Medjugorje Website Updates

The number of more than four hundred thousand (406,300) Holy Communions that were given during last August is more than all of the previous statistics in the last thirty years of Medjugorje. In accordance with that, the number of priests who celebrated Holy Masses in Medjugore was more than seven thousand – 7,280, in average 234 daily. The river of pilgrims continues in the first days of September as well. According to the record of Information Office there are bigger groups of pilgrims from Poland, Belgium, Slovakia, Lebanon, Spain, Argentina, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, the United States and England.

We met Fr. Frank Gindro from Denmark and asked him to share his experience with us. He said that he feels special presence of Our Lady here, “It is a feeling I did not have for a long time. I pray for people in my country that have lost hope in their lives. I will come back to Medjugorje!”

The famous Italian water polo player, 24 years old Alex Giorgetti came to Medjugorje. He comes from Savona in Italy, and he is offense player of Pro Recco, as well as the member of men’s Italy National Water Polo Team. They were the champions at the World Championship this year. Young Alex had meeting first with Fr. Miljenko Šteko, the Head of the Information Office in Medjugorje and gave him the water polo ball signed by all of the players of Italian team. He later shared his life experience with journalist of Radio Station “Mir” Medjugorje. He told us about his conversion that he experienced a year ago when he met Jesus in Mary and is very happy after having completely changed his life.

Photos from the Medjugorje Festival during 1. - 6. August, 2011.

by Mark P. Shea

One of the big puzzles that many Catholics have grappled with in recent years is the baffling phenomenon of some charismatic figure (one thinks of a Rev. Marcial Maciel, for instance) who can, for years, inspire or otherwise offer blessing and solace to good and decent Christians who are full of faith and obedient to the Church. Said figure can preach or write clear and engaging explications of the Faith. He can do all sorts of wonderful things that help struggling souls find healing, that give new purpose to the hopeless, and that help the lost discover the riches of grace in Christ. He is beloved by his devotees– and not without reason.

And yet that charismatic figure then turns out to be bound up with very serious sin or even shown to be, as in Father Maciel’s case, a monster of diabolical proportions.

by Patrick Madrid

Many adherents of the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje to whom I have spoken personally have invoked the (also alleged) fondness and support of Pope John Paul II for it. "The Pope was in favor of Medjugorje," they reason, "and given what a good and holy pontiff he was, it's highly unlikely that Medjugorje could be anything other than an authentic Marian apparition. And, conversely, it's an even stronger reason for believing in Medjugorje."

This is a form of what's known as an a fortiori argument. For example, one might say, "If I think that Medjugorje is true, that's all well and good. But if even the pope thinks it's true, then the possibility that it is true is much stronger, much more likely."