Mgr Giovanni Pepe and Maria Valtorta
Mgr Giovanni Pepe was born on December 27, 1880, in San Bartolomeo in Galdo, a town of 4,800 inhabitants in the province of Benevento in Campania. He died there on August 30, 1955. He was a member of the Holy Office, where he joined the book censorship section, from December 1, 1931, until the end of 1955. It was in this capacity that he intervened on the front lines, in February 1949, to try to destroy the manuscripts of Maria Valtorta.
On December 31, 1951, he was commissioned, along with Abbé Emanuele Caronti[1], to San Giovanni Rotondo to investigate the actions of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. The report they ultimately made led to the restriction of pilgrimages and the prohibition of writings and images concerning Padre Pio.
The censorship from the 1930s to 1950[edit | edit source]
The censorship section did not have the method of consulting all books published in all languages on Christianity. The task would have been immense. Its role was to respond to reports made to it. In other words, at the origin of censorship, there was always a person (who remains anonymous to the public) denouncing a book for a specific reason[2].
One day, by consulting archives, it will be known who denounced the work of Maria Valtorta to the censorship section, when and why. This will clarify responsibilities.
Mgr Giovanni Pepe exercised censorship for 24 years during which legitimate condemnations were seen, such as that of Ernst Bergmann (1881-1945) who advocated the creation of a "Nazi Christianity," breaking away from "Jewish Christianity"[3]. His "credo" was unambiguous[4]. Or like Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944) who described himself as the "philosopher of fascism."
Others are understandable in the context of the time, such as Ernesto Buonaiuti (1881-1946), an anti-fascist Catholic priest, defender of the historical-critical method condemned by the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis by Pius X (Against Modernism), but rehabilitated by the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu of Pius XII (1943). His entire work ended up being placed on the Index (1910-1944) and he was excommunicated. Similarly, the Jesus of Charles Guignebert (1867-1939), disciple of Ernest Renan, who published in 1933 the first historically oriented life of Jesus in French in a non-religious work. Or Edouard Le Roy (1870-1954), friend of Teilhard de Chardin and Henri Bergson (both censored themselves). He defended anti-intellectualist positions favoring in Religion the Heart, feeling, or instinctive faith, and rejected speculative theology and abstract reasoning.
But others demonstrate an anti-mystical drift that contributed to discrediting censorship as it was practiced. Thus, books on the Divine Will of Luisa Piccarreta, recognized as a Servant of God[5], were censored in 1938. It is now officially accepted that the mystical writings of Luisa Piccarreta contain nothing contrary to Church Doctrine, but they must be annotated to avoid misinterpretations[6]. Which can also be said of many terms and concepts in Catholic theology or morality. The year 1949 saw the attempt to destroy the writings of Maria Valtorta and in 1952, the placing on the Index of writings concerning St. Padre Pio.
In 1959 (Mgr Pepe was no longer in office), the writings of Sister Faustina Kowalska[7] were condemned before being rehabilitated at the request of the future John Paul II who canonized her and established, in the octave of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday inspired by her revelations. The same year, the writings of Maria Valtorta were placed on the Index, and on June 1, 1960, Cardinal Ottaviani halted the beatification process of Mother Yvonne-Aimée de Malestroit fearing "a wave of illuminism" given the numerous extraordinary events in her life. It was only in 1980 that the study of her cause, entrusted to Mgr Laurentin, could resume.
Maria Valtorta and Padre Pio[edit | edit source]
See also the detailed articles: Holy Office - Attempted destruction of the work of Maria Valtorta (1949), Padre Pio and Maria Valtorta.
The veto against Padre Pio[edit | edit source]
The "persecution" of Padre Pio[edit | edit source]
Whether it be called the Holy Inquisition, the Holy Office or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the structure guarding the integrity of the deposit of Faith is not inclined to welcome all new manifestations from Heaven. It tends to exclude them more than to include them. This is understandable when such attitude leads to discernment, but not when it leads to rejection and, in the case of Padre Pio, to "persecution" according to the words of Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro (1891-1976), Archbishop of Bologna: "his life is a passion," he says, "and the comparisons with the suffering of the Savior are too evident! Starting with the unbelief and persecution by those who could and should have been the first to understand[8]."
