The 39th anniversary of the apparition of Blessed Virgin Mary in Medjugorje gathered hundreds of believers from all over the world.
“The crucial thing is that we personally recognize Medjugorje by our hearts, that we pray, fast and go to the Mass and that these prayer change us from the inside. That’s a true recognition of Medjugorje, and then the Official Church will officially recognize all these gifts. The most important is that we recognize Medjugorje by our own lives,” said the priest Luka who came from Slavonski Brod in Medjugorje this morning.
“Today’s day is something magnificent. I am every day in Medjugorje, but today I’m especially happy to see so many people here, since Medjugorje was very affected by certain statements in the last few days. This is a confirmation that Medjugorje is on the way in which it was always believed, “said Ivan Kozina from Medjugorje.
Our Lady of Medjugorje (also called Queen of Peace and Mother of the Redeemer) is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by those who believe that she appeared in 1981 to six Herzegovinian children in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the time in SFR Yugoslavia).
There have also been continued reports of seeing the apparition and receiving messages from it during the years since. The visionaries often refer to the apparition as the “Gospa”, which is Croatian for lady.
On May 13, 2017, a papal response came when Pope Francis declared that the original visions reported by the children are worth studying in more depth, while the subsequent continued visions over the years are, in his view, of dubious value. He went on to say that there are people who go there, convert, find God and their lives change. He said that this is a spiritual and pastoral fact that cannot be denied.