Jozo Zovko

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Jozo Zovko is a Herzegovinian Croat Franciscan, most notable for being a parson in Medjugorje during the alleged Marian apparitions in 1981. He was very active in the promotion of apparitions around the world. He is an adherer of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

Zovko was ordained a priest as a Franciscan in 1965. During the alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje in 1981, he was the parish priest of the St. James Church and became the first supporter and mentor of the visionaries.

The same year he was sentenced to three years in prison because of a sermon allegedly criticising the communist authorities, which Zovko denied. After being released in 1983, he became a vicar in Tihaljina near Grude, but remained in close touch with Medjugorje. It is claimed by the visionaries of Our Lady of Medjugorje, that the Virgin gave them a vision of Zovko while in prison in October 1981. Zovko claims to have had a vision of Our Lady in April 1983.

The Bishop revoked his priestly jurisdiction because of disobedience and his activity in Medjugorje, a decree soon afterward confirmed by Rome in 1989. However, Zovko continued to be active in Medjugorje and around the world, promoting the apparitions, despite the suspension. He finally submitted to the decree under pressure from Rome, and moved to a Franciscan friary in Badija near Korčula in Croatia in 2009, and periodically lived in Graz, Austria, until he moved permanently to Zagreb, Croatia's capital in 2011, where he currently lives.

Biography[]

Jozo Zovko was born in Uzarići, Herzegovina and attended elementary school in nearby Široki Brijeg. He was ordained a priest as a Franciscan on 3 April 1965.[1] He was known to his colleagues by special devotions to Madonna, and often participated in catechetical summer schools as a lecturer and discussant of charismatic orientation.[2]

In November 1980, Zovko was appointed parish priest of the St. James Church in Medjugorje. At first, he was suspicious towards the Marian apparitions reported the following June, but became a fierce supporter[3] after Madonna appeared to him as well five days later.[1]

Marian Apparition in Medjugorje[]

On 25 June 1981, the day the alleged Marian apparitions occurred, he was away from Medjurgorje in Zagreb "ministering to a congress of Franciscan nuns".[4] When he arrived back to Medjugorje he was surprised to see the church surrounded by a large crowd along with their many vehicles including tractors, cars, trucks and donkey carts.[4] Zovko and his assistant, Father Cuvalo, were concerned because outside religious gatherings were forbidden in Yugoslavia and arrests could occur. He and Cuvalo decided the best thing to do was interview each visionary individually in detail while recording each one.[4] Zovko was both curious and skeptical. He noticed that the "children bristled at any suggestion of dishonesty" and he was taken by the "consistency in the physical description of the Madonna":

She was a young woman about twenty years old, they said, with blue eyes, black hair, and a crown of stars around Her head; She wore a white veil and bluish-grey robe. Each of the children said they had not been able to see the Virgin's feet, described Her as hovering just above the ground on a white cloud, and said She spoke in a singing voice.[4]

He was suspicious at first when none of the visionaries used the exact words even when quoting the Madonna. He declined to go with the children that night to the mountain.[4] However, Father Cuvalo and Father Kosir went to the mountain along with at least 10 thousand people. When they reported to Zovko afterwards, Cuvalo said he asked Jakov to ask the Virgin, "What do you want from the Franciscans?" According to all six children, She said: "Have them persevere in the faith and protect the faith of others."[4]

On 29 June during the afternoon mass Zovko was giving a sermon at the same time the children were being interrogated by "civil authorities of Yugoslavia's communist regime."[4] They arrived in two vehicles and ordered the visionaries into a vehicle and took them to the police station for interrogation and then an examination by a pediatric specialist. It was determined that they were physically healthy and not on drugs. Next they were taken into the "hospital's morgue to view corpses in various stages of autopsy." They then were placed among the mentally ill in the psychiatric wing of the hospital and told they could end up here. They were frightened. It wasn't over and were driven to another town, Citluk, to be examined by Dr. Ante Bijevic who determined that each child was, "Normal, balanced, well-situated in time and in space, no hallucinations."[4] After all this, "the medical professionals insisted they were medically and mentally fine."[3]

Zovko gave the seers several prayer books and rosaries and tried to teach them more about the church. He also gave Mirjana a book on apparitions in Lourdes, from which the visionaries concluded that their apparitions would last until 3 July 1981, as in Lourdes.[5] Mirjana, one of the visionaries, told Zovko on 30 June 1981 on audiotape, that the Madonna told her that she would appear only for the next three days, that is until 3 July 1981. Ivanka, another visionary, confirmed this. Fr. Sivrić said to remember that Zovko asked the visionaries to ask the same question the day before on 29 June. The Madonna was asked this question and answered this way - Question: "how long will you stay with us?" Answer: "As long as you will want me to, my angels."[6][7] The visionaries, including Mirjana and Ivanka, continue to claim to have visions to this day.[8]

