Pope continues papal messages to Medjugorje youth festival
The Catholic Herald• August 5, 2025
Pope Leo XIV has sent a message to the 36th International Youth Festival in Medjugorje.
In a letter read by one of the presiding bishops, Pope Leo said, “I cordially greet you all, with the greeting of the Risen Lord,” and asked pilgrims to "walk together, support each other, and inspire one another."
Encouraging fraternal care, Pope Leo said that “we are created to encounter one another” and “to discover a common goal.” Quoting St Augustine in Enarrationes in Psalmos, he said: “Let us go, let us go! Thus they speak to one another, and, creating a flame for one another, they form a single flame. And this single flame, born from the one who speaks, transmits to the other the flame with which it burns.”
Acknowledging the growing influence of artificial intelligence, Pope Leo said that “in our daily encounters, we walk together on our pilgrimage toward the house of the Lord. In this sense, dear friends, you know well that we live in an increasingly digital world, where artificial intelligence and technology offer us countless opportunities.” But he also warned that “no algorithm can replace an embrace, a gaze, a true encounter, whether with God or with our friends or our family.”
Now in its 36th year of operation, the festival draws around 50,000 participants annually. By sending a letter, Leo is continuing the tradition of Pope Francis, who sent a letter every year beginning in 2020.
The festival was established in 1989 by two Franciscan priests, Slavko Barbarić and Tomislav Vlašić, who were also chaplains to the alleged seers. Vlašić has been the subject of various scandals, including allegations of sexual misconduct and the founding of his own church. He was laicised in 2009 and excommunicated in 2020. Barbarić, despite having his confessional jurisdiction suspended twice by his bishop in 2000 for refusing to follow assignments, remained a faithful Catholic until his death in November 2000.
Medjugorje, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina, came to international attention beginning on 24 June 1981, when six young people claimed to have experienced apparitions of the Virgin Mary. According to their accounts, the Virgin gave them messages calling for prayer, conversion, fasting, penance, and peace. The apparitions reportedly continued daily for some of the visionaries and periodically for others, and several of them still claim to receive messages to this day.
The events sparked enormous international interest and led to the development of Medjugorje as one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the Catholic world, despite the Church never officially approving the supernatural nature of the apparitions. Successive local bishops expressed scepticism and withheld recognition. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI established a Vatican commission chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini to investigate the claims. The commission concluded its work in 2014, reportedly finding the initial seven days of apparitions more credible than the thousands of subsequent ones. However, no official judgment has been issued on the apparitions' authenticity.
In May 2019, Pope Francis authorised dioceses and parishes to organise official pilgrimages to Medjugorje, clarifying that this decision concerned pastoral care and did not imply recognition of the supernatural events. In 2021, he appointed Archbishop Aldo Cavalli as Apostolic Visitor to Medjugorje with responsibility for pastoral oversight. In 2024, the Vatican granted Nihil Obstat—meaning “nothing stands in the way”—to Medjugorje, officially permitting public devotion and pilgrimages while withholding judgment on the supernatural authenticity of the apparitions.
Whilst Pope Leo has made no public comments on the alleged apparitions and it is not known whether he supported the phenomenon as a Bishop or Cardinal, his letter indicates support for the pastoral approach taken by Pope Francis.