date: 27.09.2025.
''Tonight we also remember a very important anniversary for this Parish and for the entire world. A year ago, specifically on September 19th of last year, the Vatican gave the green light to the Parish, or rather, the Queen of Peace, with the decision 'nihil obstat', which means: pilgrimages and devotions in Medjugorje are permitted and encouraged. There are no more obstacles. The fruits of this important decision are clearly visible a year later'', said on Sunday, September 21st, introducing the Mass celebration, the parish vicar in the Medjugorje parish, Fr. Karlo Lovrić, who presided over the Holy Mass on the White Dome of the Church of St. James with the concelebration of 66 concelebrants.
After the end of the prayer program, in the John Paul II Hall The book "The Queen of Peace - Note on the Spiritual Experience of Medjugorje (Text of the Note and interventions at the press conference on September 19, 2024, on the occasion of the proclamation of the Nihil Obstat for Medjugorje)" was presented. This book has so far been published and presented in Croatian, English and Italian, and its publication in other languages is planned.
"I am happy to greet you all tonight at this beautiful evening of fellowship and celebration. On the occasion of the first year since the proclamation of the Note, we are happy that we can present this book and all the documents that were available tonight," said the director of the Mir Medjugorje Information Center Vedran Vidović and thanked everyone who participated in the creation of this book, especially the editor Sr. Valerija Kovač. He also said that the contribution to the creation of this document began 44 years ago and thanked the visionaries who were the first witnesses and whose sacrifice was enormous, and without their "response to Our Lady's call, none of this would have happened today."
At the beginning of his address, the parish priest of Medjugorje, Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić, said that the parish of Medjugorje welcomed the nihil obstat from the Vatican joyfully and humbly, "as we have done for all these 44 years."
"The friars work tirelessly, serve the faithful, and respond to Our Lady's call. Joy filled our hearts when we heard the nihil obstat ruling from Rome. It didn't change much for us. We continue to work as we have done, to believe as we have believed... Of course, there is a special joy in the heart and a person is glad when he receives recognition from the Church, that everything that is happening here is the work of the Holy Spirit, and we are glad that the Church has recognized this," said Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić.
He said that some younger people and parishioners asked him: "What now, nothing has changed?" I answered them that nothing will change.
''Our Lady's call still stands, Our Lady's messages are still there, the spirituality of Medjugorje is still there, the change is happening in your heart. Everyone who has accepted to live according to the messages of Medjugorje, who has accepted this spirituality, feels a change in their heart. The parish, of course, feels a certain change after nihil obstat, there are more pilgrims coming, we are witnessing that some parish priests are organizing pilgrimages for the first time, we are also receiving messages from the world that some bishops have invited their priests to organize pilgrimages for their parishioners to Medjugorje, and we are very happy to hear that, as are the parishioners who have been waiting for this outcome for 43 years. It is a joy for all of us, but also a responsibility to respond to the message of the Queen of Peace, because it will do me no good, nihil obstat, it will do me no good that someone in the Vatican will say that this is a healthy spirituality, that this is a good spirituality, if I do not live by it," said Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić and emphasized that there is no corner of the world where Medjugorje has not been heard of.
Speaking about the Note 'Queen of Peace' of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Fr. Zvonimir emphasized that about 45 percent of the text of the Note is actually the text of Our Lady's messages, so he invited parishioners, pilgrims and believers to read this message, to reflect on these messages and, most importantly, to live according to these messages, because this will certainly bring us closer to God, because Our Lady wants to bring us as close to God as possible with each message, and that this is the purpose of her mission in Medjugorje.
The book was presented by the editor, Sr. Valerija Kovač, who said that this is the most important book for Medjugorje because after 43 years of judging, following the Medjugorje phenomenon, and the different opinions of theologians, bishops, and other experts who have dealt with the Medjugorje phenomenon, Medjugorje has received the highest rating from the universal church teaching.
"It received the highest rating according to the new criteria for the phenomena of apparitions and supernatural phenomena, which is nihil obstat, in the sense that nothing prevents it, that there are no doctrinal errors, that there are no moral errors... It gives the faithful the green light at the highest official church level that something good is happening in Medjugorje and that they can use it for their spiritual and religious life," said Sr. Valerija, emphasizing that the book contains the official text of the Note 'Queen of Peace' of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, interventions from the press conference, the Decree of Bishop Petar Palić, and at the end there is a photo gallery with about fifty photos showing Medjugorje and what is happening there.
"We have given a complete picture of the Church's teaching, and the photos confirm what is stated in the documents about the spiritual fruits. Then we were especially pleased that this initiative was blessed by Msgr. Aldo Cavalli, who, with his authority as the Pope's representative in Medjugorje, wrote the foreword. This is a recommendation for every pilgrim to have in their hands as an authoritative document on how to relate to Medjugorje and to be able to go to Medjugorje and seek positive things for themselves that will benefit them in their religious life," said Sr. Valerija Kovač, who also said that Our Lady's messages are small catechesis.
"The Dicastery analyzed and listed 14 areas that the messages speak about: the primacy of God, the primacy of Christ, confession, conversion, family life... all that we actually know in the call to religious life, but they remind us and update it in a contemporary way. They are like small catechesis and the intention of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was to draw the attention of the faithful to the very content of what is being said and that they serve to deepen the understanding of the faith itself, but even more as an aid for one's own life in faith," said Sr. Valerija Kovač, expressing the hope that Medjugorje will be declared a shrine.
"Here, as in all situations, it is above all God's plan that began when six children said: 'We have seen Our Lady'. Then, continuing God's plan, it has come to this today where the Holy Spirit himself gives his fruits and gifts.
What has worked through the Spirit until today, the Church has expressed in a document, and these documents say that this is a gift of the Spirit to the people of God and it is beneficial for us to cooperate with this plan of God and always renew ourselves," said the apostolic visitor with a special role for the parish of Medjugorje, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, and emphasized that pilgrims come here to pray because there is not much to see here.
"That is the ultimate goal - they come here to pray. This is a place of grace. When pilgrims come here, they are touched by this grace. The pilgrim climbs Podbrdo or Križevac praying, stands before the Blessed Sacrament in silent adoration, praying… and after meeting the Lord in prayer, they go to confession, where they confess not only their sins but their entire lives, and when they return home, they leave satisfied because they have met the Lord,” said Archbishop Cavalli, who also referred to the term ‘alleged messages’ and said that they are ‘alleged’ because they are not written by Our Lady, they are written by a person like us.
“There is a mediator between the source and what is written. Here Our Lady speaks, inspiration, meditation, reflection… We receive the message, but in between there is a human person like us, who is the mediator. The second mediation is translation. The messages are very beautiful. They are not the word of God, the word of God is only the Bible. The Holy Spirit can use different inspirations to actualize the message. The Church is not against the messages. They have studied them, one by one. And they saw that they were in accordance with church teaching and that they did good to people, and they were alleged because we do not know what is going on. They cannot be proven. The message is always good and with church approval it goes to the whole world. We say 'alleged' for apparitions. We are not against it at all. Saying that something cannot be proven does not mean that it is not true, but simply that it is not possible to prove and that is why it is said alleged', said Archbishop Cavalli at the presentation of the book "Queen of Peace - A Note on the Spiritual Experience Connected to Medjugorje (Text of the Note and interventions at the press conference on September 19, 2024, on the occasion of the declaration of nihil obstat for Medjugorje)". The program was hosted by Sanja Pehar, and the parish choir 'Queen of Peace' sang.
