Fr. Raymond J. de Souza: Medjugorje: Good Fruit from a Bad Tree?

By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, The Catholic Thing, Sept. 28, 2024

Fr. Raymond J. de Souza is a Canadian priest, Catholic commentator, and Senior Fellow at Cardus.

Can good fruit come from a bad tree? The recent declaration on Medjugorje from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) had to take up that question, at least indirectly. The Church has delayed directly facing questions about Medjugorje in recent decades.

The Catholic intuition is no: bad trees do not produce good fruit. That intuition is sound, as sound as the Sermon on the Mount:

Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Mt 7:17-20) ….

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