[1] As a pastoral initiative, after considering the considerable number of people who go to Medjugorje and the abundant "fruits of grace" that have sprung from it,[2] the Pope lifted the ban on officially organized pilgrimages in May 2019.

[10] In addition, the election of the Pope John Paul II from communist Poland and the Catholic Solidarity Movement intensified the conflict between the Vatican and the Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe.

[17] The Franciscans of Herzegovina saw this as a threat, depriving them of a source of income and their role as community social leaders which they attained over centuries of "difficult missionary" work while under Turkish domination.

[24] According to Michael Budde in his book Beyond the Borders of Baptism Catholicity, Allegiances, and Lived Identities, as it gained a national and international reputation, the Medjugorje pilgrimage site became a formidable symbol of the power of religion in the fight against the Communist Yugoslav regime.

The six seers told Franciscan friar Father Jozo Zovko, who was the parish priest at St. James Church in Medjugorje,[26] that they had seen the Virgin Mary (Gospa).

[30] According to Randall Sullivan, they described her as "a young woman about twenty years old, they said, with blue eyes, black hair, and a crown of stars around Her head; She wore a white veil and bluish-grey robe.

However, the Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial court of the Holy See, concluded on 27 March 1993 that they had a right on appeal and saw this as a violation of the procedure and declared the dismissal to be null and void;[42] the same followed for Fr.

[44][non-primary source needed] In 1982, the communist authorities changed their stance towards the Medjugorje phenomenon and no longer observed the event as political, but as an economic benefit.

[50] Since Žanić led the process of parish reorganization, he considered the apparitions to be a Franciscan fabrication in order to damage his reputation in the diocese, and saw the alleged message from the Virgin Mary as proof of this.

[58] The Bishops conference agreed with the second commission and ruled "non constat de supernaturalitate," stating in April 1991 that it cannot be confirmed that supernatural apparitions and revelations are occurring, and would leave that decision to a future date.

[62][63] Other prominent members of the commission included Cardinals Jozef Tomko, Vinko Puljić, Josip Bozanić, Julián Herranz and Angelo Amato, as well as psychologists, theologians, mariologists, and canonists.

[64] Cindy Wooden wrote that the commission recommended that the Pope "designate the town's parish Church of St. James as a pontifical shrine with Vatican oversight.

[67] According to the historian Robert Orsi in his book History and Presence, "Our Lady of Medjugorje attracted a vast international following that included many members of the Catholic hierarchy, among them Pope John Paul II.

[82] Oder wrote that he was appointed on May 13, 2005, by Cardinal Camillo Ruini and that his book, Why He is a Saint, recounts the work he did during the process of reviewing the volumes of material gathered and entrusted to him.

"[83][84] Hnilica was a member of the Secretariat of the "Queen of Peace Committee", along with other prominent supporters of the Medjugorje phenomenon, including Jozo Zovko and Slavko Barbarić.

"[79] Marek and Zofia Skwarnicki, personal friends of John Paul II, made available letters he wrote in Polish to them, positively referring to Medjugorje.

"[89][90] According to journalist Mary Rourke, Jozo Zovko, the Franciscan Pastor during the alleged apparitions, on June 17, 1992, met with John Paul II in Rome during the wars in former Yugoslavia.

"[104] Polish Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the special apostolic visitor for the parish of Medjugorje since February 2017, died on Friday, August 13, 2021, at the Hospital of the Ministry of Interior in Warsaw, Poland.

[118] Later, in February 1988, she joined fra Tomislav Vlašić,[120] a New Age promoter,[citation needed] and his group of 15 young men and women in the community "Queen of Peace, – totally yours – Through Mary to Jesus" in Parma, Italy.

[115] In October 2013, Archbishop Gerhard Müller of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wished the U.S. bishops to be aware that Dragicevic was scheduled to give presentations at parishes across the country and was anticipated to have more apparitions during these talks.

[146] Journalist Inés San Martin described Medjugorje as "barely more than a village in 1981, and has since grown to become one big hotel, with restaurants and religious shops being the only commercial activity at hand."

From Rome’s St. Peter’s Square to Lourdes, vendors of endless religious articles, from an image of the Virgin to bobbing pope heads are always part of the scenery at any major Catholic venue.

[147] According to the Guardian, in 1997, the Hercegovačka Banka was founded "by several private companies and the Franciscan order, which controls the religious shrine in Medjugorje, a major source of income, both from pilgrims and from donations by Croats living abroad."

[149] According to the Guardian, on April 6, 2001 "masked police, backed by soldiers from the Nato-led Stabilisation Force (S-For), seized control of this bank" and the locals reacted.

According to the Neapolitan newspaper Il Mattino in Naples, magistrates are investigating Camorra ties to a pilgrimage business, three hotels, guide services, and souvenir vendors in Medjugorje.

[152] On March 20, 2020, the Associated Press presented a video of the empty streets in Medjugorje, writing that the locals now "fear international and Europe wide travel restrictions and anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic will lead to a dramatic fall in visitors and damage their livelihoods.

[155][156][157] Antonio Gaspari wrote that in the beginning, Zanic was supportive to the young seers, but subsequently changed his mind and became "the main critic and opponent of the Medjugorje apparitions.

[158] Critics such as Catholic author E. Michael Jones consider the apparitions to be a hoax, and have stated that the reports of mysterious lights on the hill could easily be explained by illusions produced by atmospheric conditions, or fires that were lit by local youths.

[159][160][161] According to Chris Maunder in his book Our Lady of the Nations, the author E. Michael Jones is antagonistic towards Medjugorje, is not objective, and "presents a conspiracy theory rather than a thorough analysis.

"[58] Raymond Eve, a professor of sociology, in the Skeptical Inquirer has written: I acknowledge that the teenagers' initial encounters with the Virgin may well have been caused by personal factors.