Hi, Jack-
I hadn't heard the political implications of the Medjugorje shrine. I had wondered why the Vatican withheld approval from the shrine, but all I've read was that the Vatican said the apparitions were "not authentic." I had also heard that the Vatican has made efforts to distance itself from Croatian fascism (but short of an outright condemnation), but I hadn't made a connection between the two. I have seen no reason why the Catholic Church and John Paul II should be blamed for the Croatian atrocities, although it's clear that Croatian clergy have been involved. I know of no indication that the Vatican or John Paul was involved or gave approval or support.

Medjugorje is very popular with the pious types in the Catholic Church, and they have tried all sorts of verbal gymnastics to attempt to say that the Vatican "didn't really" withhold approval. Click here for a pretty balanced article from Christian Century by Dr. Denis Janz, associate professor of historical theology at Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana. The article was written in 1987, before the wars that plagued the area in the 1990s.

-Joe-