Unity Publishing's Response to my Article

By Paul Baylis, editor Marian Times

Rick Salbato defends himself, not by his own words, but through comments provided by his loyal readers. My own comments are added in blue font.

Unity Publishing Is Dangerous
By Readers

When one of Unity Publishing’s readers tried to confront a parish where messages from “Anne, the Lay Apostle” were being presented in the homilies, she was treated with great hostility. She tried to show him the recently posted article, Anne, the Lay Apostle is Kathryn Ann Clarke” but instead of reading it, he attacked her with, “You are dealing with the devil. That man is the devil”. By devil, he means me, Richard Salbato. He then handed her a printed out web page from Marian Times, a Medjugorje web site, as seen below. I always felt Paul Baylis’ article was self-evident and paid no attention to it, but since it seems to influence at least one priest, I decided to see what others thought of it and mailed it out. Below are their comments.

Rick Salbato

Dear No Name,

I think it is a great compliment when Medjugorje web sites, sites that disobey the Medjugorje bishop, attack me for defending the bishop. As for Anne, no matter who discovered who she really is, the facts speak for themselves. I will let some of my supporters and detractors read this email first and then I will give you the information you need but first know that Canon Law requires priests to give homilies on the readings of the Mass and not on apparitions.

Rick Salbato

I responded personally to Rick with the suggestion that his pride was sadly misplaced. He feels he is a martyr for a cause, unfortunately the cause is bearing false witness. The true victims are the pilgrims, the Franciscans and visionaries he has bedevilled throughout his writings. He accuses us of disobeying the bishop. What disobedience? The Bishop has commanded people to not come to Medjugorje. Do we have to obey this? No, of course not. Many confused pilgrims wrote a letter to the Vatican asking just this question. The Vatican's response is clear for all the see. Please click here for that Vatican letter. My personal beef relates to the way Rick applies his facts. Yes, the local bishop condemned Medjugorje, but Rick misleads his readers by equating this to Vatican condemnation. A read of all his reader's comments below will bear out the extent to which this systematic program of chaos and confusion has succeeded.

Dear Rick,
"...splitting the Catholic Church and contributing to a potential fulfillment the end-times prophecy of "brother against brother." Funny, but I see this split coming from those who don't see these "apparitions" in Medjugorje for what they really are and what they will, eventually and sadly cause, a schism in our Church. For they follow Medjugorje, not Christ and His Church - not something a true apparition of Our Blessed Mother would ever do or cause.

I might add that I see this happening sooner rather than later. May Our Lady keep Her children close to Her and Her Son for our world will be rocked and its very base in the not to distant future.

This person, just like Rick Salbato himself, has decided that the apparitions are false. I would like to know what they base this on. Are they basing it on objections written by various conspiracy theorist writers? They must be, because they aren't basing it on anything that has come from the Vatican, which has not uttered a single word of condemnation against Medjugorje and simply asks people to wait until they have finished their investigation. John Paul II is the most well-known Medjugorje supporter. Cardinal Ratzinger was the one who took the right to judge on the authenticity of the apparitions away from the local Bishop and hand it over to the Yugoslav Bishops' Conference. So, can anyone else smell where the true schism is coming from?

Another common protestation can be seen here, i.e. that we are somehow "following" Medjugorje, as if we were sucked into some cult. Most people who have been to Medjugorje and know even a little about it or have met the visionaries personally will tell you that they are constantly pointing followers to the Church, the sacraments and to Jesus. Father Jozo has become known as the "Eucharistic Priest" because he is always promoting the Eucharist as the solution to every problem. he doesn't say "Come to Medjugorje and join my new cult in order to be saved". Detractors were trapped by their own words when they referred to Our Lady's messages as "banal" because she keeps telling people to "pray, pray, pray"...to go to confession...to fast. People want something more racey, but they aren't getting it from Our Lady. It's all standard Church fare.

