{"id":84887,"date":"2026-07-28T09:07:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=84887"},"modified":"2026-07-28T10:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:41:16","slug":"horrid-desecration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/horrid-desecration\/","title":{"rendered":"Horrid Desecration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/n1info.ba\/media\/images\/2026\/7\/28\/1785223505_Screenshot_2026-07-28_0.format-jpeg.width-500.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot 2026-07-28 092447\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 lg:mb-5 text-textPrimary font-exo2 text-xl leading-8 font-semibold\" data-testid=\"article-lead-text\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">A report regarding the damage to the statue of the Virgin Mary on Podbrdo was received early Tuesday morning, shortly before a fire broke out on the exterior section of the altar behind Saint James Church. Police spokesperson for the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Interior Ministry, Ilijana Milos, stated that the Citluk Police Station received a report at 4:30 am indicating that the statue in Bijakovici was damaged with various inscriptions.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"article-lead-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/desceration2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-84892\" src=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/desceration2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"559\" height=\"626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/desceration2.jpg 559w, https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/desceration2-255x286.jpg 255w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content-wrapper w-full \" data-selector=\"article-content-wrapper\" data-testid=\"article-content-wrapper-0\">\n<div class=\"rich-text-block break-words\">\n<p data-ad-valid=\"true\" data-block-key=\"dsngw\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Subsequently, a fire broke out at 5:00 am on the exterior part of the altar behind Saint James Church in Medjugorje. Police officers secured the scene, and an on-site investigation is currently underway.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content-wrapper w-full \" data-selector=\"article-content-wrapper\" data-testid=\"article-content-wrapper-4\">\n<div class=\"rich-text-block break-words\">\n<p data-ad-valid=\"true\" data-block-key=\"76k75\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Religious sites across multiple locations in Medjugorje were targeted overnight by vandals. Unofficial reports indicate that the statues of the Virgin Mary were defaced with graffiti and black paint, with traces of vandalism also recorded on Apparition Hill and Cross Mountain. <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The statue on Apparition Hill featured the inscription &#8220;Devil in a skirt,&#8221; while a nearby banner displayed messages reading &#8220;Medjugorje is a deception,&#8221; &#8220;Our Lady equals devil,&#8221; and &#8220;Jesus only.&#8221; Another banner written in Polish listed the names of visionaries accompanied by a message stating it was as if those fraudsters were providing evidence.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-ad-valid=\"true\" data-block-key=\"76k75\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/756440643_10237388693631210_4283328257819416548_n.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-84894\" src=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/756440643_10237388693631210_4283328257819416548_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"291\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/756440643_10237388693631210_4283328257819416548_n.jpg 443w, https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/756440643_10237388693631210_4283328257819416548_n-255x340.jpg 255w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 291px) 100vw, 291px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-content-wrapper w-full \" data-selector=\"article-content-wrapper\" data-testid=\"article-content-wrapper-6\">\n<div class=\"rich-text-block break-words\">\n<p data-ad-valid=\"true\" data-block-key=\"elmnh\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The word &#8220;devil&#8221; was written in black paint across several spots, and further details regarding the extent of the damage, potential perpetrators, and circumstances of the incident will be determined upon the conclusion of the police investigation,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bljesak.info\/vijesti\/crna-kronika\/policija-obavlja-ocevid-gospin-kip-isaran-porukama-davo-u-suknji-i-medugorje-je-obmana\/571440\">Bljesak.info<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-ad-valid=\"true\" data-block-key=\"dsngw\"><em>[<a href=\"https:\/\/n1info.ba\/english\/news\/vandalism-strikes-medjugorje-as-virgin-mary-statues-desecrated-and-fire-breaks-out-near-saint-james-church\/\">For full story<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A report regarding the damage to the statue of the Virgin Mary on Podbrdo was received early Tuesday morning, shortly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-84887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84887"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84913,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84887\/revisions\/84913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}