‘The Cult Of Mary’ investigated by National Geographic Channel

Devotion to the mother of Jesus is a daily practice for many of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. But there is a darker side to Marian worship in the belief that a chosen few can have exclusive contact and can channel Mary to save and heal as the National Geographic Channel discover in a documentary to air next month.

Visions of Mary can apparently save lives, but they can also destroy them. Mary’s role in the world is complex. She is the mother of Jesus, the universal symbol of maternal love, but she can trigger a strange obsession…

In Medjegorje a mountain village in Bosnia and Herezegovina, Mary is a symbol of worship. It began 34 years ago, when six children who said they saw a white figure holding a child on top of the hill. To the children she looked like the Virgin Mary. One child asked ‘where is my dead mother?’ The apparition replied ‘she is happy, she is with me’.

Each night at 5:40pm the apparition would appear to the children and speak to them, carrying messages of peace and hope. The news spread all over the small town and the world. Since this apparition in 1981, over 30 million pilgrims have come to Medjugorje. The children were named ‘The Visionaries of Medjugorje’ and became religious celebrities. This is either a miracle or a well-coordinated hoax. The village of once impoverished farmers, has now become one of the most the most popular shrines in Europe. As adults these children still reside in Medjugorje and for a fee you can come and stay in their homes or hotels they have built, or be ‘healed’ by them.

Artie Boyle from Boston had terminal cancer and was given a 5% chance of survival by doctors. He visited Medjugorje and met one of the visionaries Vicka. After his visit he was ‘cured’ and after numerous tests no cancer was found in his body. For Mike O’Neill a former FBI agent, airline pilot and father of five, the Medjugorje apparitions became an obsession.

Mike learned that Mary visionary Marija was a supporter of Caritas and its leader Terry Colafrancesco. Mike became very close with Terry, so much so that he sold his house, gave Terry the money and then moved his wife and youngest daughter to go and live with him. His oldest children were very concerned and were unable to contact any of them. Mike’s wife finally left, followed by Mike. However, his youngest daughter refused.

It then became Mike’s mission to legally take action against Terry to get his daughter back and expose Terry as a fraud. Unfortunately Mike died in a plane crash, which Terry spun as his punishment for acting against him. Luckily the family later managed to get the youngest daughter out of the cult. The Vatican has not yet released its report on the Medjugorje visionaries. They are currently investigating. Since 40 A.D. the church authorities have only validated 16 apparitions as authentic miracles. The stakes are high if the visionaries of medjugorje are deemed authentic…

But for many the Marian visions are not about church validation. Viewers can delve deeper with National Geographic Channel into The Cult of Mary on Monday 14th December and decide for yourself.