And here is my favourite testimony about Vassula from the late Archbishop Frane Franic, great lover and supporter of Medjugorje:(Testimony of + Frane Franic, Archbishop Emeritus of Split and Makarska )
In reading the books of the divine messages and knowing that the author, Mrs. Vassula Ryden, is a daughter of the Greek Orthodox Church, I was very impressed to find in them a fidelity, and I am firmly convinced, an absolute fidelity to all the revealed truths as taught and expounded by the Catholic Church.
I would like to humbly point out that in 1941 I received a Ph.D. from the Gregorian University, which was at that time very faithful to Thomist theology and philosophy and that I have myself taught this theology for 38 years, from 1942 until l980, at the Interdiocesan Theological School of advanced studies in Split. I have come to know about the various objections that were formulated by certain Catholic theologians concerning the messages of the books of "True Life in God". But these objections are certainly not able to put in doubt my conviction that all these books contain authentic messages coming from Christ Himself, messages that include the truths concerning faith in the supernatural, truths in which both the ancient Byzantine Orthodox Church and the Roman Church believed, up until the painful moment of their separation. Consequently, the messages correspond well with the ancient faith of the Holy Greek Orthodox Church, which implies that Vassula does not have to formally abandon her belonging to the Orthodox Church in order to become Catholic.
I maintain this firm conviction even today, notwithstanding the "declaration" (notification) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published in the Osservatore Romano dated 23-24 October 1995.
I pray to the Lord that this "declaration" be clarified [prayer answered!], thus removing any confusion in our Church as well as removing the difficulties that have cropped up because of this "declaration" in the ecumenical relations between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.
Furthermore, I feel I must declare that in the messages of Vassula's books one finds certain truths that are today in a state of crisis in our own Church. These truths are very clearly stated in these messages and asserted in a surprisingly firm and decisive way. Truths such as the Virginity and the Holy Motherhood of the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary, the real presence of the Body and of the Blood with the Soul and the Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
According to my humble but firm conviction, there is no error and there have never been any errors, either in the first books of Vassula nor in those that followed. There is no error when Vassula speaks about Christ calling him Abba or Jahweh, neither when she says that Christ will come in the world to bring a period of His peace, because it has to do with the historical return of Christ into this world through His Church, who during that period of Peace will be renewed; and then, the presence of Christ will be even more visible to all mankind in this world, as the Holy Virgin and Queen of Prophets was saying at Fatima, and as she is still prophecying now in Medjugorje.
Therefore, I unite myself to all those Catholic bishops and theologians that defend the authenticity and sincere veracity of Vassula Ryden, seer and mystic, one of the greatest of our times.
I would like to humbly point out that in 1941 I received a Ph.D. from the Gregorian University, which was at that time very faithful to Thomist theology and philosophy and that I have myself taught this theology for 38 years, from 1942 until l980, at the Interdiocesan Theological School of advanced studies in Split. I have come to know about the various objections that were formulated by certain Catholic theologians concerning the messages of the books of "True Life in God". But these objections are certainly not able to put in doubt my conviction that all these books contain authentic messages coming from Christ Himself, messages that include the truths concerning faith in the supernatural, truths in which both the ancient Byzantine Orthodox Church and the Roman Church believed, up until the painful moment of their separation. Consequently, the messages correspond well with the ancient faith of the Holy Greek Orthodox Church, which implies that Vassula does not have to formally abandon her belonging to the Orthodox Church in order to become Catholic.
I maintain this firm conviction even today, notwithstanding the "declaration" (notification) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published in the Osservatore Romano dated 23-24 October 1995.
I pray to the Lord that this "declaration" be clarified [prayer answered!], thus removing any confusion in our Church as well as removing the difficulties that have cropped up because of this "declaration" in the ecumenical relations between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.
Furthermore, I feel I must declare that in the messages of Vassula's books one finds certain truths that are today in a state of crisis in our own Church. These truths are very clearly stated in these messages and asserted in a surprisingly firm and decisive way. Truths such as the Virginity and the Holy Motherhood of the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary, the real presence of the Body and of the Blood with the Soul and the Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
According to my humble but firm conviction, there is no error and there have never been any errors, either in the first books of Vassula nor in those that followed. There is no error when Vassula speaks about Christ calling him Abba or Jahweh, neither when she says that Christ will come in the world to bring a period of His peace, because it has to do with the historical return of Christ into this world through His Church, who during that period of Peace will be renewed; and then, the presence of Christ will be even more visible to all mankind in this world, as the Holy Virgin and Queen of Prophets was saying at Fatima, and as she is still prophecying now in Medjugorje.
Therefore, I unite myself to all those Catholic bishops and theologians that defend the authenticity and sincere veracity of Vassula Ryden, seer and mystic, one of the greatest of our times.
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