Mgr Alfonso Carinci and Maria Valtorta

Mgr Alfonso Carinci (1862-1963) - Secretary of the Congregation for Sacred Rites (currently for the cause of saints)

Alfonso Carinci was born in Rome on November 9, 1862, under Pius IX (1846-1878). Ordained a priest in 1885, he became master of ceremonies for Leo XIII (1878-1903) and confidant of Pius X (1903-1914). On August 4, 1903, he was already in this role during the election of Pius X, whose confidant he was, as he would be, forty years later, for Pius XII.

Mgr Carinci was a regular of Vatican institutions. He led the movement Adoratio Quotidiana et Perpetua Sanctissimi Eucharistiae Sacramenti inter Sacerdotes (Perpetual and daily adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament among secular priests).

From 1911 to 1930, he was rector of the Almo Collegio Capranica (Venerable Capranican college), where Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII, had been trained before taking office. The Capranica college was indeed the oldest major seminary (pontifical college) in Rome.

From 1930 to 1960, he served as secretary of the Congregation of Rites, which handled the cause of saints. In this capacity, he oversaw 64 canonization processes, including that of St. Pius X to whom he was close, "and the beatification of about 500 Blesseds", thus gaining great expertise in this area. This gives particular authority to the opinion he gave in his 1952 attestation on Maria Valtorta’s work and the support he showed her in the correspondence maintained from January 9, 1949, to December 23, 1955. Mgr Carinci also corresponded with Thomas Merton, the monk who came from Anglicanism whose spiritual teachings and worldly engagement marked generations of Christians.

It was in [[Father Corrado Berti: quotes in the work#June 17, 1946: Father Berti had dictations read to Mgr Carinci who advises him|June 1946]] that Father Corrado Berti had excerpts of Maria Valtorta’s dictations (on Purgatory, Hell, and the Bread of Life) read to Mgr Carinci. Mgr Carinci was struck, notably by the one about Purgatory. Father Berti had been regularly visiting him for some years since he met him at the Augustinian convent on the slopes of the Janiculum.

Twice Mgr Carinci met Maria Valtorta in Viareggio: on Sunday, April 11, 1948, one and a half months after the papal audience (proof of the positive impact of Pius XII’s opinion), and on Sunday, June 29, 1952, when he came to say Mass in the very room of the bedridden woman.

A titular archbishop, he had wished to renounce the cardinalate. He held the title of "Titular of Seleucia in Isauria," now in Turkey. Bishops without a diocese were called in partibus because they were assigned an ancient diocese usually fallen into Muslim hands.

After his death, Mgr Carinci was forgotten, although he was regarded as in “odor of sanctity”. Paul VI, the eighth pope he knew, called him, by an Italian pun, “honor of the Roman clergy (Decoro del Clero romano)”, instead of the correct title of “dean of the Roman clergy (Decano del Clero romano)” that was his. Emilio Pisani, in Pro e contro Maria Valtorta, testifies having seen this papal praise engraved on his tombstone, in the third chapel on the right of the church Santa Maria del Sufragio, via Giulia. But the Silent Workers of the Cross, who have custody of this church, erased Mgr Carinci’s memory by sinking his tomb to overlay it with that of their founder, Luigi Novarese, who died in 1984.

The 1952 Attestation

When he wrote his attestation on January 17, 1952, he was ninety years old. For almost six years he had been following Maria Valtorta’s case but also the actions of the Holy Office and the reactions of Pius XII, whom he informed. He was perfectly aware of the attempted destruction of the work, as well as likely of the tumultuous intervention of Luigina Sinapi. One should carefully read Mgr Carinci’s certified attestation because it landed on the Holy Office’s desk. This very same one which eight years later would write in the Osservatore Romano: "despite illustrious personalities (whose unshakable good faith was surprising) having endorsed the publication, the Holy Office found it necessary to place it on the Index of Prohibited Books. The reasons are obvious to anyone with the patience of a Carthusian to read these nearly four thousand pages"." Such a jab targeted, among others, Mgr Carinci who had just left his post the day before the publication. To accuse a close friend of the recently deceased Pius XII, who had responsibility over hundreds of canonizations and beatifications, was nothing less than an attempt to brand him senile and thus discredit his positions. Here they are:

"I read a few years ago parts of the work “Word of eternal life”, written by Miss Maria Valtorta. To some extent, we also owe it to her. I say “to some extent” because reliable witnesses have assured me several times that the narrative part of the work is due to the writer, who declares to have reported as best as she could what she saw or heard. As for the doctrinal part, she only wrote, as if dictated, what she heard or was told, with all the precision a human instrument can muster.

