Bosnian police have arrested a man suspected of vandalising the Catholic pilgrimage site of Medjugorje days before more than 50,000 young people are expected to gather there.
Black spray paint was used to cover the face of a statue of the Virgin Mary on Apparition Hill, while the words “devil in a skirt” were written across its pedestal. Other graffiti, written in Polish and English, appeared to target the alleged visionaries associated with Medjugorje.
Security footage broadcast by Jabuka TV also showed a man setting fire to an outdoor altar at the nearby St James Church.
Police said a person linked to the incidents had been found and arrested in the Medjugorje area on Tuesday. His identity and nationality have not yet been confirmed.
The attacks occurred days before Medjugorje’s annual youth prayer festival, which attracts more than 50,000 pilgrims from around the world. The parish said repairs were underway and the gathering would proceed as planned.
Medjugorje, around 140 kilometres southwest of Sarajevo, became a major Catholic pilgrimage destination after six young people reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary there in 1981. More than one million people now visit Apparition Hill each year.
In 2024, the Vatican formally approved devotion at Medjugorje without ruling that the alleged apparitions were supernatural.
The parish urged Catholics to respond to the vandalism with “prayer, fasting, and forgiveness.” Bosnia’s Interreligious Council condemned the incidents as an attack on peace and religious respect.