A current of thought states that these violent and painful oppositions test faith, which is true. But it is better to leave them to their Author. Indeed:
- Who asks to test the holiness of Job? Satan[9].
- Who asks to sift the Apostles on the evening of the Passion? Satan[10].
- Who persecutes Saint Paul, like a thorn in his flesh? An envoy of Satan[11].
- Who tests Jesus at the start of his public life? Satan.
Does Satan really need to rely on Church officials to test holiness?
Here is an overview of the trials endured by Padre Pio:"From 1931 to 1934[12], Padre Pio was forbidden to celebrate Mass, to hear confessions, and even to appear in the choir of the Church. Padre Pio’s troubles did not stop there. Other sanctions and restrictions followed. On October 3, 1960[13], a Vatican statement noted that an apostolic visitor, Mgr Maccari, had left San Giovanni Rotondo after conducting a new investigation. This, 'to save the Church from a certain form of fanaticism that unfortunately creeps in the baggage of human passions.' In a letter sent to the Minister General of the Capuchins on January 31, 1961, Cardinal Ottaviani communicated the Holy Office's decisions concerning Padre Pio. The letter mentions 'the too many violations of the religious rule.' Measures were then taken again, contained in six points. The main ones were: 'That in the most categorical way, the excessive attitudes of devotees, especially female devotees, at Padre Pio’s confessional be avoided'; 'That Padre Pio be absolutely forbidden from receiving ladies when he is alone in the parlor, the convent, or elsewhere'; 'That the distance between Padre Pio's confessional and the faithful waiting their turn to confess be absolutely respected.' Finally, more seriously, according to writings and documents found in the city library, microphones were placed for four months in 1960 inside Padre Pio’s confessional, parlor, and even his cell. The recordings made in his cell lasted less time because Padre Pio cut the system with his penknife. In total, about 37 magnetic tapes were recorded without the knowledge of the subject, his visitors, or penitents. A sacrilegious practice, normally sanctioned by excommunication. The recordings were either collected directly by a religious named Terensi, who discreetly transported them to Rome at night, or sent by registered mail from Foggia to avoid suspicion. Along with Don Terensi, two other religious were implicated. In San Giovanni Rotondo, no comment is made on the content of the 1961 letter, nor on the wiretapping episode, which is unflattering. No further information on the consequences of this affair or on measures taken or not against the spies of the soul will be known.[14]"
The intervention of Mgr Giovanni Pepe[edit | edit source]
A few months after his December 31, 1951 commission, on July 30, 1952, Mgr G. Pepe published a decree by which eight works devoted to Padre Pio were placed on the Index of Forbidden Books[15].
The decree was widely reported in the Osservatore Romano on August 3, 1952 (see above: Our Information). The books placed on the index were:
- Carlo Trabucco, Il mondo di Padre Pio
- Giancarlo Pedriali, Ho visto Padre Pio
- Piera Delfino Sessa, P. Pio da Pietrelcina
- Donato Apollonio, Incontri con Padre Pio
- Domenico Argentieri, La prodigiosa storia di Padre Pio
- Guido Greco Fiorentini, Entità meravigliosa di Padre Pio
- Carmelo Camilleri, Padre Pio da Pietrelcina
- Franco Lotti, Padre Pio da Pietrelcina
"The declaration of the Holy Office does not imply a condemnation of the person of Padre Pio or even of the persons of the authors of the books themselves" (La dichiarazione del Sant’Officio non implica una condanna della persona del Padre Pio o nemmeno delle persone degli autori dei libri stessi).The style is diplomatic, but the publication was not a declaration but a condemnation which, according to article 1399[17], classified Padre Pio among heresies and attacks against morals. It was not a mere recall of canon 1385[17], as the notice indicates, requiring an imprimatur for "all writings whose subject touches Religion" (the same that was invoked for Maria Valtorta).
