Polish citizen Bartlomiej Wlodzimierz Krakowiak today admitted that he desecrated statues of the Virgin Mary and set fire to the outdoor altar of St James's church in Medjugorje. The motive he gave before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is more interesting than the act itself: he claims the apparitions and the statements of the visionaries are a fraud and that he wanted to draw the public's attention to it.

The hearing lasted around 45 minutes. The Bosnian prosecution requested custody over the risk of flight and of repeating the offence. According to his lawyer Danisa Gacanin, Krakowiak „essentially admitted the acts, but stands by his position and conviction and by the reasons for which he committed them. That is his belief and his disappointment after researching and gathering evidence in Medjugorje. He had no intention of hurting anyone, he wanted to show what he had come to see.”

Not a fit of passion, but a plan

The prosecution says something else - that he did not act impulsively, but planned the offences over several months. Neither the defence nor Krakowiak himself objected to custody being ordered. According to what was presented in court, he shows no remorse and said he would do it all again.

He is charged with damaging or destroying religious buildings, with inciting national, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance, and with disturbing public order. He was arrested on Tuesday shortly before 1 p.m. in the village of Cerno near Ljubuski. According to the court, custody may last until 28 August 2026 or until a different decision, and the defence has the right to appeal within 24 hours - the appeal does not suspend enforcement.

The most uncomfortable part of the story is not the vandalism. It is that the man who burned the altar had for years been part of the place itself. Krakowiak came to Medjugorje regularly, and first drew public attention in 2017 when he set off on foot from Warsaw towards the Herzegovinian shrine. His story of a difficult childhood, addiction, depression, a suicide attempt and conversion was later shown in a docudrama by Polish director Jan Sobierajski.

That same director wrote on social media, shortly after the vandalism, that he personally knows Krakowiak and his life story. He explained that the 31-year-old had been dealing with serious mental health problems and life crises, that he had spoken with him repeatedly and tried to persuade him to seek psychological help.

So a man whom at least one person close to him publicly says had been begging for help for years ends up with a jerrycan in front of an altar. The criminal court will settle what it can - whether the act was committed and what punishment follows. What nobody will open at that hearing is how a pilgrim with a documented mental health crisis reaches months of planning without anyone along the way stepping in.