Two events convinced Zovka that the apparitions were real. First, Zovka was praying on his knees for direction in the St. James Church and all of a sudden he heard a voice clearly say, "Come out now and protect the children." He immediately went to the door and the girls were running from a nearby field towards him running from Communist authorities. He hid them in an inner room and locked them in. He told the authorities he had seen the children and they ran off towards town away from the church.[4] Secondly, later that afternoon the apparition took place in the church and Zovka was given the same vision that the visionaries see.[9] Right then he became a fierce supporter of the apparitions[1][10] and became the first "supporter and mentor" of the visionaries.[11]

Communist Authorities[]

During the middle to the end of July 1981 both the police and officials of the Communist League were "demanding that Father Zovko discontinue the evening Mass."[3] He asked the visionaries to ask the Madonna about that and her reply was, "Continue to celebrate Mass".[12] Zovko refused to stop the evening mass and the children, in order to protect the church, started to gather outside on Podrdo. This enraged the government officials and "their threats grew increasingly violent." On August 11 Zovko was summoned to the Communist Party headquarters in Mostar to be giving a final warning - to stop the people from meeting on Podrodo[3] and "to abolish the evening Mass at St. James" Church.[12] He refused once again. On August 17 "Father Zovko was arrested on charges of sedition."[12] Zovko was accused of making hostile and malicious allusions to the Yugoslav political system in two of his sermons, when he used the words "as a prison system and a ‘40-year-long slavery’ in which the people were exposed to ‘false teachings.’”[9] One of these sermons was presented on 11 July 1981 at the Saint James Church and the second one was presented two weeks later when Bishop Zanic's visited Medjugorje, according to the indictment. The state prosecutor said that the “false teachings” allegation was interpreted as an "attack on the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, Marxism, and self-management socialism."[9]

On October 19, 1981 the visionaries were asked by the Madonna to fast on bread and water for a week while praying for Zovko.[12] At that time she gave them a vision of Zovko in his prison cell[12][7] and he "tells them not to be afraid for him, that everything was well."[7] On October 21 Zovko was given a speedy trial in one day and was "convicted of sedition" which is a crime that could involve the death penalty.[12] According to Laurentin, when the visionaries voiced concerned for Zovko, the Madonna said that "Jozo looks well and he greets you warmly. Do not fear for Jozo. He is a saint. I have already told you."[7] She also said that his punishment would be announced tomorrow and would not be severe. The next morning his sentence was announced and was reduced to 3 1/2 years in prison.[12] The communists, in their persecution, "also smashed up the church, broke and scattered religious articles and generally ransacked the parish."[3]

In February 1983 the communists released Zovko after 18 months of hard labor[3] on the condition he not return to Medjugorje.[12] After He "emerged from prison gaunt, ashen, and nearly deaf in one ear,"[12] he was appointed a vicar in Tihaljina near Grude and remained in close touch with Medjugorje.[13] He also claimed to have had visions of Our Lady of Medjugorje on 11 April 1983 while in a church.[citation needed]

After leaving Medjugorje[]

On 23 August 1989, Bishop Pavao Žanić suspended Zovko's priestly faculties in the two dioceses of Mostar-Duvno and Trebinje-Mrkan "due to his involvement in the conflict between the Franciscans and bishops over the division of parishes - which has been intense in Herzegovina for the last 40 years."[13] Zovko objected to the Bishop's decree to the Holy See on 14 October 1989, only to see the Bishop's decree confirmed on 15 February 1990,[citation needed] with the ruling that the Bishop's sanction will remain in force until he retreats "to a friary remote from Medjugorje".[13] Zovko ignored Rome's ruling, and was appointed a guardian of the Franciscan friary in Široki Brijeg.[14] He continued to hear confessions, so the new Bishop Ratko Perić revoked his confessional jurisdiction as well in 1994.[13]

After a five year absence, Zovko made a surprise appearance in Medjugorje and spoke from the pulpit on January 1, 1990.[12] He denounced the parishioners who put profit above religious practice.[12] "We must understand that all of this commercialism is against Medjugorje...I truly am angry about it."[12] Father Slavko the current priest agreed with Zovko and demanded that the profiteers leave but shopkeepers had the support of the communist government and didn't leave.[12]

On June 17, 1992 Zovko met with John Paul II in Rome during the wars in former Yugoslavia. The pope said, "I give you my blessing. Take courage I am with you. Tell Medjugorje I am with you. Protect Medjugorje. Protect Our Lady's messages!”[15] According to Journalist Randall Sullivan, John Paul II received the nickname “Protector of Medjugorje” in Vatican circles as it was common knowledge in the Holy See that he loved Medjugorje.[15] One of the ways he protected Medjugorje was by stopping a negative judgment on the apparitions from Pavao Žanić.[15]

The day after the events of September 11, 2001 in the United States, Zovko sent a letter to "All People of America":

Know that our prayers and compassion are with you in the pain and suffering of this difficult trial. We are with you on our knees in prayer and vigils for your peace and strength; for light in this darkness. Our large prayer community is praying and is celebrating the Eucharist for all of those who have died, for the wounded and for all those who grieve.[12]