Dear Rick,
Sheesh! This Baylis dude is off his rocker. What part of the word "disobedience" doesn't he understand? One thing is for sure, these people will know the truth when they die. Will it be too late? We don't have to believe in even approved apparitions or messages but don't they know if they believe in blasphemy of false apparitions that they will be called to accountability for it.

If I am "off my rocker", then I add to my partners in madness the late Pope John Paul II, Ratzinger, Bishop Hnilica, cardinal Shonborn and a list of other Bishops, Cardinals and priests too long to mention here. Click here for a list of vatican and other tacit support for Medjugorje. I, and others like me, are doing nothing more than upholding people's right to go to Medjugorje, be inspired in their faith by Medjugorje and even to be converted through Medjugorje. We are here to stop conspiracy theorists from spreading lies and innuendo that has the effect of snatching souls away from God unjustly.

Disobedience? Again, what disobedience? Pilgrims not wanting to be disobedient to the local Bishop have already petitioned the Vatican as to what they should do and the response has been given. We are allowed to go the Medjugorje and we will receive full pastoral support while we are there. Furthermore, the Vatican advises the faithful to regard the local Bishop's opinions as purely his own.

Dear Rick,
Some one needs to tell the author of that article to re-read Luke 12:51-53.

Luke 12:51-53: 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

I have used this exact text to refute anti-Medjugorje campaigners. In my opinion, this is the division we are seeing now. Medjugorje seems to be doing what Jesus always wished to do when he said in John 10:16: "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.". This mission was taken up by Vatican II which embraced the Charismatic movement and advocated respect for other religions through its declaration "DOMINUS IESUS" ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH. Anti-Medjugorje campaigners say that the Virgin spouts heresy. How far from the truth this is!

Dear Rick,
I for one am grateful to you for your thorough research. I know many good and holy priests who do not buy into the whole Medjugorje phenomenon. My own questioning of those events began well before I knew anything about Unity Publishing.

So you see, you only outlined and clarified what I had already suspected. Any my suspicions were aroused by the loony-tunes that returned from overseas filled with all the external manifestations of now having learned "The Truth," a truth they believed because "God told them so."

Medjugorje has created many false prophets and they do not take kindly to anyone challenging them to face the contradictions.

Thank you so much for all you have done and continue to do to educate us in this regard about these matters.
God bless you!

That someone should be filled with the desire to follow God should be something Christianity embraces with joy as the father of the prodigal son in the famous biblical story. Jesus Christ gave his life in agony to save the smallest soul. This person sneers and cast aspersions on the souls state of mental health simply because the conversion took place at Medjugorje. People should realise that, even if Medjugorje were false, that God still has the ability to bring good out of bad.

As for Rick's "thorough research"? Well, how can anybody who knows the facts seriously consider that Rick has thoroughly researched Medjugorje. It simply isn't so. I mean, Rick has not even removed the most basic error from his website, i.e. that the Church has condemned Medjugorje.

Dear Rick,
Remember the old Arab proverb, "The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on!" You're the caravan, brother not these cultists. The next thing you know they'll be promoting on Necedah and Bayside.

The Church is the Caravan. Not Rick Salbato. the church has nothing to do with anything that Rick is doing. How then can anyone say that Rick is the caravan? It is simply misplaced conspiracy theory fervour. This man barks while calling me the dog. I am not the Caravan, but I uphold people's right to follow the Vatican on Medjugorje. That means 1) Wait till they rule on Medjugorje, 2) Meanwhile, enjoy Medjugorje in peace, without people "barking" at you with all the lies and innuendo that the Vatican never listened to. Rick invites people to ignore the Vatican and follow the local Bishop in everything, even in the lies that have been told. Rick invites people to hold negative views on visionaries, franciscans and pilgrims, where before there was only love and respect. I mean, how much closer to rabid dog-like behaviour can we get.

My Dear Rick,
...One thing that the Jesuits and the Sacred Heart nuns taught me was - even if I did not understand something, if the Church ruled on it , to have faith in our Church. The Church has ruled against Medjugorje. The Church has declared it a false apparition. That is all you need to go on with your work. This is what having faith is all about; believing without knowing all or anything.