The narrative—or literary—part is very beautiful, written in formal language, without corrections, as evidenced by manuscripts I have seen. This part is Miss Valtorta’s personal work; it truly carries a more feminine imprint in certain details, for example when she dwells on the meticulous description of clothing. However, considering the moral qualities of the person writing it, one must consider that she is not lying when she assures having reported nothing she did not see or hear. Indeed, the substance of what she described—for example, characters, their attitude, clothing, etc.—either corresponds to the truth if they are particularities known at least to specialists, or is plausible, being in harmony with what is known.

The topography of Palestine corresponds so well to reality, as confirmed by Reverend Father Bea, that no one, even if long-lived in those regions, could describe them with such accuracy, down to the smallest details. This can only astonish us, when one thinks that the writer has been bedridden for nearly twenty years, never moving except during evacuation and elections. Furthermore, she does not have books, except for the Holy Scriptures and the Catechism, and has never studied the configuration of the holy places. Competent persons and even engineers with deep knowledge of Palestine who traveled there for work have found the places precisely described in the work, and were moved to the utmost by the accuracy of the descriptions.

I noted some flaws in this 'narrative' part which, I recall, is Miss Valtorta’s composition. For example, I do not much appreciate the description of the improper attitude of Mary Magdalene, still a sinner; she certainly must have been so, but perhaps it could have been left aside without harm to the overall work. Similar faults may exist in other parts, but they must be rare, as these pages are all very elevated. I consider those faults must be attributed to the personal action of the writer and are correctable.

The 'doctrinal' part is not separate from the narrative: it is artistically intertwined. It contains many speeches of Our Lord, the apostles, or other characters. I found nothing contrary to the Gospel. It is rather a good complement that highlights its meaning.

These speeches correspond admirably to those reported by the Gospel and are in harmony with them. The speeches already found in the Gospel are not reported as is, but are completed and specified so that each one is clear, lucid, and so well crafted that it seems to have sprung from a single source in one flow. The parts added as complement or clarification are of the same nature as the gospel sermons and as sublime as them. I recall in this regard the dialogue of Jesus with the Samaritan woman, complemented and clarified in an incomparable manner, without the slightest break visible between what is in the Gospel and the additions, and without doctrinal level difference. As for speeches not in the Gospel but reported in the work, they are consistent, in form and doctrine, with those already known and with the doctrine deepened and proposed by the Catholic Church under the influence of the Holy Spirit. For example, in the mouth of Our Lord, one finds statements concerning the total exemption from original sin in Mary, the primacy and infallibility of Peter and his successors, or Purgatory.

Going into details, I can say that the speeches of the apostles reflect their character: Peter, Andrew, Philip, Judas are, throughout all the pages I have read, always consistent. The speech of Saint John, pronounced when the Lord sent his apostles to preach for the first time, perfectly reflects the style of the writer of “In the beginning was the Word…”

As for those of Our Lord, they contain nothing out of accord with his spirit, though many teach a doctrine that assumes theological knowledge unknown to Miss Valtorta: she only studied the catechism of Blessed Pius X.

Reading the work allowed me to admire the divine economy used by Our Lord in the conversion of the Samaritan woman and Mary Magdalene, as well as in all the attempts of his charity to obtain Judas’ repentance.

Judging by all this, it seems impossible to me that a woman of mediocre theological culture, deprived of any book suitable to serve her purpose (she has neither a life of Jesus, nor atlas, etc., only the Holy Scripture) could have written alone and with such accuracy pages so sublime.

I am told that the Work presents a too diminished figure of Our Lord. Obviously, if, as in the Gospels, the description consisted only of episodes such as the birth in a cave, the hurried flight to Egypt, Jesus’ humble work in Joseph’s workshop, the fast, hunger, and temptation by the devil in the desert, moments when he was driven out of the synagogue of Nazareth or the region of Gerasa, the scourging, spitting, thirst on the cross, abandonment by the Father, etc. omitting all else, one would not see the divine and royal majesty of Jesus, the Voice of God and worker of unseen miracles, as other descriptions present him. Since this Work is broader than the Gospels, it extends episodes or details which at first might give the impression of diminishing the Lord’s figure; but, in return, the passages where the divine and royal majesty of Jesus shines wonderfully are also longer.

The episodes that seem to reduce him, in this Work as in the holy Gospels, should not impress if one considers what Saint Gregory the Great wrote about the diabolical temptation of Jesus. It was not unworthy of Our Lord to be tempted by the devil, if one considers he came to be killed. I can therefore affirm that the divine greatness of Our Lord is clearly visible in the Work. The parts where he appears humbled are balanced by others. “He humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross.”

Judging by the good one feels reading it, I fully believe this Work, once published, could bring many souls to the Lord: sinners to conversion and the good to a more fervent and active life.

