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Our Lady of Medjugorje (Croatian: Međugorska Gospa), also called Queen of Peace (Croatian: Kraljica mira) and Mother of the Redeemer (Croatian: Majka Otkupiteljica), is the title given to the "visions" of the Blessed Virgin Mary which allegedly began in 1981 to six Herzegovinian teenagers in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the time in SFR Yugoslavia). The visionaries are: Ivan Dragičević, Ivanka Ivanković, Jakov Čolo, Marija Pavlović, Mirjana Dragičević and Vicka Ivanković and ranged in age from ten to sixteen years old at the time of the first apparition.

There have also been continued reports of the visionaries seeing and receiving messages from the apparition of Our Lady (Gospa) during the years since. The seers often refer to the apparition as the "Gospa", which is a Croatian archaism for lady. On May 13, 2017, a papal response came when Pope Francis declared that the original visions reported by the teenagers are worth studying in more depth, while the subsequent continued visions over the years are, in his view, of dubious value. He went on to say that there are people who go there, convert, find God and their lives change. He said that this is a spiritual and pastoral fact that cannot be denied. As a pastoral initiative, after considering the considerable number of people who go to Medjugorje and the abundant fruits of grace that have sprung from it, the ban on officially organized pilgrimages was lifted by the Pope in May 2019. This was made official with the celebration of a youth festival among pilgrims and Catholic clergy in Medjugorie for five days in August 2019. However this was not to be interpreted as an authentication of known events, which still require examination by the Church.

Political situation
In the summer of 1941, the Croat Ustaše killed hundreds of women and children from the village of Prebilovci, Herzegovina, and Orthodox monks from the monastery of Žitomislići by throwing them into the Golubinka pit, near Šurmanci. Forty years later, in June 1981, the Orthodox community led a commemoration of the event. "The location where the Šurmanci massacre took place lies precisely on the opposite side of the mountain where the current apparitions began ...only four days after the ceremonies took place."

Religious situation
When the area came under Ottoman control in the late fifteenth century it lost any effective diocesan administration and pastoral care for the resident Catholics fell to the Franciscan friars who remained. By the latter part of the nineteenth century Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of Austria-Hungary, and in 1881 Pope Leo XIII took steps to establish dioceses (1881) and appoint local bishops, as had been done elsewhere. This included transferring parishes administered by the Franciscans to diocesan clergy. A smooth transition was inhibited by both a lack of sufficient diocesan clergy and more particularly by the resistance of the friars to the divestment of their parishes. This would have entailed the loss of both income to support their monasteries, and their hard-earned status as community leaders. They therefore encouraged popular opposition to diocesan parish takeovers.

In 1975 a decree by Pope Paul VI, Romanis Pontificibus, ordered that Franciscans to withdraw from most of the parishes in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, retaining 30 and leaving 52 to the diocesan clergy. In the 1980s the Franciscans still held 40 parishes under the direction of 80 friars.

The Mostar Cathedral of Mary, Mother of the Church was completed in the summer of 1980 and consecrated on September 14, 1980 by Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In order to create the cathedral parish it was decided to split the parish of SS. Peter and Paul. The Franciscans objected to this as being unfair.

In the 1980s there was a boom of Marian apparitions in Europe, especially in Ireland and Italy. Chris Maunder connects these apparitions, including those in Medjugorje, with the anti-communist movement in Eastern Europe that led to the downfall of communism.

Initial events
According to teenagers involved, on 24 June 1981 around 4pm, fourteen-year-old Ivanka Ivanković, whose mother had died the previous May, and her friend Mirjana Dragičević were returning to the village, having gone for a walk. Ivanka noticed the silhouette of a woman on nearby Mount Podbrdo which she immediately took to be the Madonna. She drew this to Marija's attention, but her friend scoffed at the idea as being unlikely and they continued on their way. They then met Milka Pavlovic, who asked them to help bring in the sheep, so the three returned to the nearby hill, where all three saw the apparition. They were then joined by their friends Vicka Ivanković, Ivan Dragičević and Ivan Ivankovic. Ivan Dragicevic was frightened and left; the others followed. All of them later said they saw the same apparition.

