A clarification is needed about what happened in Medjugorje on June 18. The visionary Marija — whom the Ruini Commission considered the most credible of the visionaries — circulated a message after her alleged apparition experience which, according to reports in several media outlets, essentially said:
“Our Lady entrusted us with another task: to pray for all the deceased, for our entire lineage and for all our descendants, so that the Lord may protect them from every evil and from all the sins they committed, and so that they may rise from Purgatory to Heaven and be united with Him. She therefore asked us to pray for all souls and to do penance for them, especially for those in Purgatory. Then she blessed us with the Sign of the Cross and returned to Paradise.”
This message, which appears not to have been approved by ecclesiastical authority — and I wonder how that is possible when there is an Apostolic Visitor — caused concern among some devotees of the Gospa because it seemed to refer to a form of intergenerational healing, which many associated with so-called family-tree or genealogical exorcisms.
Indeed, the message appeared to some as a kind of green light for that practice.
As I have repeatedly noted on Il Segno di Giona, a number of local bishops’ conferences have clearly prohibited this kind of prayer. In particular, the Sicilian bishops wrote in a decree about two years ago: “Solemn exorcisms or prayers of healing and liberation aimed at freeing the family tree are not permitted.”
In reality, what the visionary reported can be understood simply as a genuine intercession for the souls in Purgatory.
That is all.
The question remains: why do some priests and exorcists still bless family trees?
A mystery.
Originally published in Italian on Il Segno di Giona on June 26, 2026.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Murgia is an Italian journalist, author and member of the Pontifical International Marian Academy. His investigations have brought to light the world of self-styled holy men and false healers. The New York Times described him as a “formidable investigator of the sacred.” A commentator for Rai and Mediaset, he was the first journalist in the world to publish in full the secret Vatican dossier on Medjugorje. He lives and works in Rome.
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