Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina arrested a suspect after a statue of the Virgin Mary was vandalized with Polish-language inscriptions and a fire broke out near the altar in Medjugorje. <\/p>\n
The incident occurred between Monday night and Tuesday in Medjugorje, a Catholic pilgrimage site located in the southern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At 4:30 AM, police received a report that an unknown perpetrator had painted the inscription “devil in a skirt” on a statue of the Virgin Mary. The perpetrator also left a banner with the names of individuals who reportedly experienced apparitions in Medjugorje, accompanied by a Polish-language inscription reading: “These are fraudsters, I have proof.” Shortly afterwards, a fire broke out near the altar of St. James Church.<\/p>\n
Police and a fire protection inspector from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton arrived at the scene, and the case was handled by the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office in Mostar. Law enforcement authorities initiated a search for the perpetrator, which yielded results shortly thereafter thanks to information provided by citizens and media engagement.<\/p>\n
“A person connected to the described events has been located and detained in the territory of the West Herzegovina Canton. Investigative and other legally mandated actions will be conducted against this person under the supervision of the competent prosecution,” stated the Police Commissioner’s Office on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton.<\/p>\n
The parish office in Medjugorje issued a statement expressing great sadness over the act of vandalism. Bishop Petar Pali\u0107 reacted similarly, urging believers not to react with bitterness and condemnation, but with “prayer, fasting, forgiveness, trust in Divine Providence, and personal conversion.” “Let us not allow evil to infect us with its own logic. Saint Paul reminds us: ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,'” wrote the bishop in a statement published by the parish’s Radio Medjugorje.<\/p>\n
The parish also announced that the sanctuary remains open to all pilgrims. “The prayer program is taking place regularly, and all areas are being intensively cleaned and prepared to once again become a place of prayer and encounter with the Lord through the intercession of the Queen of Peace,” the parish office wrote.<\/p>\n
Medjugorje is a popular Marian pilgrimage site, as a series of alleged apparitions reportedly took place there. The Catholic Church approaches these events with caution. In 2019, Pope Francis authorized dioceses and parishes to organize pilgrimages to Medjugorje. In 2024, an official note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that the Apostolic See will not rule on the supernatural nature of the apparitions, but permits public worship because it can provide believers with “a positive impulse for Christian living.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina arrested a suspect after a statue of the Virgin Mary was vandalized with Polish-language inscriptions and a fire broke out near the altar in Medjugorje. Vandalism at Medjugorje Shrine The incident occurred between Monday night and Tuesday in Medjugorje, a Catholic pilgrimage site located in the southern part of Bosnia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}