Well, we actually had information about it quite early around noon. Here, things usually spread unofficially first, police officers tell friends and family, then word gets around, and by the time the authorities make an official announcement, we already know the suspect's shoe size. When I saw someone claim he was Protestant, I honestly had to laugh a little, because you'd have about as much luck finding a Protestant here as finding an Eskimo in the Sahara. And it's not just Croatia, the same goes for Poland, and until fairly recently, Ireland and many european countries. Besides, Protestants in Europe are very different from those in the United States. There were centuries of religious wars here, but nowadays you'll often find more faith among atheists than among many churchgoers there..But you were right ! That said, I wouldn't even describe him as Protestant. I'd say he belongs more to some kind of sect. From everything that's been reported, I'd say he was a mentally troubled person whose life was shaped by severe childhood trauma. His father, like his grandfather, was an alcoholic and abused him physically. After he moved away with his mother, he ran away from home, ended up in a juvenile correctional facility, and started using drugs and alcohol at a young age. He spent several years in juvenile detention. Later, he became a father at a young age, but his child died. After that came a religious conversion. He even walked on pilgrimage all the way to Medjugorje. Then he fell back into his old habits, tried to pull himself out again, relapsed once more, and repeated that cycle several times. Eventually, he rebelled against certain Church teachings. I believe that rebellion came from his desire to follow a path contrary to the Church's, and he found a sense of purpose among one of these charismatic groups—or whatever exactly they are. Tragically, that "purpose" ultimately led him to set fire to the very place he had once walked to as a pilgrim from Poland and to desecrate the statue of the Virgin Mary. In any case, the altar has already been restored, and Mass has already been celebrated there again. I believe the statue will also be repaired soon, and the Polish man has been taken into custody. In any case, I can copy a fairly long article from our media about this Polish man below translated into english.
He was 22 years old, carrying a backpack and facing a journey of more than a thousand kilometers when he set off on foot from Warsaw to Medjugorje. He slept in a tent, accepted whatever food was offered by the people who welcomed him along the way, and almost every day documented his location and experiences on Facebook. His page was called "Walking to Mary", and by June 2017 more than 4,500 people were following his pilgrimage. His name was Bartek Krakowiak. Nearly ten years later, his name has once again become associated with Medjugorje—but this time under dramatically different circumstances. Media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported that the man who desecrated the shrine in Medjugorje, set the altar on fire, and poured black paint over the statue of the Virgin Mary was that same Polish pilgrim. At the time of writing, the police have not officially confirmed his identity. Krakowiak did not arrive in Medjugorje by chance in 2017. The pilgrimage site had already become a significant part of his life by the age of 22, following a childhood marked by an abusive father, alcohol, drugs, repeated encounters with the police, time in a juvenile correctional facility, running away from home, addiction treatment, and, later, the death of his son Igor—a tragedy he would later describe as the turning point in his life. He grew up in Warsaw's Mokotów district, not far from the city center, in what he himself described as a family with a long tradition of alcoholism. His great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all struggled with alcohol abuse. His childhood home was filled with arguments, and as a young boy he often hid under his bed whenever his father was around. That was where he felt safest. Later in life, he recalled that his father constantly told him he was worthless. When he was ten years old, the family planned to move into his grandparents' apartment in another part of Warsaw. During the renovation, however, his mother found her husband drinking himself unconscious with the construction workers. She decided to leave him. Taking her children with her, she moved to live with her own mother outside the capital. Bartek never adjusted to his new surroundings. By the age of fourteen, he was regularly drinking alcohol and using drugs. To pay for them, he simply stole money. He rarely attended school but became well acquainted with the local police station. When he turned eighteen, Bartek returned home. Waiting for him there were the same friends and the same environment that had shaped his earlier life. Before long, he found himself living as he had before—only, as he later admitted, this time things became even worse. He met a