I am simply lost for words that this person can be so misinformed about Medjugorje and that Rick will actually post this on his website without attempting to correct this poor soul's misconceptions. Rick, I will do it for you: The Church has NOT, I repeat NOT, ruled against Medjugorje or in any way condemned it. It has NOT been declared a false apparition. The reason this soul is confused is because Rick has constantly been telling people only about the proclamations of the local Bishop. The Vatican DID NOT AGREE with the local Bishop. The Vatican told us, in the 1991 Zadar Declaration, to wait as there was still not outright proof that the apparitions were supernatural. Furthermore, the visions were still going on and the Vatican normally does not approve apparitions until the visions have finished. PEOPLE, PLEASE GET EDUCATED ON THESE MOST BASIC POINTS. Someone once pulled me up for my "rantings". Well, I mean how can someone not be frustrated when such error is spreading unchecked by so-called Catholics.

People keep talking about the visionaries as if they were still the troubled teens that Mary encountered 25+ years ago. Yes, in the early days they did lie on several occasions (mostly to the Bishop of Mostar whom they knew was trying to discredit them), but the key point is that Our Lady herself reprimanded them on several occasions for their indiscretions. And every lie was eventually admitted. Thus, neither the Virgin nor the visions themselves can be stained by the weakness of the visionaries. As for the children not entering religious life, the Virgin is known to have wanted them to enter the religious life, so again nothing can stain the virgin. But God still managed to gain glory for Himself because, during this era where the family unit is such a major focus of the Catholic Church, all the visionaries display model marriages.

Another interesting point was raised by this reader: The reader feels the children were somehow puppets and they should have bailed out of the "scam" long ago. I can well imagine that some people have no doubt offered to pay them handsome sums to "come clean". But, after 25 years, not a single visionary has "defected". Cynics will say this is because they are earning too much from Medjugorje or they might be killed for doing so. Well, you make up your own mind. Not only have there been no visionaries coming clean, but there have been no priests, even disillusioned ones, who have "turned coat". Philip Pavich was one disillusioned Franciscan. He was often called "Grumpy" by the other Franciscans. I guess he had some personal issues. Anyway, he finally left Medjugorje and had no "secrets" to offer, merely his feelings that the Poem of the Man-God shouldn't be read, even though the vatican has placed no ban on reading it.

If my statement means nothing to this person, then this person may wish to learn about his/her faith. Religious Unity is the number one issue and is the reason why the pontiffs regularly have inter-religious dialogues. Ever since Peter and Paul couldn't agree whether uncircumcised gentiles should be allowed into the new Church, division and confusion has been the number one gremlin.

The respondent also labours under severe confusion regarding how the Church authenticates apparitions. Obedience is not the sole identifying factor in true mystical experiences. Whether the experience is genuine needs to be established. There are plenty of other criteria that the Church uses to come to an overall judgement. Furthermore, there is also provision for anomalies in character of visionaries and circumstances, as far as I understand it. Thus, if a visionary told a lie, this could be overlooked if other mitigating factors existed.

The respondent is also confused about my statement "man-made restraint". This refers to the various religous institutions, including the Catholic Church that bind people to a parochialism about their own religions and leads to a hatred and distrust of other religions, ultimately distracting people from pure worship of God. The Church should be in the spirit first and foremost. There should be a spiritual bond connecting all people under God. I have nothing against the local Bishop. I simply feel the same way as Ratzinger and the Vatican as a whole feels towards the Bishop, i.e. that unfortunately he has unfounded opposition to Medjugorje and has thus become more of a liability than an asset in terms of getting to the truth of the matter. Those who could safely be nullified as Catholic writers are those that act in contravention to the Vatican, e.g. Rick Salbato, who says things against Medjugorje that the Vatican has not said, who classifies Medjugorje as a "false apparition" which pre-empts the Church and arrogantly presumes to know more than the Church. He leads Catholics astray with lies and innuendo and all for his pet love of conspiracy theory.

