Born in Uňatín in present-day Slovakia, Hnilica became a Jesuit priest in 1950, and in 1951 was secretly ordained a bishop during the communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
Presently Bishop Hendriks explains that the title 'Lady of All Nations' is "in itself theologically admissible" which includes praying with the Madonna but it is not to be understood as a recognition of the supernatural nature of the phenomena.
After the Bosnian War disrupted his activity in Medjugorje, Hnilica turned to the United States, where he tried to create a similar Marian cult in Denver, an unsuccessful endeavour shut down by the local bishop.
In 1992, Hnilica tried to retrieve stolen documents from Roberto Calvi regarding the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano of which the Vatican Bank was a partial owner.
[1] Hnilica began his theological studies in Slovakia and during this time, the communists, who took control of the government after World War II, shut down the religious orders from April 1950.
[2] David Doellinger wrote that they transported the clergy, including students from orders in Slovakia to monasteries that had been turned into concentration camps.
[10] David Yallop wrote that "Hnilica was even accorded the rare privilege of concelebrating Mass with the Holy Father in the Papal chapel.
[8] On March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II endeavored to completely accomplish what Our Lady of Fatima had requested seven decades earlier in 1917.
On December 8, 1983, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception John Paul II sent out a letter four months ahead of the planned date of 25 March 1984, to all the bishops worldwide.
So Bishop Hnilica and Monsignor Maasburg, the spiritual advisor to Saint Mother Teresa, went to the Soviet Union to execute John Paul II's prayer of consecration inside the Kremlin itself.
[12] According to Gordon Melton and Marin Baumann during this time the "formalization of the devotions of some highly controversial figures" like Padre Pio and "while previously 'banned' sites of apparitions" like Lady of All Nations "received positive toleration or at least a level of acknowledgment."
Important shrines and devotions within this network include naming a few: Amsterdam, Netherlands (1945), Fatima, Portugal (1917), Garabandal, Spain (1961) and Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1981).
[14] The current Bishop Hendriks explains that the title ‘Lady of All Nations’ is “in itself theologically admissible” which includes praying with the Madonna but it is not to be understood as a recognition of the supernatural nature of the phenomena.
According to Chris Maunder, Hnilica "was said to have the ear of John Paul II, and he reported that "the Pope is privately interested in Medjugorje, seeing it as a continuation of Fatima in the battle with communism.
"[10] In 1990 John Paul II dispatched his confidante, Bishop Hnilica, to accompany Marija, a seer of Our Lady of Medjugorje, on a visit to Russia.
[20][citation needed] The Bosnian War caused the decline in the financial revenues in Medjugorje, so Hnilica wanted to find a new source of financing.
On March 9, 1994, Archbishop Stafford issued the following declaration: "On December 9, 1991, I appointed a commission to investigate alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Mother Cabrini Shrine and other places within the Archdiocese of Denver to Theresa Antonia Lopez.
As Archbishop of Denver, I have concluded that the alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Theresa Antonia Lopez are devoid of any supernatural origin.
"[citation needed] In 1992, Hnilica was indicted for criminal involvement in the case of the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano, of which the Vatican Bank was a partial owner.
[24] At first, Hnilica claimed that he didn't want anything from Roberto Calvi's briefcase, but was hoping that Carboni would launch a campaign that would improve the Vatican's image.