The next day Ivanka Ivankovic, Mirjana Dragicevic, Vicka Ivankovic, and Ivan Dragicevic returned to the site. Ivan Ivankovic did not accompany them. As Milka Pavlovic's mother kept the twelve-year-old to help her in the garden, Vicka Ivankovic brought along Milka's sister, Marija Pavlovic, and ten-year-old Jakov Colo. Milka experienced no further apparitions. The six seers told Franciscan friar Father Jozo Zovko that they had seen the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje. Zovko was the parish priest at St. James Church in Medjugorje.

Fr. Tomislav Vlašić became a spiritual guide of the seers and was conducting the Chronicle of Apparitions (Kronika ukazanja). Ivanka Ivankovic,Ivan Dragičević and Vicka Dragičević, claimed that Our Lady told her biography between January and May 1983. She claims to have had regular apparitions until May 7, 1985, and that since then the apparitions occur only once a year. She claims the tenth secret was given to her by Gospa.

Government and Catholic church response
Yugoslav government officials condemned the reports as "clerical-nationalist" conspiracy on the part of Croat extremists. Although the Yugoslav authorities initially regarded the events as little more than a conspiracy on the part of Bosnian Croat nationalists, gradually "the cash-strapped Yugoslav authorities realized the commercial potential of Mudjugorje." During the 1980s, Medjugorje was visited by a million pilgrimages on average. Journalist Inés San Martin described Medugorje as "barely more than a village in 1981, [that] has since grown to become one big hotel, with restaurants and religious shops being the only commercial activity at hand. Some of its detractor say that it's a tourist trap." Bishop Pavao Žanić of Mostar defended the seers from the communist authorities that tried to suppress the cult of Our Lady of Medjugorje, but at the same time avoided recognizing the apparitions as authentic. He informed the Pope about the events in September 1981. Zanic, in the beginning, was sympathetic to the young visionaries, but subsequently changed his mind and became the main critic and opponent of the Medjugorje apparitions. Žanić was quickly disillusioned with the phenomenon after three of the seers claimed that the Madonna supported the Herzegovinian Franciscans in their pretension for parishes in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, an old dispute between them and the diocese known as the Herzegovina Affair. He became skeptical towards the apparitions after it was alleged that the apparition accused him of the disorder in Herzegovina that existed between the Franciscans and the diocesan clergy and defended the two Franciscans who refused to leave their parishes as requested by the Papal decree Romanis Pontificibus. The Franciscans used the apparitions to promote their interests, claiming that they come from the Madonna, while the bishop claimed that they were a product of Franciscan manipulation. Žanić accused the Franciscans of manipulating the seers, forbade pilgrimages and transferred the spiritual director of the seers Tomislav Vlašić, whose sexual scandal wasn't known yet at the time. In August 1984, Vlašić was replaced by Franciscan friar Slavko Barbarić, who, unbeknownst to Žanić, was already working in Medjugorje. Žanić's successor as bishop of the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno Ratko Perić also stated that he believed that the apparitions were false. In particular, he stated that the Mary described by the children differs from accepted Marian behaviour, messages, actions, and an unfulfilled signs.

In January 1982, Žanić established the first of two commissions for the investigation of the apparitions. The first commission, made up of four members was active from 1982 to 1984. In February 1984 Žanić expanded the initial commission to fifteen members. It included nine professors from various theological faculties and two psychiatrists. This second commission examined Fr. Tomislav Vlašić's Chrinicles and Vicka's diaries. The Chronicles and diaries were found incredible, with records kept irregularly, entered subsequently, and some parts of Vicka's diaries were forged. In May 1986, the Commission declared that it could not establish that the events in Medjugorje were of a supernatural character.

Medjugorje had become a global phenomenon, while Žanić's authority was undermined by the supporters of the phenomenon. In January 1987, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, suggested that the matter be referred from the local ordinary to the Yugoslav Bishops Conference, which agreed with the second commission and ruled "non constat de supernaturalitate", stating in April 1991, that: "(o)n the basis of studies it cannot be affirmed that supernatural apparitions and revelations are occurring."

The Conference had instructed that pilgrimages should not be organized to Medjugorje on the supposition of its being supernatural, which ruling remained in effect. In its declaration the commission noted that thousands of pilgrims come to Medujorje and were in need of pastoral care.