Further Response from Unity Publishing

Rick speaks for himself

The real tragedy is that you have managed to convince yourself that all of the public and private comment is false. Invite your readers to scan this comprehensive list on my website at http://www.marian-times.com/articles/medjugorje/vatican-on-medjugorje.cfm. Please tell us how you handle the newspaper article which shows photos of JPII presenting a personal letter of thanksgiving and good wishes to Father Jozo. See http://www.medjugorje.org/frjozoletter.htm. The letter is also shown along with its translation. You may be able to convince everybody that all the verbal support is false because, after all, nobody had a tape recorder running, but your luck runs out when the evidence is visual.

I don't like calling them bad people in themselves and I don't think I have that right. God knows I quiver when I speak anything against a clergy member. I simply try to say that their actions have been pretty bad, as anyone who has read up on the Herzegovinian Affair will surely see. And the only reason I have to keep saying it, when I would rather not, is because the number one point detractors make to support their case is that the Bishops said such-and-such, without telling people the full story about the Bishops of Mostar and why it could possibly be the case that the Virgin Mary condemned his actions. You, and the rest of the conspiracy theorists, on the other hand, appear to have no qualms spreading false rumours about sexual misconduct by certain Franciscans (already long-refuted), and demonizing father Jozo Zovko totally unfairly. You writings contain every kind of seedy eyebrow-raising innuendo that is completely disgusting to me.

I'm glad you acknowledge some genuine Vatican support. The Bishops of Mostar were never "sacked". They remained at their post despite not getting everything their own way. The Vatican will not reveal all the "frank discussions" they have had with the Bishops because they will want to allow the Bishop to save face if he is to remain at his post. The letter by Msgr Tacisio Bertone is all we need to know, i.e. that we need not listen to the opinions of the local bishop of Mostar. It is enough for us to know that the then Cardinal Ratzinger removed from the Bishop his right to pronounce on the apparition's authenticity and hand it over the Yugoslav Bishops Conference.

As to the second part of your argument, that the pilgrimages are not allowed if they presuppose authenticity, I'm starting to think you really have quite a small grasp on Medjugorje and the Zadar Declaration, which is very surprising to me as you have been such a damaging vocal critic of Medjugorje, yet seem to know so little. It's very much a case of the blind leading the blind. Let me flesh it out for you: Certainly, while the Vatican is still in "wait and see" mode, it is not acceptable for priests to be organising pilgrimages by saying "Come and see a vatican-approved miracle site". The vatican must first approve the apparition before this can rightly be said. You are trying to twist this prudent clause into a statement against the authenticity of Medjugorje. Clearly it is not. It is saying nothing more than "don't count your chickens before they're hatched". You have even managed to slightly twist the angle by stating "Pilgrimates are NOT ALLOWED if....." The correct angle is "Pilgrimages ARE ALLOWED provided.....". It is this subtle twisting that has been the hallmark of the media since the Zadar Declaration first emerged.

Oh, please Rick. That statement is there to stop priests and pilgrims from creating misunderstanding as to whether or not the apparition has been approved. The letter from Msgr. Tarcisio Bertone clearly is designed to put the poor confused pilgrims at ease. He puts two important statements in the same context and complementary to one another, i.e. "Yes, you can go and no you don't have to listen to the opinions of the Bishop of Mostar". Certainly, they must add the stipulation/reminder, almost as a "please contain yourself and don't get carried away with joy, but......the apparitions aren't yet approved, to please don't start telling people that they are....just yet!"

Dear Rick, please elaborate on which exact statements were presented to Cardinal Ratzinger. Many hundreds have been attributed. I would like to know which specific ones were passed on for his comment. And was there a tape recorder running when the Cardinal made this comment? Probably not. So, for the same reason that you reject everything hundreds of cardinals, bishops and priests have said about Medjugorje, I also reject this alleged comment as a probable fabrication or, if true, as totally irrevelant because, after all, it is known fact that it was Cardinal Ratzinger himself that removed from the local bishop his right to determine the authenticity of the Medjugorje visions. I would also like to know the then Cardinal Ratzinger's possible response to JPII's issuing of his personal congratulatory letter to Father Jozo and his other personal support letters to several of the visionaries. Has anyone asked him? Probably not. At the time, we didn't think it would be the subject of conspiracy theories. Perhaps I need to send my own letter.

