Has Pope Benedict visited Medjugorje sub secreto?

I understand that Cardinal Ratzinger visited Notre Dame University. Does this mean that he secretly supported their recent decision to honor President Obama with a honorary doctorate designating him as a Catholic Teacher of Law? I understand that he also visited Georgetown University. Does this mean tat he supports the decision to place a plywood panel painted black over the Holy Name of Jesus at President Obama's press conference there? I think not... Must be a slow news day at NCR.

Snowdrop,
Your comparison of Pope Benedict's visit to Medjugorje with Notre Dame and Georgetown and your subsequent questions are ridiculous and illogical. First of all, the article never claims that Cardinal Ratzinger's visit or pilgrimage to Medjugorje would lend support to the authenticity of the apparitions. This just confirms what I said in the other Medjugorje thread from last week, ie. that the Catholic Church/Vatican, while not authorizing the apparitions, has not prevented the faithful from making pilgrimages to Medjugorje. And secondly, do you have any doubt but that Pope JPII would have gone to Medjugorje himself if he were not Pope at the time? As Pope, he couldn't go without giving tacit approval to the apparitions which have not been authenicated by the Church yet. But as a special friend of Mary, Karol Wojtyla would have almost certainly visited Medjugorje if he could have. And even though the authenticity of the apparitions is important, it is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Mary does exist; She does appear to people here on this earth and She does take our prayers to Her Son, Jesus Christ. As many other people have pointed out here, God does produce good fruit from even false apparitions.

"Today's world has lost its sense of the supernatural, but many are searching for it, and find it in Medjugorje, through prayer, penance, and fasting."

- Pope John Paul II

Just because the great Pope never visited Medjugorje that doesn't mean he wasn't infatuated with it. Benedict Groeschel---whose own views on Medjugorje have been moderate at best---once explained, in an interview during John Paul II's pontificate: "I can tell you for a fact that the pope loves Medjugorje from afar and would go there in a minute if the theologians would let him."

For the whole interview, see Randall Sullivan, "The Miracle Detective: An Investigation of Holy Visions" (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press 2004), p. 433.