Spiritual director of Medjugorje visionaries excommunicated

The Vatican has excommunicated Tomislav Vlasic, a former Croatian Franciscan it had already thrown out of the priesthood

Our Lady of Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 11, 2020. (Photo by FEHIM DEMIR/EPA)

The news was made public on October 23 by the Diocese of Brescia, a diocese in northern Italy where Vlasic had been giving conferences and providing priestly service to various groups for years.

He had previously provided spiritual guidance to the so-called visionaries of Medjugorje since 1981 when they first claimed to witness apparitions.

Officials at the Vatican's doctrinal office had already stopped Vlasic's activities in 2008 by putting him under house arrest in the Franciscan convent in L'Aquila (in Abruzzo, Italy) for refusing to cooperate with them.

The CDF had conducted a months-long investigation into the former friar "for spreading dubious doctrine, manipulation of consciences, suspicious mysticism, disobedience to legitimate orders".

A document signed at the time by then-CDF prefect, the late Cardinal William Levada, also accused Vlasic of adultery, since the priest had had a child with a woman in 1987.

In March 2009, by a decree of Benedict XVI, the priest had been reduced to the lay state after having asked to be released from his priestly obligations following an investigation by the CDF.

He was also relieved of his religious vows and excluded from the Franciscan Order.

"Absolute prohibition from making religious statements"

Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo, who was Minister General of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor at the time, had put restrictions on Vlasic under the pain of excommunication.

These included the "absolute prohibition of exercising any form of ministry" and the "absolute prohibition from making statements on religious matters, especially regarding the phenomena of Medjugorje".

But these warnings were clearly not sufficient. And the CDF finally stepped in and excommunicated the now 78-year-old ex-friar. The Diocese of Brescia said the doctrinal office had signed the decree on July 15.

"Unfortunately, over the years, Mr. Vlasic has never respected the prohibitions imposed on him in the canonical penal decree issued against him by the same congregation on March 10, 2009," said the diocesan statement.

"He continued to carry out his apostolic activities with individuals and groups, both through conferences and through computerized means," the statement said.

"He continued to declare himself a religious and priest of the Catholic Church, simulating the celebration of invalid sacraments; he continued to cause a serious scandal among the faithful, carrying out acts that were seriously prejudicial to ecclesiastical communion and obedience to ecclesiastical authority," the diocese said.

The decree of excommunication means that the former Franciscan is prohibited from receiving the sacraments.

In the case where "Mr. Vlasic" intends to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist, "the liturgical action must be interrupted, unless a serious cause opposes the interruption," the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said.

Even though Medjugorje attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each year, these apparitions have not been officially recognized by the Church either locally or universally.

However, the Church decided to allow diocesan pilgrimages to Medjugorje in May 2019. It was the first time since 1981 when the alleged Marian apparitions began taking place.

Some fifteen bishops participated in a youth festival there in August 2019. The presider at the closing Mass was Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.