During and after the Bosnian War
In 1991 the country of Yugoslavia was dissolved, and the constituent republics declared their independence. During the Bosnian War, profits from Medjugorje were channeled to fund the war efforts of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and its military, the Croatian Defence Council. On one occasion, a businessman from the United Kingdom used the money he apparently collected for orphans to fund the Croat military. Serbs and Muslims who saw the "Gospa" as a symbol of extreme Croat nationalism called her the "Ustasha Virgin". The number of pilgrimages to continued after the end of Bosnian War in 1995.

In 1993 Bishop Žanić retired. In April 1995, during the Bosnian War, his successor, Bishop Ratko Perić, and Perić's secretary, were abducted and beaten by Croat militiamen in a local Franciscan chapel. They were held for eight hours until rescued by UN peacekeepers and the Mayor of Mostar. In October 1997, Bishop Perić, in response to a letter, expressed his personal opinion that the events alleged at Medjugorje were no longer non constat de supernaturalitate (that their supernatural nature is not established) but constat de non supernaturalitate (it is not of a supernatural nature). Both Bishop of Mostar Pavao Zanic and his successor Ratko Peric expressed serious reservations concerning the alleged apparitions. According to Peric, both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI supported the judgments of the local bishops. The pope's private secretary Stanisław Dziwisz stated that the Pope had entrusted the whole matter to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and thereafter maintained "a prudent distance." However, according to Why he is a Saint, the book making the case for his canonization, Pope John Paul II allegedly confided to others that  he felt the events at Medjugorje were genuine. The Vatican has never confirmed those statements.

Others were skeptical. Marian expert and journalist Donal Foley says that, “sadly, the only rational conclusion about Medjugorje is that it has turned out to be a vast, if captivating, religious illusion”. Foley attributed the popularity of the Medjugorje cult to the fact that Medjugorje may appeal to Catholics confused by changes after the Second Vatican Council.

According to local priest and theologian Ivo Sivric reports of mysterious lights on the hill could easily be explained by illusions produced by atmospheric conditions, or fires that were lit by local youths.

Raymond Eve, a professor of sociology, in the Skeptical Inquirer wrote: "I acknowledge that the teenagers' initial encounters with the Virgin may well have been caused by personal factors. For example, Ivanka, who was the first to perceive a visitation, had just lost her natural mother. The perception of apparitional experiences spread rapidly among her intimate peer group. ...The region's tension and anxiety likely exacerbated this contagion process and the need to believe among the youthful protagonists."

Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell has noted that there are a number of reasons for doubting the authenticity of the apparitions such as contradictions in the stories. For example, on the first sighting, the teenagers claimed they had visited Podbrdo Hill to smoke. They later retracted this, claiming they had gone to the hill to pick flowers. According to Nickell there is also a problem of the "embarrassingly illiterate" nature of the messages.

In 1997, the Hercegovacka Banka was founded "by several private companies and the Franciscan order, which controls the religious shrine in Medjugorje, a major source of income, both from pilgrims and from donations by Croats living abroad." Located in Mostar, the bank has branches in several towns. In 2001, the bank was investigated for possible ties to Bosnian Croat separatists attempting to forge an independent mini-state in Croat areas of Bosnia. Tomislav Pervan, OFM was a member of the bank board of supervisors, as well as former officers of the Croatian Defence Council.

2000 to present


Bishop Peric visited Rome in 2006 and reported that in his discussion with Pope Benedict XVI regarding the Medjugorje phenomenon, the pope said, "We at the congregation always asked ourselves how can any believer accept as authentic apparitions that occur every day and for so many years?"

In 2009, Pope Benedict defrocked Tomislav Vlašić, the spiritual director of the alleged seers.



In an interview in May 2017, Pope Francis commented on the findings of the commission headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini saying that the report said of the initial apparitions that they "need to continue being studied" and expressed doubts in the later apparitions. He also expressed his own suspicion towards the apparitions saying he prefers "the Madonna as Mother, our Mother, and not a woman who's the head of the telegraphic office, who sends a message every day".

