A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by Mary the mother of Jesus, or a series of related such appearances during a period of time.
Medjugorje is a village in the municipality of Čitluk in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1981, it has become a popular site of Catholic pilgrimage due to Our Lady of Medjugorje, a purported series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, to six local children that are supposedly still happening to this day.
The Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome.
Ratko Perić is a prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Mostar-Duvno and apostolic administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan from 1993 until his retirement in 2020. After his retirement in July 2020, he briefly served as the apostolic administrator of both dioceses until the instalment of his successor Petar Palić in September 2020.
Pavol Mária Hnilica, S.J. was a Slovak prelate of the Catholic Church who served as a titular bishop of Rusadir from 1964 until his death in 2006.
Mark Miravalle is a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, specializing in Mariology. He is president of Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici, a Catholic movement promoting the concepts of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix.
Our Lady of Medjugorje, also called Queen of Peace and Mother of the Redeemer, is the title given to alleged visions of Mary, the mother of Jesus, said to have begun in 1981 to six Herzegovinian Croat teenagers in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The alleged visionaries are Ivan Dragičević, Ivanka Ivanković, Jakov Čolo, Marija Pavlović, Mirjana Dragičević and Vicka Ivanković. They ranged from ten to sixteen years old at the time of the first apparition.
Medjugorje, a village in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been the site of alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary since 24 June 1981. Various officials of the Catholic Church have attempted to discern the validity of these Marian apparitions in order to provide guidance to potential devotees and pilgrims. On 7 December 2017, it was reported that Archbishop Hoser, Pope Francis' envoy to Medjugorje, announced that official pilgrimages are allowed, stating, "dioceses and other institutions can organize official pilgrimages." This pilgrimage was officially authorized by the Holy See in May 2019. The approval was not intended to signify recognition of the apparitions, but acknowledge the faith and pastoral needs of the pilgrims.
Pavao Žanić was a prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and apostolic administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan from 1980 until his retirement in 1993. Previously, Žanić served as bishop coadjutor of Mostar-Duvno and titular Bishop of Edistania from 1970 until 1980. He also served as apostolic administrator of Dubrovnik from 1988 until 1990.
Bijakovići is a village in the municipality of Čitluk, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Tomislav Vlašić is the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Whole Universe seated in Italy. He is best known for being a former spiritual director of the alleged seers of the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje. He also claims to receive the messages from God the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Madonna, the Apostles and the archangels.
Romanis Pontificibus is a papal decree, issued on 6 June 1975 by Pope Paul VI, that concerns the Herzegovina Affair: the Franciscan friars of Herzegovina took control of the local parishes and refused to hand them over to the local bishops and priests, despite the Franciscan vow of obedience. The decree specified the relative jurisdictions of the friars and the diocesan clergy.
Frane Franić was a prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the Archbishop of Split-Makarska from 1969 until his retirement in 1988. He also served as the last Bishop of Split-Makarska, before the diocese was elevated to the status of an archdiocese, from 1960 to 1969.
Petar Palić is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian prelate of the Catholic Church who is currently the bishop of Mostar-Duvno and apostolic administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan since 2020.
Slavko Barbarić was a Herzegovinian Franciscan Catholic priest and friar involved in the alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, serving as a spiritual director of the alleged seers from 1984 until he died in 2000. He was a supporter of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Jozo Zovko, OFM is a Herzegovinian Croat Franciscan priest, most notable for being a parish priest in Medjugorje during the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1981. He was very active in the promotion of apparitions around the world. He is an adherent of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Zovko is currently under a suspension imposed on him by his bishops in 1989, 1994 and 2004 for disobedience and is forbidden to perform priestly duties in his home Diocese of Mostar-Duvno.
Ivan Štironja is a Croatian prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the bishop of Poreč-Pula since 2023. He previously briefly served as the bishop of Kotor in Montenegro, from 2021 to 2023.
Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a catholic church located in Voćin, Croatia.
The Saint James Church is a Catholic parish church located in the village of Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The church was consecrated in 1969 and is a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The church is under the patronage of James the Great and is run by the Franciscan order of Bosnia. It is on the provisional list of National Monuments in Bosnia and Herzegovina The church is also the site of an alleged Marian apparition, although it has not been accepted by papal authority.