These eight placed on the Index that Pius XII had just removed were never entered in the Acts of the Holy See, where all condemnations are recorded. Pius XII also demanded the resignation of Mgr Pepe[16].
It does not seem possible to attribute this to human failure. Mgr Pepe had been in book censorship for 24 years and knew perfectly well the procedures. This sad episode at the end of his career more likely reflects a deviation of the Holy Office that ended up taking itself for the Pope (it seems unlikely that the hierarchy did not know). The covert maneuvers of 1949 around the attempt to destroy the work of Maria Valtorta and the confrontation in 1950 with Luigina Sinapi, a friend of the Pope who came to defend her, as well as the petition initiated in January 1952 by Mgr Alfonso Carinci in defense of the work, are certainly not unrelated to this atmosphere. But the persistence of hostility toward the work of Maria Valtorta after Mgr Pepe's departure supports the hypothesis that this opposition came from the top of the Holy Office and not from a mere executor, no matter how brilliant.
Who was really Mgr Giovanni Pepe?[edit | edit source]
Father Giovanni Pepe apparently had a distinguished career. He was secretary to Mgr Alessio Ascalesi (1872-1952), cardinal archbishop of Naples. The cardinal appreciated his "excellent qualities of mind and heart" and his strong character: "Pepe is a man who is not discouraged by difficulties and controversies in his beneficial initiatives; on the contrary, they make him stronger, more passionate in his generous heart's impulses and his holy intentions"[18].
Indeed, Father Giovanni Pepe had an obsession: to open a home and rest place for the most disadvantaged[19]. The opportunity arose with the sale of a dilapidated church in his hometown, known as the chiesa del Calvario (Church of Calvary). His superiors encouraged him in his initiative[20]. He found the funds to buy this church and the land and on February 29, 1922, he became the owner. Shortly after, on April 23, 1924, the municipality granted the adjacent land free of charge[19]. It was at this time he was appointed Monsignore[21]. He then settled, with his sister Carmela, in an adjacent room renovated at his own expense. It was from there he could attend the laying of the first stone (June 2, 1929, when he was 49) of the building for the retirement home adjacent to the renovated church.
He had little time to enjoy it. In September 1929, he was appointed rector of the Pontifical Seminary Pius XI in Fano in Marche, 400 km north, on the Adriatic coast. He stayed there for two years. He showed himself energetic but fatherly. On October 30, 1930, Fano was shaken by a magnitude eight earthquake. He communicated his composure to his students, who did not succumb to panic. During his short stay, he founded a section of the Catholic Action, which was thriving under Pius XI's impetus. This movement, which Maria Valtorta would join, was considered an opposition to the fascist regime. In his inaugural speech, Mgr Pepe displayed his energetic and demanding character:"I do not ask for your applause and acclamations, but rather your intimate prayer addressed to the Lord, so that He may help me by His grace to fulfill the very high duty of your religious, moral, and intellectual formation. I am nothing and worth nothing, but it is precisely for this reason that I want to shout with Saint Paul: – I can do all things in Him who strengthens me[22] –. We must all become – superiors, professors, students – docile instruments in the hands of the Supreme Educator Jesus Christ, to cooperate together closely and united with Him to prepare new ministers of the Church, new Apostles for society, which has an incessant thirst for truth, for justice, and good. To you, dear young people, I would like to apply the Pauline expression from the letter to the Galatians: – My children, whom I am again in pain until Christ is formed in you[23] –, since it is precisely this mystical formation and reproduction of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in your conscience, the supreme goal that you want to reach with divine help, with all my humble activity[24]."Thus, he remained only two years in Fano. On December 1, 1931, he joined the Holy Office. The same year, the San Bartolomeo di Galdo establishment he had founded was completed, but due to the lack of suitable equipment for starting real activity and his distance, Mgr Pepe donated the establishment to the Sisters of Charity who turned it into an institute.
