Međugorje [ˈmɛdʑu.ɡɔːrjɛ] is a village in the Herzegovina municipality of Čitluk, today part of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has become famous because of a series of alleged sightings of the Virgin Mary by six young people. It should be noted, however, that the Catholic church has not approved these apparitions, and in fact there is considerable controversy as to whether or not any of the allegations made by the children are authentic. In Oct 1997 Ratko Peric, Bishop of Mostar isssued his official opinion: the apparition is proven to be not supernatural.[1] This was further confirmed by the Bishop, who has final authority as the Mostar local Ordinary. [2]

On June 24th, 1981, at about 6 pm, two young people - Ivanka Ivanković and Mirjana Dragićević, were out walking on a hill known as Crnica just outside of town. They later reported they'd gone to look for their sheep and bring them in for the night. They said they saw a young woman with a child in her arms who beckoned them to come nearer. Surprised and scared, they did not approach her.

On the second day, believing the woman they'd seen might be the Virgin Mary, the girls returned to the hill, bringing their friend Vicka Ivanković along. According to the official story, they ran barefoot up the hill over rocks and thorns, not keeping to the path. Ivanka said the lady was there, and the three girls threw themselves to their knees in prayer. Vicka left after a few minutes, because she wanted to bring her friends Marija Pavlović and Jakov Čolo to see the lady. Another young person who reports daily visions is Ivan Dragićević. (According to some accounts, two other children, Milka Pavlović and Ivan Ivanković, were present on the first day of apparitions, but did not come back on the second day, and never again reported a vision.)

According to the official report, Ivanka began to ask the lady about friends and relatives who had died, and Mirjana asked for a sign to show everyone that the visions were real. The girls said that the lady agreed and said she would return the next day. While the girls initially reported that the lady said she would only come back "three or four more times", they continued to report daily visions long after they were supposed to have ceased. Perhaps encouraged by the Franciscan priests who officiated at the local church, the young people began reporting visions every day inside the church, and continue to claim daily visitations as of 2006.

source: [3] (official site of the shrine)

In the early days of the apparitions, Our Lady promised the six visionaries ten “secrets” which contain information on future events. These ten secrets, which will affect the Church and the world, were written on a special parchment listing the timing and description of each event. Mirjana keeps the parchment in her home. To date, three visionaries, Mirjana, Ivanka, and Jakov have received all ten messages, while Ivan, Marija and Vicka have received nine. The six visionaries will eventually each know all ten secrets, but none has fully disclosed them except to announce that they include chastisements for the world and that they will begin during the lifetimes of the visionaries. The seventh secret is a punishment for humanity that has been diminished because of the response to Our Lady’s requests for prayers, fasting and conversion.

The third of the secrets involves a visible and permanent sign that is beautiful and indestructible and not of this world, which will be left on Apparition Mountain, the site of her first appearance. One of the messages of the "Gospa" says: "This sign will be given for the atheists. You faithful already have signs and you have become the sign for the atheists. You faithful must not wait for the sign before you convert: convert soon. This time is a time of grace for you. When the sign comes, it will be too late. As a mother I caution you because I love you. The secrets exist. My children! Nothing is known of these now, but when they are known, it will be too late. Return to prayer, nothing is more important than this. I would like it if the Lord allowed me to reveal some of the secrets to you, but that which He is doing for you is already a Grace which is almost too much."

None of the visionaries has disclosed the other secrets, which include blessings as well as chastisements for the world. No amount of prayer, fasting, and good works can entirely take away any or all of the secrets. Ten days before the first and second events, Mirjana will reveal the secret to Franciscan priest Father Petar Ljubicic of Medjugorje. He will fast and pray for six days. Then, three days before the event, Father Petar will reveal to the world what is to happen and where. Mirjana says that after the events occur, those who are alive will have little time to convert. She insists that the painful events for humanity are very near, and that the important thing is to pray, to pray in the family, and to pray for the young who do not believe.

A number of scientific and medical investigations have been conducted on the visionaries in Medjugorje. These researches proved that the apparitions, to which the visionaries testify, are a phenomenon that surpasses modern science and that all points toward some other level of happening.

The international French-Italian scientific theological commission "on the extraordinary events that are taking place in Medjugorje" examined the apparitions of Medjugorje the most competently and the most expertly. The assembly of seventeen renowned natural scientists, doctors, psychiatrists and theologians in their research came to a 12 point conclusion on January 14, 1986 in Paina near Milan.

1. On the basis of the psychological tests, for all and each of the visionaries it is possible with certainty to exclude fraud and deception.
2. On the basis of the medical examinations, tests and clinical observations etc, for all and each of the visionaries it is possible to exclude pathological hallucinations.
3. On the basis of the results of previous researches for all and each of the visionaries it is possible to exclude a purely natural interpretation of these manifestations.
4. On the basis of information and observations that can be documented, for all and each of the visionaries it is possible to exclude that these manifestations are of the preternatural order i.e. under demonic influence.
5. On the basis of information and observations that can be documented, there is a correspondence between these manifestations and those that are usually described in mystical theology.
6. On the basis of information and observations that can be documented, it is possible to speak of spiritual advances and advances in the theological and moral virtues of the visionaries, from the beginning of these manifestations until today.
7. On the basis of information and observations that can be documented, it is possible to exclude teaching or behavior of the visionaries that would be in clear contradiction to Christian faith and morals.
8. On the basis of information or observations that can be documented, it is possible to speak of good spiritual fruits in people drawn into the supernatural activity of these manifestations and in people favorable to them.
9. After more than four years, the tendencies and different movements that have been generated through Medjugorje, in consequence of these manifestations, influence the people of God in the Church in complete harmony with Christian doctrine and morals.
10. After more than four years, it is possible to speak of permanent and objective spiritual fruits of movements generated through Medjugorje.
11. It is possible to affirm that all good and spiritual undertakings of the Church, which are in complete harmony with the authentic magisterium of the Church, find support in the events in Medjugorje.
12. Accordingly, one can conclude that after a deeper examination of the protagonists, facts, and their effects, not only in the local framework, but also in regard to the responsive chords of the Church in general, it is well for the Church to recognize the supernatural origin and, thereby, the purpose of the events in Medjugorje.

