When A Famous Seer Saw Her Deceased Mom

January 12, 2026 

Can you imagine seeing a deceased loved one, while in a wakening state?

Not as a vision; not as a fading memory; not as a vague dream. But in person?

Precisely this allegedly happened on several occasions to Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez, one of six visionaries at the famous site of apparition called Medjugorje in Hercegovina (and perhaps the quietest of the seers).

On May 7, 1985, according to a witness account by a local named Draga Vidović, Ivanka told those present for what was to be her last daily apparition from the Blessed Mother: “As every day, Our Lady came and greeted me, saying, ‘Praised be Jesus!’ and I answered, ‘Praised be Jesus and Mary forever!’

“Never before had I seen the Blessed Virgin Mary more beautiful than this evening.

“She was so gentle and so beautiful! Today, she wore the most beautiful dress that I had ever seen in my life. This dress was shining in silver and gold, as were Her veil and Her crown. There were two angels with Her. They too, were dressed like Our Lady. Our Lady and the angels were so beautiful that I cannot describe it in words. One simply has to experience this.”

Added Ivanka, as quoted in the book, Salvation of Mankind, “Our Lady asked me if I had any particular wish. I asked her if I could see my earthly mother. Our Lady smiled and nodded.

“Then, suddenly, my mother appeared. She was smiling. Our Lady told me to stand up. I stood up. My mother embraced and kissed me, and said: ‘My daughter, I am so proud of you!’ My mother kissed me once more and disappeared. After this, the Blessed Virgin Mary said, ‘My dear child, today is our last meeting.’“

On hearing that, Ivanka, who had been seeing Mary daily since June 24, 1981, had “cried for a long time.” She felt lonely and sad.

The house of Ivanka’s granny, where that final daily visit with Our Lady occurred (Ivanka still sees her on her birthday), was “old and there is nothing attractive about that house.”

But take note of this from Vidović‘s book: “Our Lady appeared to Ivanka more beautiful than ever before in such a house.

“Also, some of the visionaries saw Jesus as an adult for the first time in that house. It was in the second year of the apparitions on Good Friday. He was all in blood and wounds with a thorny crown on His Head.”

This is the sort of simplicity—such a home—that Our Lady seems to favor (see the living circumstances at places such as Fátima, Lourdes, and Guadalupe during those famous apparitions).

Ivanka also had an apparition during which one of her children, at the time an infant, also seemed to see Mary.

Asked how she felt when she saw and touched her mother, as well as how it felt to touch Our Lady, Ivankovic-Elez, at the time a youngster, said: “If I had seen my mom amongst thousands of women, I would have recognized her. She was the same, but much prettier, there was no suffering on her face because she used to suffer for years. When she embraced and kissed me, her body was not like our bodies are on earth. I remember my mom’s body; I touched her so many times. But when I touched Our Lady, her body was not like ours, and it was not like my mom’s either. She is the Mother of God.”

Ivanka added: “My mom died two months before the apparitions. God has given me the grace to see her five times in these years. Last time I saw her was in 1990. Many people do not believe that there is life after this life. But I am here, as a living witness, and I can say: THERE IS LIFE AFTER THIS LIFE, because I was indeed able to see my mom.

“This witness is not just for me, but for the whole of mankind.”

 

Pope Leo: Surrogacy is a violation of dignity

Photo by Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP

Christine Rousselle - published on 01/10/26

Pope Leo XIV condemned surrogacy and abortion in a recent speech to the diplomatic corps of the Holy See.

During his address to the diplomats accredited to the Holy See, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that surrogacy and abortion are violations of human dignity.

Speaking on Friday, January 9, to the diplomats from the 184 nations with diplomatic ties to the Holy See, Pope Leo called life "a gift to be cherished," saying that the family is "its responsible guardian."

As such, "we categorically reject any practice that denies or exploits the origin of life and its development," he said.

"Among these is abortion, which cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life. In this regard, the Holy See expresses deep concern about projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility for the purpose of accessing the so-called 'right to safe abortion,'" said Pope Leo.

Further, the Holy Father called it "deplorable" that countries use public resources "to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families."

"The primary objective must remain the protection of every unborn child and the effective and concrete support of every woman so that she is able to welcome life," he said.

"Negotiable service"

Pope Leo also spoke about surrogacy, which he said serves to make "gestation into a negotiable service."

"This violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a 'product,' and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process, and distorting the original relational calling of the family," he said.

What is surrogacy, and how is it different from adoption?

A surrogate pregnancy is when a woman is contracted to carry a pregnancy to term for someone who either cannot or does not want to get pregnant herself. The person or couple who receives the baby is referred to as the "intended" parents, and the surrogate is known as the "carrier." Paid surrogacy is illegal in many countries, but is a booming industry in others, particularly those where women face poverty and are thus vulnerable to such arrangements.

There are two main types of surrogate pregnancies. In a "traditional" surrogacy situation, the child is biologically related to the intended father and the carrier mother. In a "gestational" surrogacy, embryos are created through IVF from biological material of either the intended parents or donor(s).

This is different than adoption, as typically an adoptive couple are not the genetic parents of the child they raise. Additionally, the birth mother in an adoption is not contracted prior to pregnancy to gestate a child for adoption purposes.

What does the Church say about surrogacy?

Pope Leo's comments on Friday reaffirm what the Church teaches about surrogacy.

In January 2024, Pope Francis referred to surrogacy as a "grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child," and said that a child can "never (be) the basis of a commercial contract."

The late pope also called for surrogacy to be banned worldwide.

"Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally.  At every moment of its existence, human life must be preserved and defended; yet I note with regret, especially in the West, the continued spread of a culture of death, which in the name of a false compassion discards children, the elderly, and the sick," he said.