This biography presents a very different face of Mgr G. Pepe than that of the censor of Maria Valtorta and Padre Pio. It leaves the impression of a strict executor of discipline and directives rather than a relentless opponent, in line with the maxim his biographer attributes to him: "the will of the authorities who command us is the very will of God"[18].
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Dom Emmanuel Caronti (1882-1966) then Abbot General of the Benedictine Congregation of Sublacense.
- ↑ Index librorum prohibitorum, 1948.
- ↑ Deutsche Nationalkirche, placed on the Index in 1934 or natürliche Geistlehre, placed on the Index in 1937.
- ↑ "I believe in the God of the German Religion, who works in nature, in the great human spirit and in the power of his people. And with the help of Christ, who fights for the nobility of the human soul. And to Germany, the educational land of the new humanity"
- ↑ "Servant of God" applies to persons whose beatification process has been officially accepted by the Church.
- ↑ In June 2024, following explanations provided by the postulator, Paolo Rizzi, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith gave its nihil obstat to continue the cause, on condition that a critical and annotated edition of Luisa Piccarreta's writings be established to avoid "certain expressions that easily lead to misleading and erroneous interpretations of the Christian message" (statement of August 10, 2024, by Paolo Rizzi).
- ↑ On March 6, 1959, the Holy Office published in the Acts of the Holy See the following decree: "It is to be made public that the Congregation of the Holy Office, after examining the alleged visions and revelations of Sister Faustina Kowalska of the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy, who died in 1938 near Krakow, decided the following: It is necessary to prohibit the dissemination of images and writings presenting devotion to Divine Mercy in the form proposed by said Sister Faustina. Bishops are required to prudently remove said images that may already have been displayed for worship." This condemnation occurred just eight months before the condemnation of Maria Valtorta (December 16, 1959) and a few months after the death of Pius XII (October 9, 1958).
- ↑ Commemoration of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, December 8, 1968, Bologna Cathedral, "But what afflicted him most deeply, to the point of agonizing like the Savior in the Garden of Olives, was not so much the fact that he suffered for the Church [...] but that he suffered by the Church: by people of the Church, who burden the community, animated by the Spirit of Christ and an admirable sacrament of salvation, with the weight of their miseries, greed, ambitions, narrowness, and deviations."
- ↑ Job 1:7-12.
- ↑ Luke 22:31.
- ↑ 2 Corinthians 12:7.
- ↑ Mgr Giovanni Pepe had just started in censorship.
- ↑ Mgr Giovanni Pepe had left office five years earlier.
- ↑ Source: Padre Pio: 50 years of suffering, suspicions, and questions, June 12, 2002, cath.ch, the Swiss Catholic portal, supported by the Catholic International Press Agency (apic).
- ↑ Giovanni Siena Il mio amico Padre Pio: Diario di Trent'anni vissuti accanto al santo di Pietrelcina (Diary of Thirty Years Lived Alongside the Saint of Pietrelcina) in the chapter 1952.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Luigi Peroni, Padre Pio, the Saint Francis of the 20th Century, pages 138-139, 1999, Saint-Augustin editions.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici) 1917, in force at the time: canon 1399 | canon 1385.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Teresa Pacifico, Mons. G. Pepe and the Calvary Institute, sanbartolomeo.info, June 14, 2003.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Paolo Angelo Furbesco, Church of Calvary, sanbartolameo.info, June 5, 2011.
- ↑ The archpriest Ernesto Saccone, local clergy, and the bishop of Lucera, Mgr Giuseppe Di Girolamo.
- ↑ Mgr (Monsignore or Mons. in Italian) here indicates the honorary title of Prelate and not bishop in the sense of authority over a diocese.
- ↑ Philippians 4:13.
- ↑ Galatians 4:19.
- ↑ Teresa Pacifico, Censor, Educator, and Benefactor, sanbartolomeo.info, March 30, 2003.