At a time when immoral press invades the world and shows corrupt the youth, we spontaneously feel the desire to thank the Lord for having given us, through a suffering woman confined to bed, a Work so beautiful in literary terms, so elevated, accessible and deep doctrinally and spiritually, pleasant to read, and suitable to be represented in cinema and theater. I know, moreover, that artists have been able, reading the Work and following the writer’s indications, to admirably reproduce the Face of Jesus through painting and sculpture, as well as that of the Virgin and the twelve apostles by drawing, finally the features of Jesus’ Body by painting, identical to those visible on the Shroud.

I expressed my opinion, and I know it is shared by theologians and exegetes of value who also read volumes I did not have on hand. I think of Reverend Father Bea, Mgr Lattanzi, and many others. Nevertheless, I remain, as can be easily understood, ready to be corrected if the Holy Father judged otherwise.

Rome, January 17, 1952

+ Alfonso Carinci, Tit. Archbishop of Seleucia in Isauria"

Correspondence with Maria Valtorta

The context

April 11, 1948, just weeks after the papal audience, Mgr Carinci personally traveled to Viareggio. During this first meeting, Maria Valtorta asked him to take care of the approval of the Work, which Jesus insisted upon.

Summer 1948, Parole di Vita eterna is published with the imprimatur of Mgr Barneschi. It is a draft of what would become The Gospel as It Was Revealed to Me.

October 25, 1948, Maria Valtorta announces the probable release of the first volume "end of November".

November 11, 1948, Father Gargiani, general procurator of the Servites of Mary (the order’s secretary general), received a request from the Pope: "through Mgr Montini and Mgr Tardini, the Holy Father has informed Father Gargiani that he must address the Bishop of Aquino to obtain a second more valid approval, then print and hold lectures in printing houses and rooms not belonging to the Vatican City, so that hostile prelates cannot harm the Work."

November 29, 1948: The presses were ready to start turning "when the Holy Office summoned the general procurator of the Servite order and ordered him to tell Fathers Berti and Migliorini to no longer deal with the work if they did not want to fall under the decrees of the Holy Office, for having abusively taken(?) from Mgr Barneschi his approval". Several prelates, including Mgr Carinci, advised continuing publication but refrained from direct intervention.

December 23, 1948, Maria Valtorta receives a serious supplication addressed by God the Father Himself to Pope Pius XII. He is invited to defend with authority and firmness a work which will be the "future glory of his pontificate".

The exchanges

(The text of this section is partially taken from "Meeting Maria Valtorta", volume 2, pp. 225-241.)

January 9, 1949, under pressure from alarming events, Maria Valtorta took the initiative to address Mgr Alfonso Carinci directly. She reported that "difficulties, continuous and ever increasing, come from certain prelates to prevent the successful completion of the Work".

In her long introductory letter, Maria Valtorta expresses her concern, but above all her dismay and pain: everything is collapsing. Not because of the mistrust of “certain prelates,” as Jesus had already warned her, but because the Pope’s opinion was also openly flouted. She is deeply disturbed by this.

She argues by referring to Christ. She thus shows astounding boldness considering she is addressing a high figure of the Curia whom she barely knew. What she writes sometimes takes the appearance of modernity.

"The Divine Master taught me that Wisdom, that is the Holy Spirit, cannot give contradictory inspirations about the same thing, being the only Spirit who inspires, and furthermore this: woe to that kingdom divided in itself by contradictory viewpoints among its main components, for effective action perishes there and a disorientation arises that disturbs the smallest of the flock. And again, He taught me that this is why, constituting His Church, He took Peter and made him chief, and wished it to continue until the end of the ages, so that the head’s word, in case of dispute, would be pronounced to end all disputes. Finally, He told me, and repeats incessantly, that he whom the election to the chair of Peter (the Pope) made another Christ can only recognize the Christ who speaks in the doctrinal pages of the work."

In other words, the Pope, having become Vicar of Christ by his election, could only recognize the Divine Author in the teachings of the Work, which was indeed the case when he encouraged its publication. And Maria Valtorta continues:

[…] What is happening today is in open opposition to all this, and it is as if an entire world, the world of my absolute faith in the teachings of the Church, is collapsing and a painful astonishment is created in my soul which remains shaken.

She continues in a tone denoting startling audacity and tireless energy:

"How can this be? For me, I say there is true proof in this battle that the Work is truly from God, for, like all things from God, it is “a sign of contradiction.” But God regrets that the content of His gift remains inert, whereas it would be so necessary to be read by so many lost ... Your Excellency, on April 11 (1948), I asked you one thing: the approval of the work in the supreme interest of the Holy Father. I ask you the same now.

Carry my cry of supplication to His Holiness! All my hopes rest in him.

Help me satisfy the Lord who wants the Work to reach the crowd which too many political doctrines and too many worldly permissiveness push towards a frightening paganism, and more than a paganism: towards hatred of God and His Church, which frightens and pains all Catholics and the righteous, and me among them, who would at all costs put an end to what makes the Holy Father and all Christianity suffer and offends the Lord."