Yes, indeed. And it wouldn't surprise me if this was not initiated by the Virgin herself, who accused the Bishop of Mostar of causing division in the Herzegovinian region. The visionaries and franciscans had certainly made the Pope fully aware of this message from the virgin. Look, the pope will certainly not publically pronounce the visions to be genuine unless the body he has appointed to make such a decision has indeed come forth with that decision. What you should be noting is that the Pope has never CONDEMNED Medjugorje on the basis of the 1991 Zadar Declaration. No, far from it. As the letter from Msgr. Tarcisio Bertone clearly tells the faithful, people can still go on pilgrimage to Medjugorje and can receive full pastoral support while there. Furthermore, despite the persistent condemnations and prohibitions by the local Bishop, we do not need to heed these and can feel at peace about travelling to Medjugorje. For the same reason that we don't need to heed the condemnations of the local Bishop, we should also not need to tolerate the condemnations of people such as yourself, Mr Salbato. It is like a lot of noise pollution spoiling everybody's righful Vatican-endorsed peace and freedom to pray and worship at Medjugorje if they want to.

Absolutely, the pontiff should be saying this. Again, I think this was initiated by the Virgin whom I personally believe came to this region in the first place to bring peace between secular and franciscan among other things. Rick, I see that you are simply copying Davies here. Have you personally read anything of the Herzegovian Affair?

Yes, the conclusion would not have pleased Bishop Zanic. Yet, why do you so easily overlook this and stick by Zanic?

No, it wasn't Bishop Zanic's initiative to form a second extended commission. He words it like this by himself on his objections list, but it is my understanding that in fact he received pressure from official observers who did not like the one-sidedness of his investigations, i.e. his first commission consisted of members hand-picked because of their anti-Medjugorje stance. It has also been said that Zanic initially didn't want any commission at all. He was happy to be the sole judge of authenticity and begrudged the requirement to form a investigative "team".

Yes, the Zadar Declaration, an innocent "Please wait a little longer because there is still not 100% proof of the supernatural", a statement that every objector immediately subtly twisted to present a negative slant. It was all a media fireball. Headlines read "No miracles at Medjugorje" and "Medjugorje Condemned". As I have mentioned, this negative slant was never intended and Mgr Tarcisio Bertone letter subsequently confirms this..

These are very euphemistic words and I know where they come from - directly from Bishop Peric's published document. He has worded everything so it flows like honey. In fact, the "interventions" were mostly negative from the local Bishops point of view. And the Ratzinger "intervention" was in fact the act of removing the local bishop's right to pronounce on the authenticity of the visions after he returned the ludicrous conclusion "constat de non-supernaturalitate". The second part of this intervention was to hand over the matter to the Yugsoslav Bishop's Conference.

I have discussed this above. It is a storm in a teacup, mountain out of a molehill etc. Clearly, unless an apparition has been approved, it is only right and prudent for the vatican to remind the faithful not to get carried away and to just wait patiently. Nobody has any problem with that. It cannot in good conscience be used to support a position of condemnation against Medjugorje.

Oh dear, I got this very same persistent request by some guy on YouTube. You probably know him well. He couldn't answer any of my rebuttals and finally fell back on this one last ditch effort, which I admit did get me. Apart from Bishop Zanic's allusion to it when he euphemistically referred to an "intervention" by Ratzinger during his investigations, I don't have an official vatican proclamation that authority was taken away from the Bishop. And I don't think I will get one. Why? Because the Bishop was not "sacked" from his position and must be allowed to save face if he is to remain as local Bishop. I do not think the vatican will issue such a public letter that humiliates him. We have to rely on other official communications such as the letter from Mgr Tarcisio Bertone and the history books. I think, Rick, that your work is cut out to refute that the matter of determining the authenticity was taken out of the Bishop's hands. I mean, you would have to:

1) Disregard Tarcisio Bertone's official letter completely or somehow cast doubt on its authenticity
2) Provide a plausible alternative reason for the vatican not approving the local Bishop's findings of constat de non-supernaturalitate.
3) Provide plausible alternative reasons for the investigative powers changing hands from the local bishop to the Yugoslav Bishops Conference.
4) Provide excellent reasons why the Vatican, 25 years after Zanic's condemnations and of non-stop visions and messages, has not put a stop to Mejdugorje once and for all.
5) Provide good reasons for Zanic and Peric not having any supportive statement from the Vatican to add to their list of accomplishments. Surely, they dream of writing something/anything...any kind of supportive statement from the Vatican for their work. The best comment I have heard either of them come up with are that JPII "laughed surprisingly" when Peric asked him if he had gone to Medjugorje incognito. FYI: what Peric hopes people won't realise is that laughing surprisingly is a very good way to defuse a situation and to not have to provide an answer. Note well that Peric has never been able to say "The Pope said he did not go to Medjugorje incognito". He could only say "The pope laughed..."

Why would they not be published? This is an official investigation and all outcomes should be published for the record. What you should be telling me, if you can, is whether the substance of the declarations were in any way supported in the same publication.

Well, the Zadar Declaration is quite a loud official "comment" by the Vatican after the completion of the work of the commissions. And anyway, how would Vatican non-comment encourage you to believe that the apparitions are false?

Yes, this is a good point. But, without official vatican comment on the reasons for this appointment, there are a number of ways to look at this:

1) The appointment of any Bishop in a communist country usually must be ratified by the communist government. I don't know the exact details of the arrangement between the Yugoslav communist government and the Vatican, but most certainly the communist government can veto or ratify any appointment. The Vatican is somewhat bound to accept this intervention in order to prevent persecution of catholics in that region.

2) Bishop Zanic lost a lot of face during the investigations. He may have been permitted to appoint any bishop of his choosing as his successor, with the Vatican not fearing anything because if there is a Bishop similar to Zanic in Mostar, the Vatican is further justified in simply keeping the matter completely out of the hands of the local bishop and in more objective hands. There are too many political machinations in communist countries that seriously hamper efforts to get at the truth of important matters and place clergy in compromising positions.

We remember that the Croatian president, Dr. Franjo Tudjman, immediately preceding the Pope's coming to Sarajevo testified before an assembly of politicians and priests that Pope John Paul II in their last conversation said that on the occasion of his visit to Sarajevo he wanted also to visit Medjugorje. The local bishop Dr. Ratko Peric was also present for this testimony and did not say a word at that. The Pope must have had other reasons for not going to Medjugorje and they were most likely political, rather than any type of quiet condemnation as you are hoping.

Come on Rick. You ask me for documents that have far less chance of being fabrications than this one. You refute countless hundreds of statements and actions that have shown the vatican supported Medjugorje, yet ask me to believe this one highly dubious document. Ahhh. Furthermore, surely a document against Medjugorje would be acceptable to the communist government in Yugoslavia. After all, the communists have been trying to stop it for a long time (that is until they realised that money was to be made out of it!).

According to the monthly “Nasa ognjista” XXI (1991) No 10, the departed Fr. Slavko Barbaric speaks about his encounter with Cardinal Ratzinger in Linz, during a meeting of more then 300 priests who discussed their experiences of confessions in Medjugorje. He had a longer conversation with Cardinal Ratzinger about Medjugorje. Fr. Slavko, with great sense of responsibility, says that Cardinal Ratzinger told him: “The Church does not want to repress anything that is bringing good spiritual fruits”. Concerning the apparitions, he underlined that “at present he cannot say either yes or no. The Commission of the Bishop’s Conference will continue with its work”.

Cardinal Ratzinger spoke in an inspired way about Medjugorje also in 1991. On the first page of Neue Bildpost from September 8, 1991, he announced the soon solution of the question of Medjugorje and he promised that in any case he will strive to declare Medjugorje a place of pilgrimage and of prayer.”

