Medjugorje: Place of prayer and grace In May, a group of Southern Cross pilgrims travelled to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Günther Simmermacher shares his impressions.
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HERE ARE PEOPLE YOUNG enough to still have hair in its natural colour who’ll remember when Medjugorje was all fields. That changed over the decades following the first apparition reported by six children on June 24, 1981. In the intervening 40 years, Medjugorje developed these fields around the parish church of St James, built in 1892, to include a beautiful sanctuary and an abundant infrastructure of hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops to accommodate the million pilgrims who annually come to this small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina of 2 300 inhabitants. The apparitions are controversial. To cut a long, complex story short, the local diocese of Mostar for four decades dismissed the apparitions, which were strongly supported by the local Franciscans, and the Vatican sided with the local bishops. Pilgrimages to Medjugorje were never banned by the Church authorities, but priests could not lead groups as official spiritual directors. It is understating things to note that the disputes were not always edifying, culminating in the brief abduction of Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar in 1995. But the pilgrims kept coming in ever-increasing numbers, experiencing graces and conversions in this place. In May 2019, Pope Francis finally permitted official pilgrimages, acting on an official Vatican report. The report acknowledged that the first six appari-
tions might have had supernatural character, but discounted all subsequently reported apparitions. The Holy Father is cautious about the ongoing apparitions, too, saying that the Blessed Virgin is not “the head of the telegraphic office who sends a message every day”. However, Pope Francis also noted that “there are people who go
to Medjugorje, on the assumption that this does not suggest implicit support for the apparitions. One of them, working on that assumption, was Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, who led our group of Southern Cross pilgrims. His presence was greatly welcomed in Medjugorje. Our group was invited to lead two of the daily Englishspeaking Masses. Archbishop Brislin presided with Frs Vukani Masango CMM and Fr Peter Whitehead concelebrating, while members of our group served as proclaimers of the Word and collectors. Archbishop Brislin was also interviewed on various Medjugorje media.
Medjugorje is sanctified by the prayer of the people
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The Southern Cross
there and convert, people who find God and their lives change… This is a spiritual and pastoral fact that cannot be denied.” And these pilgrims, he decided, require pastoral care. Bishops may now lead pilgrimages
A Franciscan friar feeds pigeons in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which the group also visited during its pilgrimage
Emphasis on prayer
Whether or not the reported apparitions are authentic has become a point of personal judgment in Medjugorje; the spiritual fruits are available independently of one’s position on them. The place has become sanctified by the prayer of the people. And the emphasis here is strongly on prayer and grace, with the apparitions more of an adjunct than the focus of Medjugorje’s spirituality. This is also the view of the pope’s apostolic visitor, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli. The former nuncio to countries such as Chile, Malta and the Netherlands has been based in Medjugorje since November 2021, when he succeeded the first incumbent in that of-