young woman who became pregnant. His mother tried to support the two very young parents as they prepared for the arrival of their child. They had already chosen a name for him: Igor. But they lost the baby. Years later, Krakowiak recounted what he claimed to have witnessed in the hospital in graphic and disturbing terms. "I saw my son lying on the floor in pieces. A moment later, a nurse came, picked Igor up with a dustpan, and that was it." His account of the events in the hospital has never been independently verified. Nevertheless, the death of his son became the defining turning point in the story he later told about his own life. Until then, he considered himself an atheist. As he explained, the only concept of God he had grown up with was the warning, "Fear God." While carrying the coffin of his own son, he said, he turned to God for the first time. "That was the first time I started talking to God. 'Talking' isn't even the right word—I was screaming at Him, asking why He had taken away someone I loved." After Igor's death, he began attending confession and spiritual retreats. The first time he encountered people singing, dancing, and playing guitars during one of these gatherings, his reaction was simple: "They're crazy. It's some kind of cult." Before long, however, he himself became part of that world. He began attending charismatic prayer meetings and healing services, speaking openly about experiences such as "resting in the Holy Spirit" and his desire to completely change his life. His journey of faith was far from straightforward. He entered a romantic relationship that, according to his later testimony, drew him away from religion once again. Roughly a year before setting out on his pilgrimage, he gradually returned to his faith. It was then that he decided to walk to Medjugorje. At first, he shared updates from the road in a Facebook group. People began following his journey, sharing his posts, and encouraging him to create a public page of his own. He hesitated because, as he explained, he feared that public attention might feed his vanity. Eventually, he agreed, and the Facebook page "Walking to Mary" was born. At the time, Polish media portrayed his story as one of redemption—a young man who, after surviving an abusive childhood, drug addiction, juvenile detention, and the devastating loss of his son, was trying to rebuild his life from scratch. For him, Medjugorje was meant to symbolize that new beginning. Nine years later, Bartek Krakowiak returned to the same place. This time, however, his name became linked to Medjugorje for an entirely different reason. Following his pilgrimage in 2017, Medjugorje continued to have a profound influence on him. He frequently referred to it on social media, and much of his life revolved around volunteering and promoting the spiritual path he had chosen. Still, there were periods of darkness. After returning from Medjugorje, Krakowiak admitted in a post on Instagram that he had stumbled once again. In his final social media post, published on January 22, 2024, he wrote: "Since returning from Medjugorje, I've experienced so much. Sometimes I think it's too much for one person, but I know all these experiences were necessary for my transformation and have also been invaluable in my evangelization. During these seven years since returning from Medjugorje, there were moments when I hit rock bottom—when I fell so low that finding my way back seemed unimaginable. Thank God, my community, 'Głos na Pustyni' ('Voice in the Wilderness'), helped me get back on my feet." Although little is publicly known about his activities before 2022, his Facebook and Instagram profiles indicate that he got married and became a father. During this period of his life, up until 2024, the spiritual community in which he found what he described as his purpose played a major role. On one occasion, while intoxicated, he fell from a roof and struck his head against the edge of a brick. His blood alcohol level was approximately 0.20% (2‰). According to his account, the paramedics believed he had only minutes left to live. He survived, but the experience did not change his lifestyle. He was assigned a social worker, yet by the age of fifteen he had been sent to a juvenile correctional facility. Krakowiak later described the institution as a place where young people fought over food and clothing. He eventually escaped and spent three months hiding at acquaintances' homes and sleeping in basements. When he was finally found and returned, he spent two weeks in solitary confinement. He later claimed that during those two weeks he was beaten on the legs with batons during the night. He escaped once again, and after his second escape he was admitted to a drug rehabilitation program. According to Krakowiak, rehabilitation marked the first time in his life that he truly began to understand himself and everything that had happened to him. It was also there, he said, that he developed empathy for other people struggling with addiction and similar hardships.