Zovko continued to promote the apparitions traveling around the world, and especially the United States.[14] On November 5, 2002 Zovko began a speaking tour in the United States. On this tour the director of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Boston, Walter Rossi, forbade Zovko to hold a mass there after receiving a letter from the bishop of Mostar, Ratko Peric.[16] Peric described Zovko as a "disobedient Franciscan" who had been stripped of "every faculty" to serve in public ministry since 1989. Peric could not explain the reasons for the censure because it was not imposed by him, but by Zanic the previous Bishop who was now deceased. Zovko was not blocked from appearing anywhere else on his tour.[16] In fact a few days later, Zovko held a sermon in Boston with no problems.[13]

In 2005, the Franciscan Province of St. Jerome turned over the friary and island of Badija in Croatia to the Franciscan Province of Herzegovina of the Ascension of the Blessed Virgin Mary for a term of 99 years. The respective provincials invited Zovko to relocate to the old Franciscan friary and oversee its reconstruction. The premises was in poor condition. [17] However, Zovko ignored the request for four years until 2009, when he agreed to move to the friary in Badija on 16 February 2009. There was an announcement that a commission will be formed in the Vatican very soon to re-investigate all the events in Medjugorje. Zovko also received a diagnosis by Italian doctors that he had "defibrillation of the heart and that the need for rest was necessary."[18][13]

Afterward, Zovko lived between Badija and Graz in Austria, where he would come periodically. He was transferred to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, in December 2011, where he currently lives.[18]

In fiction[]

Martin Sheen, a Catholic American actor, visited Medjugorje. He played Zovko in the drama film Gospa (Madonna), a 1995 Croatian movie directed by Jakov Sedlar.[16][15]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Kutleša 2001, p. 51.
  2. ^ Zovkić 1993, p. 77.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Kengor, Paul (2017). A Pope and a President. Delaware: ISI Books. pp. 433–434.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Sullivan, Randall (2004). The Miracle Detective. New York: Grove Press. pp. 78, 83, 85.
  5. ^ Melton 2001, p. 1017.
  6. ^ Komar 2013, pp. 211-212.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Laurentin, Rene (1988). Messages and Teachings of Mary at Medjugorje. Ohio: The Riehle Foundation. pp. 168, 152.
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c Perica, Vjekoslav (2002). Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 111–112.
  10. ^ Weible, Wayne (1989). Medjugorje The Message. Massachusetts: Paraclete Press. p. 19.
  11. ^ Maunder, Chris (2016). Our Lady of the Nations, Apparitions of Mary in Twentieth-Century Catholic Europe. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 15.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Sullivan, Randall (2004). The Miracle Detective. New York: Grove Press. pp. 116–118, 197, 390.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Rogošić 2019.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Kutleša 2001, p. 52.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Klimek, Daniel Maria (2018). Medjugorje and the Supernatural Science, Mysticism, and Extraordinary Religious Experience. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 2, 65.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c Cooperman 2002.
  17. ^ Badija Catholic Spiritual Centre. "Father Jozo Zovko OFM". Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Horvat 2011.

References[]

Books[]

  • Kengor, Paul (2017). A Pope and a President. Delaware: ISI Books. pp. 433–434.
  • Klimek, Daniel Maria (2018). Medjugorje and the Supernatural Science, Mysticism, and Extraordinary Religious Experience. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 2, 65.
  • Kutleša, Dražen (2001). Ogledalo pravde [Mirror of Justice] (in Croatian). Mostar: Biskupski ordinarijat Mostar.
  • Laurentin, Rene (1988). Messages and Teachings of Mary at Medjugorje. Ohio: The Riehle Foundation. p. 168.
  • Maunder, Chris (2016). Our Lady of the Nations, Apparitions of Mary in Twentieth-Century Catholic Europe. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 15.
  • Melton, Gordon J., ed. (2001). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Detroit-New York-San Francisco-London-Boston-Woodbridge, CT: Gale Group.
  • Perica, Vjekoslav (2002). Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 111–112.
  • Sullivan, Randall (2004). The Miracle Detective. New York: Grove Press. pp. 78, 83, 85, 116–118.
  • Weible, Wayne (1989). Medjugorje The Message. Massachusetts: Paraclete Press. p. 19.

Journals[]

  • Komar, Tibor (2013). "Prilog istraživanju fenomena Međugorja: zvučni zapisi iz prvih dana ukazanja" [Contribution to the Study of the Phenomenon of Međugorje: Sound Recordings From the Early Days of Apparitions]. Ethnologica Dalmatica (in Croatian) (19): 197–214.
  • Perić, Ratko (2012). "Međugorske stranputice" [The Medjugorje side roads]. Službeni vjesnik (in Croatian) (3): 97–102.
  • Zovkić, Mato (1993). "Problematični elementi u fenomenu Međugorja" [The problematic elements in the Medjugorje phenomenon]. Bogoslovska Smotra (in Croatian). 63 (1–2): 76–87.

News articles[]

Websites[]

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