Ruini Commission
On 17 March 2010, the Holy See announced that, at the request of the bishops of Bosnia Herzegovina, it had established a commission, headed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, to examine the Medjugorje phenomenon. Other prominent members of the commission included Cardinals Jozef Tomko, Vinko Puljić, Josip Bozanić, Julián Herranz and Angelo Amato, psychologists, theologians, mariologists and canonists. The commission was to "collect and examine all the material", and publish a "detailed report" based on its findings. It was tasked to evaluate the alleged apparitions and to make appropriate pastoral recommendations for those pilgrims who continued to go to Medjugorje despite the ban on official pilgrimages. The Commission was active until 17 January 2014.

The Ruini Commission made a distinction between the first appearances from 24 June 1981 until 3 July 1981, with reportedly 13 votes in favor of those apparitions being of "supernatural" origin, one vote against, and an expert with a suspensive vote. Regarding the rest of the apparitions, from July 1981 onwards, the Commission found them to be influenced by heavy interference caused by the conflict between the Franciscans and the diocese over the redistribution of parishes. The Commission deemed later visions to be "pre-announced and programmed", and they continued despite the seers stating they would end.

Regarding the pastoral fruits of Medjugorje, the Commission voted in two phases. In the first phase, they disregarded the behavior of the seers and voted six in favor of the positive outcome (including three experts), seven stating they are mixed (including three experts) with most being positive, and other three experts stating the fruits are a mix of positive and negative. In the second phase, taking into consideration the behavior of the seers, twelve members (including four experts) stated they cannot express their opinion, and other two members voted against the supernatural origin of the phenomenon.

The Ruini Report was completed in 2014, and was viewed with some reservations by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which expressed doubts regarding the apparitions. Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who headed the Congregation at the time, said in April 2017 regarding Medjugorje, that "pastoral questions" cannot be separated "from questions of the authenticity of apparitions".

In 2017, around two million people from more around eighty countries from all over the world visited Medjugorje. The Archbishop reported to the Pope in the summer of 2017.

Like to the Pope John Paul II, many statements affirmative towards Medjugorje were ascribed to Pope Benedict XVI while he was still a cardinal, which he dismissed as "mere fabrications". In February 2017 Pope Francis named Polish Archbishop Henryk Hoser as a special envoy to "acquire more in-depth knowledge of the pastoral situation in Medjugorje" and “above all, the needs of the faithful who come to pilgrimage” to “suggest any pastoral initiatives for the future.” On May 12, 2019, Pope Francis authorized pilgrimages to Medjugorje considering the "considerable flow of people who go to Medjugorje and the abundant fruits of grace that have sprung from it." While pilgrimages can now be officially organized by dioceses and parishes, the permission did not address still outstanding doctrinal questions relating to the authenticity of the alleged visions. As a result, the Apostolic Visitor "will have greater facility—together with the bishops of these places—of establishing relations with the priests who organize these pilgrimages” to ensure that they are “sound and well prepared." The first sanctioned event was the Thirtieth Annual Youth Festival, which took place from August 1-6 2019. During the pilgrimage, approximately 50,000 young Catholics from all over the world took part. On 31 May 2018 Pope Francis nominated Archbishop Hoser a second time “as special apostolic visitor for the parish of Medjugorje” with the mandate lasting for “an undefined period..." at the discretion of the Pope. Archbishop Hoser was appointed by Pope Francis to evaluate the quality of pastoral care people were receiving at Medjugorje. The Ruini Commission had recommended that the town's parish Church of St. James be made a pontifical shrine with Vatican oversight. From a pastoral perspective, this would both recognize the devotion of those who travel to Medjugorje and "ensure that 'a pastor and not a travel agency' is in charge of what happens there".

According to Marshall Connolly of the media company California Network, what Hoser witnessed convinced the archbishop that something genuine has happened. Hoser told the Polish Catholic news agency, KAI, "All indications are that the revelations will be recognized, perhaps even this year." He added, "Specifically, I think it is possible to recognize the authenticity of the first apparitions as proposed by the Ruini commission."

Henryk Hoser, the apostolic visitator in Medjugorje, stated in July 2018 that the mafia had penetrated the pilgrimage site, specifically the Neapolitan mafia – the Camorra. According to the Neapolitan newspaper Il Mattino in Naples, magistrates are investigating Camorra ties to a pilgrimage business, three hotels, guide services, and souvenir vendors in Medjugorje.

On June 25, 2020 Reuters reported that the travel restrictions had caused a marked decrease in pilgrimages, down from over 100,000 per year, along with a loss in revenue for local businesses.