A Catholic pilgrimage site in Bosnia has been officially recognised by the Vatican, effectively giving the go-ahead to a tourism phenomenon that has been ongoing for over forty years. But the news comes just as other places considered holy sites are reconsidering their options.
“Queen of Peace”
An apparition of the Virgin Mary is claimed to have been spotted in the village of Međugorje in the winemaking hills of Herzegovina in June 1981. Six children and teenagers formed the group of original “seers”, who claimed that Mary spoke to them, described herself as the “Queen of Peace” and exhorted people to convert to Catholicism in order to know joy and peace. At that time, the village was in communist Yugoslavia, which would break up amid inter-ethnic wars ten years later.
Since the eighties then, Catholic pilgrims have been making the journey to Međugorje and some of the seers have claimed to have had other meetings with Mary, but the Church had until now failed to recognise the appearance of the Madonna. The latest news from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the assent of Pope Francis, grants approval for acts of devotion linked to Medjugorje.
“Positive fruits” and no negative or dangerous effects
However, the Vatican has not gone as far as confirming any miracle or apparition in the village. The decision only authorises acts of devotion because “many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God.”
Visits by those “People of God” numbered 1.7 million in 2023 alone, according to the Međugorje shrine’s website data on how many Eucharist wafers were handed out. When it comes to the “positive fruits” of pilgrimage sites, locals might well point to their thriving tourist industry, alive with around a thousand rooms in hotels, guest houses, farm enterprises and campsites, for a village of under 2,500 people.
Lourdes makes €140 million pivot
But with religious belief on the wane in Europe, other sites of pilgrimage, such as Lourdes in southwest France are seeking new tourism channels and pivoting away from their holy reputations. Unlike Međugorje, the Virgin Mary’s appearance to a local girl in Lourdes in 1858 has been confirmed by the Vatican, but that did not save the town of just 15,000 inhabitants when Covid-19 struck, wiping five or six million annual tourists and around €270 million in yearly tourism revenue from their bottom line. It is now investing around €140 million from the French State to help it transition to a broader-based, more secular tourism offer.
