Medjugorje: “All these signs show that the Church gratefully acknowledges… This is where Heaven is so close to us.” Cardinal Christoph Schönborn

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn: Church gratefully acknowledges what so many people experience in Medjugorje

As in previous years, a message was conveyed by the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, to the participants of the 30th Youth Festival in Medjugorje. The message was read by parish priest Fr. Marinko Sakota

Dear brothers and sisters, dear young people!

As every year, I look forward to sending you my greetings for this great youth gathering. In the past years, our Holy Father has been giving signs step by step that Medjugorje is a blessed place where the Mother of God, Our Lady, is so close to people and sends so much help. All of us can only thank him heartily for his wise pastoral care, full of love.

In the person of Archbishop Hoser, he sent his personal permanent representative. At the opening of the Mladifest came his personal vicar, Cardinal De Donatis. All these signs show that the Church gratefully acknowledges what so many people have been experiencing in Medjugorje for decades and that it encourages you to come to this place of mercy in spite of the summer heat. This is where Heaven is so close to us, here Our Lady gives so much comfort and conversion, here many of you discover the joy of confession, the sacrament of forgiveness. Here you experience fellowship in faith, here you make friendships, here many experience inner healing from the wounds of life.

I am already looking forward to being able to come to Medjugorje for the next Mladifest, if God wills it.

Pray for Pope Francis, to whom we owe so much.

In faith and prayer,

P. Christoph Cardinal Schönborn