Author
Marija Pavlovic

Date
11 July 1988

Printed in
November 1988 issue of Fidelity

Note
This statement appeared shortly after Fr. Tomislav Vlasic, OFM, the long-time advisor to the "seers", was ordered to shut down his attempt to form a co-ed religious community in a house in Italy.

July 1988: Declaration of Marija Pavlovic

In the November 1988 Fidelity the editor wrote:

Fidelity recently received the following declaration from Marija Pavlovic in both Italian and Croatian, the Croatian version bearing her signature and the date July 11, 1988. The texts she is repudiating, "An Appeal in the Marian Year" and "My Declaration," are cited on pp. 33-34 of the October issue of Fidelity:


I feel a moral obligation to make the following statements before God, the Madonna, and the Church of Jesus Christ.

1. From the texts of "An Appeal in the Marian Year" and "My Declaration," which bears my signature, it follows that I have brought the answer of the Madonna to a certain question of Father Tomislav Vlasic. That answer would be, "That is the plan of God." In other words, it follows that I have brought from the Madonna to Father Tomislav V. confirmation and explicit approval of this undertaking and the program begun in Italy with the prayer group from Medjugorje.

2. Now I declare that I have never asked the Madonna for any approval for this undertaking begun by Father Tomislav V. and Agnes Heupel. I have never explicitly petitioned the Madonna concerning whether I should participate in this undertaking and I have never received from the Madonna any instructions regarding this group, except that each one of us should remain free in choosing his own way of life.

3. From the text and testimonies which bear my signature it follows that the Madonna communicated to me that the community and the program of Father Tomislav V. and Agnes Heupel are the way God intended for me and the rest of us. Now I repeat that I have never received from the Madonna, nor have I given to Father Tomislav V., not to any other individual, any such approval or instructions from the Madonna.

4. My first declaration, as published in Croatian and Italian, does not correspond to the truth. I personally had no desire to give any sort of written declaration. Father Tomislav V. kept suggesting to me, stressing over and over again, that I as a seer should write the declaration which the world was waiting for.

5. I also have to say that the contents of "My Declaration" as it presented bearing my signature pose some questions. For the time being, I can give this unequivocal answer, which I do before God, the Madonna, and the Church of Jesus Christ: "Anything in my statement which might be construed as the Madonna's approval of the undertaking of Father Tomislav Vlasic and Agnes Heupel is absolutely not in conformity with the truth, and in the same way, the idea that I had a spontaneous desire to write my declaration of April 1988 is also not in conformity with the truth."

5. I consider it a moral obligation to repeat anew before God, the Madonna, and the Church the following statements:

After seven years of daily apparitions, after having the most intimate experiences of the gentleness and wisdom of the Madonna's advice and the Madonna's answers to my personal questions, I can affirm that the idea of the heavenly plan and the numerous messages given in Medjugorje cannot be construed as supporting the undertaking and program initiated in Italy by Father Tomislav Vlasic and Agnes Heupel.

It is also necessary to add to this declaration that the daily apparitions are continuing.

I am signing this declaration in front of the Blessed Sacrament and I am sending it to all those who are, at heart, connected with the work of the Madonna in Medjugorje.