. I understood that he is very much aware of Medjugorje as a great confessional. The impression is that there is a large opening and a great willingness,\u201d Brosio told the Italian news portal The news magazines reported that Pope Francis had asked for the private meeting to specifically talk about Medjugorje. The meeting lasted forty minutes as Pope Francis encouraged Mr. Brosio to tell<\/em> him about his personal conversion and all that he knew about the fruits of Medjugorje. Source Wayne Weible\/ Medjugorje Today<\/em><\/p>\n

In an \u00a0interview for the Italian magazine\u00a0Chi<\/em>, Mr. Brosio said that during meeting at the Vatican Pope Francis said: \u00a0<\/em>\u201cGO TO MEDJUGORJE and tell everyone you have spoken to the real Pope.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dichotomy between USA Catholic media reporting on Medjugorje with that of European is so striking that it begs the question of its origin. Why is America Catholic media so collectively negative towards Medjugorje?<\/p>\n

It seems European media reports on Medjugorje for what it is \u2013 an extremely intriguing spiritual mystery important to millions of Catholic and non-catholic alike. Millions of people have been to Medjugorje. Medjugorje is a hugely popular tourist destination. The Vatican is deeply involved in an extensive investigation of Medjugorje.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Follow Mystic Post on Facebook By Stephen Ryan I have followed the events of Medjugorje for a number of years and for me the best news\u00a0reporting on Medjugorje comes from secular media. A couple of months ago Cardinal Schonborn, a man at the top of most lists to be the next Pope, invited Medjugorje […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2537,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-medjugorje"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy is American Catholic Media so Afraid of Medjugorje?\u00a0 It's a big story, why not report on it?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  Follow Mystic Post on Facebook By Stephen Ryan I have followed the events of Medjugorje for a number of years and for me the best news\u00a0reporting on\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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