The popular Marian Catholic shrine in Medjugorje, Bosnia, was vandalized overnight Monday to Tuesday July 28 and its church was set on fire, police said. This desecration occurred a few days before “Mladifest” (August 1 to 6), an international prayer meeting which brings together more than 50,000 young people from all over the world each year in Medjugorje.
Faithful first reported to the police the deterioration “by offensive messages” of the central statue representing the Virgin on the “Hill of Apparitions”, then a fire that occurred in the exterior altar of the Church of Saint James in Medjugorje, in the heart of the sanctuary, the police said in a press release. An investigation is underway, under the supervision of a prosecutor from the regional prosecutor’s office, according to the press release, in which the fire is described as “intentional”.
A surveillance camera recorded a man setting fire to the outdoor altar of the Church of Saint James in Medjugorje pic.twitter.com/y2cbZ72bdg
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The sanctuary of Medjugorje (south), 140 km from Sarajevo, is one of the world-famous Catholic pilgrimage sites. It is visited each year by more than a million people.
The Vatican announced in September 2024 a decision by the dicastery (ministry) for the doctrine of the faith recognizing the sanctuary, without however commenting on the “alleged messages” of the Virgin to the faithful, communicated regularly by the six people who would have seen her there in 1981 and who are called the “seers”.
Statue of the Virgin desecrated
The Vatican decision gave a “green light to the devotion and spiritual experience” of the faithful in Medjugorje, a small village that has become a place of pilgrimage since the apparition in 1981. The Vatican’s recognition, according to this decision, “does not imply a judgment on the moral life of the alleged seers.” He also does not comment on the supernatural nature or not of Mary’s “alleged” messages.
The police do not provide details on the desecration of the statue. According to photos published by local media, the Virgin’s face and hands were smeared with black paint, and the English message “Devil in a skirt” was written on the statue’s stone base. Furthermore, a banner with the names of the “seers”, described in Polish as “imposters”, was hung on the fence around the statue.
“It is with great sadness that we learned of the act of vandalism which damaged the places of prayer in our parish,” said the parish office of Medjugorje in a press release, inviting the faithful “to respond to this event (…) with prayer, fasting and forgiveness”.