A French team of experts headed by Mr. Henri Joyeux undertook a very serious work of examination of the visionaries. Employing the most modern equipment and expertise, it examined the internal reactions of the visionaries before, during, and after the apparitions. Likewise, the synchronization of their ocular, auditory, cardiac, and cerebral reactions. The results of that commission were very significant. They showed that the object of observation is external to the visionaries, and that any external manipulation or mutual agreement between the visionaries is excluded. The results with individual electro-encephalograms and other reactions are collected and elaborated in a special book (H. Joyeux - R. Laurentin, Etudes medicales et scientifique sur les Apparitions de Medjugorje, Paris 1986) http://www.professeur-joyeux.com/medjugorje.html.

The results of the INSTITUTE FOR THE FIELD LIMITS OF SCIENCE (IGW) – INNSBRUCK CENTRE FOR STUDY AND RESEARCH ON PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS – MILANO EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF HYPNOTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY AMISI OF MILAN PARAPSYCHOLOGY CENTER OF BOLOGNA showed that "during the period since age 17, from the beginning of their apparitional experiences, the subjects do not exhibit any kind of pathological symptoms like trance interference, disassociate interference and loss of reality interference. All subjects investigated, however, exhibited symptoms that are related to justified stress that occurs through very high levels of exogenous and endogenous stimulation as a consequence of every day life. From their personal testimonies it follows that the initial and subsequent altered state of consciousness occurs due to their unusual experiences which they themselves recognize and define and still continuously recognize as a vision/apparition of Our Lady. [...] Results of the investigation carried out demonstrate that the ecstatic phenomenology can be compared to the one from 1985 with somewhat less intensity. The hypnotically induced state of ecstasy did not cause the phenomenology of spontaneous experiences and therefore it can be deduced that the ecstatic states of spontaneous apparitions were not states of hypnotic trance.

source: http://www.medjugorje.org/science3.htm

The Vatican has not issued a definitive decision on the approval or disapproval of these apparitions.

Bishop Ratko Peric, has strongly condemned Međjugorje as a false apparition (read Bishop Peric's latest statement).

A Declaration of ex-Yugoslavia bishop's conference on Medjugorje (held in Zadar from April 9 - 11, 1991) which affirms that: "The bishops, from the very beginning, have been following the events of Medjugorje through the Bishop of the diocese [Mostar], the Bishop's Commission and the Commission of the Bishops Conference of Yugoslavia on Medjugorje. On the basis of the investigations so far it can not be affirmed that one is dealing with supernatural apparitions and revelations." http://www.medjugorje.org/declars.htm

An official document issued by Card. Tarcisio Bertone of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, affirms that: "The result from this in what is precisely said is that official pilgrimages to Medjugorje, understood as a place of authentic Marian apparitions, are not permitted to be organized either on the parish or on the diocesan level, because that would be in contradiction to what the Bishops of former Yugoslavia affirmed in their fore mentioned Declaration."

Head of the Vatican press office Joaquin Navarro-Vals commented on Card. Bertone statement: "You cannot say people cannot go there until it has been proven false. This has not been said, so anyone can go if they want". "When one reads what Archbishop Bertone wrote, one could get the impression that from now on everything is forbidden, no possibility" for Catholics to travel to Medjugorje. But, in fact,"nothing has changed, nothing new has been said", the spokesman told CNS. "The problem is if you systematically organize pilgrimages, organize them with the bishop and the church, you are giving a canonical sanction to the facts of Medjugorje," which the church is still in the process of studying. "This is different from people going in a group who bring a priest with them in order to go to confession," the spokesman said. Navarro-Valls said he commented because "I was worried that what Archbishop Bertone said could be interpreted in too restricted a way. Has the church or the Vatican said no (to Catholics visiting Medjugorje)? No."

Mons. Maurillo Kreiger, former bishop of Florianopolis (Brazil), writes: "In 1988, I was with eight other bishops and thirty three priests on spiritual retreat in the Vatican. The Holy Father knew that many of us were going to Medjugorje afterwards. After a private mass with the Pope, before leaving Rome, he said, without having been asked anything,"Pray for me in Medjugorje". On another occasion, I told the Pope "I am going to Medjugorje for the fourth time". He concentrated his thoughts and said, "Medjugorje, Medjugorje, it`s the spiritual heart of the world". On the same day I spoke with other Brazilian bishops and the Pope at lunch time and I asked him:"Your holiness, can I tell the visionaries that you send your blessing?" He answered:"Yes yes", and embraced me.

• Marian apparitions

• Međjugorje apparitions
• Official web site of Međjugorje (in Croatian, English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Español, Polski)
• Alleged apparitions at Međjugorje
• 1978 Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith document on apparition discernment (unofficial English translation)
• Mejdugorje Web Journal -daily news from Medjugorje
• Medjugorje Photos, Wallpapers & Postcards