My take on this:

1) No pro-Medjugorje person asked to testify = They have all the information and testimonies they need and this is not their focus. They are utterly convinced based on personal testimonies and previous scientific investigation that something is happening at Medjugorje.

2) No commission ever been called?? A commission is underway right now isn't it? Have you heard otherwise? Even if it has been called off or will not eventuate, why is it so terrible to think that the Vatican is simply convinced of the authenticity of Medjugorje and that previous commissions and subsequent events have thrown up all that is necessary.

My Dear Rick, I am shocked if you are trying to tell me that you are turning thousands of souls against Medjugorje based on this half-baked theory, when my own theory has just as much chance as yours does of being correct. I may be defending Medjugorje, but in doing so and not harming souls, because the Vatican has also allowed people to go to Medjugorje and believe in it and be converted through it. However, you are definitely harming people's right to peaceful conversion and worship. Your detractions have disturbed people from their prayer and worship and have caused great division. Look at how you have water-gunned this innocent soul. I shouldn't be arguing with you, I should be shutting up and praying, but something is driving me to object on behalf of the poor souls who heard about Medjugorje and been inspired to convert via Medjugorje, but had a wet blanket thrown over them by yourself and others. I can't understand that, as a Catholic, you can be so mischievously negligent with souls.

Rick, please stop calling me a promoter. I am a defender of people's rights to be enlighted by, interested in, converted by Medjugorje without being told lies by Anti-Medjugorje conspiracy theorists. I don't care about medjugorje per se. I am just tired of meeting good honest people who have had their conversion plans snatched by your wet blanket of lies, half-truths and innuendo. It all began for me while I was evangelizing to atheists on IIDB.org, simply trying to get them to believe in God. They are laughing at the Catholic Church over this division. I am for the souls you are snatching. I am for the fruits. I believe that, even if Medj is false, God allowed it and He knows how to win through it. I won't stop anyone going to Medjugorje unless and until the Vatican pronounces it false.

Many heresies? What are the alleged heresies? I have answered the main allegation very plainly on my website on this page. There is patently no heresy.

During their troubled teens, yes the visionaries told some lies. Since then, lies have been apologised for. Furthermore, the Virgin has reprimanded the visionaries herself for their early indiscretions. This is an important fact because it shows that a vision can be real even though the personalities are imperfect.

I love, honestly love, all approved Marian apparitions. I am not in the business of promoting ANY vision as such. I think the visions are self-promoting. I just defend people whose right to believe and be converted is unfairly compromised. It's all about souls being converted to Faith, not about any particular vision. When I see something attacked viciously that has not deserved it, I feel obliged to defend if I am able. I don't care about myself. I just care about the souls that are negatively influenced. I care that they had their fire quashed. I cry for those souls.

I don't know how you got involved with the Anti-Medjugorje campaign. I feel you were influenced by Davies and Jones, when you should have just stayed right out of it.

Rick,

You have a responsibility to correct error. You indicate by this response that you are more interested in what is exciting for Rick Salbato than you are about correcting and helping souls. Thus, you should not pretend to care about them at all and promote your website as your own personal hobby rather than pretending to seek to correct error and assist souls.

Love in Christ Jesus,
Paul

Refuting Rick Salbato - Part 1 >>>

Go directly to Rick's points of detraction:

• Lack of prophecy
• "Heresy" in the Virgin's statements concerning the equality of religions
• Inferences of conspiracy by a pluralistic charismatic movement
• The Virgin endorses "Poem of the Man-God"
• Disobedience 1 and Disobedience 2 and Disobedience 3
• Personal Attacks on the Seers
• Vicka "caught out" by Jean Louis
• The Herzegovina Affair
• Vego called "not guilty"
• Virgin against the Bishop of Mostar
• "False" quotes from high-level supporters of Medjugorje
• Mary changed her birthdate
• Other controversial questions - including that Mary legalises abortions
• The movie "Gospa"
• Fraud
• Demonic