Part 3 The community he devoted himself to was "Głos na Pustyni" ("Voice in the Wilderness"), a charismatic and ecumenical Christian community and registered foundation based in Kraków, Poland. Bartek became deeply involved in its activities. He volunteered extensively and regularly shared his personal testimony about his life and spiritual journey. One of his posts from 2023 reveals that he had begun to question certain religious practices and aspects of the institutional Church, and that he eventually found acceptance within this community in Kraków. He wrote: "What bothered me was that people imposed specific forms of prayer on me. I couldn't understand why only a priest during Holy Mass could explain the Word of God to me, even though I wanted to read God's Word myself and receive it as I personally understood it. I loved God by raising my hands in worship, and that was criticized. For almost three years after returning from Medjugorje, many people in Catholic circles called me a Protestant because I was very different from the norms accepted in that particular environment." He concluded by saying that he had finally found acceptance in "Głos na Pustyni." From 2022 until January 2024, his social media posts were largely optimistic. His final post, published in January 2024, mentioned that he had participated in the filming of "Powołany 2" ("The Called 2"). The film is a Polish docudrama directed by Jan Sobierajski, serving as the sequel to the highly successful online phenomenon "Powołany" (2022). Produced through donations from private supporters, the film combines fictional dramatizations with documentary-style interviews in which real people share powerful testimonies about how their lives changed. It features well-known Polish actors, including Marcin Kwaśny, Jakub Dmochowski, Patryk Czerniejewski, and Piotr Bondyra. Unlike the professional actors, however, Bartek Krakowiak did not portray a fictional character. He appeared as himself. His story forms the first of four real-life testimonies woven into the film's narrative. In the documentary, Krakowiak again recounted how growing up in a dysfunctional family led him into conflict with the law and drug addiction. As an adult, he said, he eventually reached the point where he intended to take his own life. At that decisive moment, something changed. Instead of jumping out of a window, he packed a backpack and began walking to Medjugorje. According to his own testimony, that pilgrimage transformed his life. Yet somewhere between that final optimistic social media post in January 2024 and the present day, something appears to have changed once again. Exactly what happened during that period remains publicly unknown. What is known is that the same man who had repeatedly described Medjugorje as the place that gave his life new meaning is now alleged to have desecrated the very shrine he once credited with changing his life forever. If the reports prove to be accurate, the contrast is striking: a man who once walked more than a thousand kilometers as a pilgrim to Medjugorje is now accused of setting fire to its altar and vandalizing the statue of the Virgin Mary. At the time of writing, police have detained the suspect, but the official investigation is still ongoing, and authorities have not publicly released all of the details surrounding the case.
God and Our Lady can bring good from this. Greater unity, publicity for medjugorje via the media etc.
thank you for sharing this account. There really is so much to ponder in it. I know Our Lady and Jesus still love him. So I pray this man can find healing and peace.
...What is known is that the same man who had repeatedly described Medjugorje as the place that gave his life new meaning is now alleged to have desecrated the very shrine he once credited with changing his life forever. _____________________________________________________________________ In the above sentence is a lesson for every person who sincerely seeks Christ. Each of us who stays close to Our Lady, should see that her greatness lies in her humility, a characteristic, a living reality, which has ever remained. She asked only one question, "How shall this happen since I do not know man?"; not of doubt but of clarification. From it flowed her total, humble surrender. "I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word!" Mary didn't understand, she trusted. I remember Thomas Aquinas, near the end of his life had an intimate experience of Christ, and afterward reportedly stated that all his writings were like straw in comparison. Again, humility. Could I still fall as did this young man?
Yes. That seem very,very possible. But they would have to have been very powerful demons. It can't be easy for them to operate in a place like that.
Don't know if this is connected or not. I get the sense it is indirectly connected. Today, a person who has performed acts of evil at a scale possessed serial killers can only dream of, is testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Dr. Fauci. With his testimony it is possible a great deal of evil is going to come to light. So, evil lashes out where it can in response. It also shows the power of what's happening in Medjugorje. Fauci just plead the 5th. Which means he just admitted his guilt
It seems more of a distraction from what is really going on. Already knowing what was up with Fauci from the beginning, imho, most of us won't even bother with it. The news has to keep you watching...
I agree for the most part and fully understand/respect your point of view. That being said, I see things are now finally coming to light and I don't think it is a bad thing.
The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception offer pilgrimages to Medjugorje and other shrines. The proceeds help fund the education of their seminarians. Pilgrimage to Medjugorje: https://marian.org/events/pilgrimage-medjugorje-0 Pilgrimage to Medjugorje and Poland: https://marian.org/events/pilgrimage-poland-medjugorje Other upcoming pilgrimages: https://marian.org/event-tags/pilgrimages
Today’s English Mass in Medjugorje, offered in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary: https://video.marytv.tv/watch/mCHafAsZBi4?ctx=yDj3O1j6sO8,mP9bEiEsi5K Just the homily: https://video.marytv.tv/watch/mCHLDfsZBRT?ctx=yDj3O1j6sO8,mP9bEiEsi5K Make reparation by forgiving, fasting and praying for conversion and healing.
I have come to believe that these hearings are pure theater, just a dog and pony show. They are distractions from what we should be spending our time on. No one is ever held accountable for their evil so I’m waiting on the Lord for mercy and justice.
