Medjugorje has been hit by a series of acts of vandalism and an arson attack, according to the N1 news portal.
Police in Citluk received a report at 4:30 a.m. that a statue of the Virgin Mary in the village of Bijakovici had been defaced with inscriptions and graffiti. Half an hour later, a fire broke out at the outdoor altar behind St James’s Church.
Police said the scenes had been secured and officers were carrying out an investigation.
Several religious sites, including Apparition Hill, also known as Podbrdo, and Cross Mountain, or Krizevac, were targeted overnight. Vandals daubed statues with black paint and left offensive graffiti and banners bearing slogans including “The Devil in a Skirt” and “Medjugorje is a Hoax”.
A Polish-language banner attacking the local visionaries was also found.
Within hours, footage circulated on social media showing a man caught on a security camera pouring a flammable liquid over the altar before setting it alight.
Portal.hr reported that religious websites had condemned the attacks as a serious provocation against symbols of Marian devotion, as well as an act of material destruction. They urged the faithful not to respond to the desecration with hatred or revenge, but with prayer, forgiveness and condemnation of all forms of violence.
The vandalism occurred shortly before the traditional youth festival, Mladifest, which begins on Saturday, 1 August and is expected to attract between 50,000 and 60,000 pilgrims from around the world.
(max)