Jozo Zovko

Jozo Zovko, OFM (born 19 March 1941) is a Herzegovinian Croat Franciscan priest, most notable for being a parish priest in Medjugorje during the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1981. He was very active in the promotion of apparitions around the world. He is an adherent of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Zovko is currently under a suspension imposed on him by his bishops in 1989, 1994 and 2004 for disobedience and is forbidden to perform priestly duties in his home Diocese of Mostar-Duvno.

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 March 1941 in Uzarići, Herzegovina and attended and finished elementary school in nearby Široki Brijeg. He entered the seminary in Bol on the island of Brač in 1958. In 1963 in Sarajevo he began his theology studies and then transferred and graduated from Ljubljana. He was ordained a priest, as a member of the Herzegovinian Franciscan Province, on 3 April 1965. He started taking courses in religious education in 1974 at the University of Gratz. After these studies, he moved to Posušje and became the parish priest. 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. 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 healthy physically and not on drugs. Next, they were taken to the morgue in the hospital where they viewed corpses in many 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. Randall Sullivan wrote that it wasn't over and were driven to another town, Čitluk, to be examined by Dr. Ante Bijević who determined that each child was, "Normal, balanced, well-situated in time and in space, no hallucinations."

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. 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 seers asked Madonna what the length of her visitations would be. She answered that she would continue for as long as they wanted.

Randall Sullivan wrote that Zovko 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 the police ran off towards town away from the church. Zovko eventually was convinced of the children's accounts.

Communist authorities

From the middle to the end of July 1981, both the police and officials of the Communist League were demanding that the evening mass be discontinued. Zovko refused to stop the evening mass and the children, in order to protect the church, started to gather outside on Podbrdo. This enraged the government officials and as a result, they became more violent. On August 11 Zovko was summoned to the Communist Party headquarters in Mostar to be given a final warning - to stop the people from meeting on Podbrdo. 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,’” according to Perica Vjekoslav. 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 Žanić's visited Medjugorje, according to the indictment. Perica Vjekoslav wrote that 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." and he "tells them not to be afraid for him, that everything was well."

According to Rene Laurentin, when the visionaries voiced concern 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." According to Professor Michael L. Budde, given that the Herzegovina Franciscans supported the Croatian Nationalists fighting the Bosnian Muslims, the "...reference was not to be understood biblically but historically - it was a reference to Islam." Mary Rourke wrote that Zovko also said, “the pope shook my hand, very firmly, and said ‘Guard Medjugorje, protect Medjugorje." 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. 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. According to Horvat, Zovko received a diagnosis from Italian doctors that he had "defibrillation of the heart and that the need for rest was necessary."

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 and resides in the Franciscan monastery of the Herzegovinian Franciscan Province. He lives between the Franciscan monastery in Zagreb and the Franciscan monastery in Badija.

Gospa - Movie about Medjugorje

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.

As She Asks Behold Your Mother Father Jozo Zovko from Youth Festival, Medjugorje Guidati dalla regina della pace Living Presence: Reports of Eucharistic Miracles In America Novena ro the Siroki Brijeg Martyr Pregate il Santo Rosario ogni giorno Our Lady's Message of Prayer [CD] The Pilgrim's Guide to Medjugorje The Rosary: the simple prayer The Way of the Cross with Father Jozo Zovko