Mgr Carinci replied amicably on January 17. He reassured her: it was only a matter of verification and not prohibition. He concluded:

Continue to write quietly under the usual dictation until the Dictator or legitimate ecclesiastical authority forbids you from writing further.

On January 20, 1949, Maria Valtorta was glad to have found a listening ear. She even agreed with his view: the verification of writings is one of Jesus’ directives who wants a secure approval of the Work. She will continue writing, as Mgr Carinci urged her, although her work was finished with the Work, but “the divine dictation still gives the lights of His word to the least of His servants.” However, she was only half reassured and called again on the Pope:

"I would like to be able to trust in the benevolent disposition of the judges (the Holy Office). And that is why I would like to address my supplication to the supreme shepherd because I am convinced that a single word of His Holiness could obtain this benevolence."

On the letter Maria Valtorta had just sent him, Mgr Carinci noted:

At the audience of January 28 (1949), I read this letter to the Holy Father, who had an excellent impression of it. He praised her spirit of humility and readiness to obedience. As to the publication of the book, he told me that the Holy Office was dealing with it, and I had the impression that the judgment it would give was perhaps not very favorable.

On Tuesday, February 22, 1949, the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, the Work was abruptly stopped. Father Berti was summoned outside all procedures by two censors, including Mgr Giovanni Pepe, in charge of book censorship. From then on, although hushed, the conflict was open. None of the Servites of Mary dared warn Maria Valtorta. It was a mere layman passing through Rome who warned her the next day because the news was buzzing in the Vatican halls. But adversity mobilized Maria Valtorta because it was not she who was at risk, but the mission entrusted to her by Heaven.

In her letter of March 8, 1949, she informed Mgr Carinci that the Work had been condemned by the Holy Office. She obeyed and signified to the Order of the Servites of Mary that they had to respect, until further notice, the Holy Office’s decision. But she counterattacked: the procedure was not in accordance with canon law. She hired a magistrate specializing in canon law. She listed all the irregularities committed regarding this law. She protested her good faith, having no personal gain. But it is not the right way to oppose the Holy Office to attack it head on with arguments that it probably mocks. On receipt of this letter, Mgr Carinci already had his opinion: he asked Maria Valtorta to rewrite her letter deleting the parts he indicated. He only kept the factual elements and the statement of reasons favorable to the Work. His idea was simple: appeal to the Pope. For the time being, he downplayed the hostile intentions of the Holy Office and reassured her.

It was effective, Maria Valtorta complied and argued about the mission entrusted to her. Mgr Carinci read the Work in detail, appreciating it more and more. This soothed the wounded heart of Maria Valtorta. They thus communed on the divine plan expressed through the Work.

On September 29, 1949, Mgr Carinci added a piece to the Pope’s file:

"I am convinced that your writings to the Holy Office are being examined more precisely. And speaking of writings, I was told that you know where Saint Peter’s body rests. While a report is being prepared on the excavations carried out in the Vatican caves under the main altar, I would ask you to communicate to the Holy Father what you know: I would gladly present it (to him) the text that would clarify this very important subject for all Christianity."

The dynamic was underway on November 8, 1949: "Reverend Father Roschini also told me, notes Maria Valtorta, that Your Excellency, as well as other reverends, had begun seriously working to achieve the desired release of the Work." But it did not succeed.

On March 29, 1950, Maria Valtorta noted: "Just as I knew from December that a special audience had been requested from His Holiness, I also know that the audience was initially not granted, then set for March 3, then for March 9, only to not be accorded."

She still ignored what she would learn days later: the démarches of Luigina Sinapi at the Holy Office. This Venerable, since January 2025, was a visionary familiar with Pius XII. By order of Jesus, she had come to challenge the Holy Office on the reasons for the blockage of Maria Valtorta’s writings. She was threatened, including with rape, and went to report this blockage of Maria Valtorta’s work to the Sovereign Pontiff who believed it was already published.

The Holy Year 1950 absorbed all energies. The Pope’s immediate environment was not favorable to a new meeting that would lead to direct confrontation with the Holy Office. The audience request was postponed sine die. It did not take place. The continuation of the confrontation would await the death of the Sovereign Pontiff before resuming with the Index.

Meanwhile, Mgr Carinci organized a supplication to the Holy Father involving “illustrious personalities” whom the Holy Office would later mock, calling them naïve. Dated January 29, 1952, this supplication of high figures landed on the desk … of the Holy Office.

On June 29, 1952, feast of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, Mgr Carinci celebrated Mass in the very room of Maria Valtorta in Viareggio, giving her unspeakable joy. It was the second time he came to see her.

The correspondence ended in 1954. It had taken a more spiritual turn on Maria Valtorta’s victim offering, confirmed in the last letter she wrote him. After which she gradually became prostrate. Two brief notes from Mgr Carinci were sent in 1955 to assure her of his thoughts and prayers.