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Just days before a major youth pilgrimage, vandals have desecrated two statues of Our Lady and set fire to the outdoor altar of St. James Church at the Medjugorje shrine in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Catholic pilgrimage site is very popular with Irish visitors, and is expecting 50,000 young people at its Tuesday, July 28, days before the shrine’s annual Mladifest youth festival in the coming days.
The Marian shrine of Medjugorje, is about 140km southwest of the Bosnia and Herzegovina capital of Sarajevo. It was previously part of Croatia.
The attacks happened early Tuesday, July 28, and security camera footage published by Jabuka TV showed a man setting fire to the outdoor altar of St James Church at the Marian shrine.
The video shows a man pouring liquid around the outdoor altar of St James Church before setting it alight with flames speedily consuming the area.
The statue of Our Lady on Podbrdo, or Apparition Hill, was doused with black paint across the face, chest, and dress, with the words “Devil in a skirt” scrawled on its pedestal, local media reported. The statue of Our Lady at the nearby Blue Cross was similarly defaced, with “EVIL” written on a nearby stone slab. A banner in Polish naming the six alleged seers was left near the Podbrdo statue.
Police in Čitluk received the first report at 4:30 a.m. and a report of fire at the recently renovated altar behind St. James parish church at 5 a.m., a police spokeswoman said reportedly. Surveillance footage shows a man dousing the altar with flammable liquid and igniting it. Cantonal police later confirmed to local media that a suspect was arrested Tuesday afternoon. His identity has not been released, according to EWTN.
More than one million people visit Medjugorje every year. Local sources say restoration work began immediately.
The Medjugorje parish office said in a statement that the shrine remains open to all pilgrims and asked for prayers for peace.
“The shrine remains open to all pilgrims. The prayer program is taking place regularly, and all the spaces are being rapidly cleaned and prepared so that they can once again be a place of prayer and encounter with the Lord through the intercession of the Queen of Peace,” they said.
“It is with great sadness that we received the news of the act of vandalism that damaged the prayer areas in our parish. We immediately began cleaning and repairing the damage so that all areas would be properly prepared for the prayer again. We thank all those who, with their work and selfless help, participate in ensuring that the sanctuary remains a place of encounter with God, a place of peace, and a place where the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, is honored.”
In a special way, we invite all faithful to respond to this event in the way that Our Lady has been teaching us for over forty years in Medjugorje: with prayer, fasting, and forgiveness. We pray for the conversion of the hearts of those who committed this act, that the Lord may touch them with His grace and lead them on the path of goodness. We also pray for peace in the hearts of all people. Our Lady constantly invites us to be carriers of peace. May this event encourage us to take her invitation even more seriously: not to return evil for evil, but to witness love, forgiveness, and hope with our lives,” they said.
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