Petition to the Pope, January 29, 1952

Facsimile of the petition to the Holy Father dated January 29, 1952

The petition addressed to the Holy Father by Archbishop Alfonso Carinci is dated January 29, 1952. It marks the culmination of the crisis in which the leadership of the Holy Office clashed, in a fierce manner, with about ten personalities close to Pius XII regarding the work of Maria Valtorta.

• 1948 was the year of Pius XII’s encouragement for the publication and steps in that direction.
• 1949 was the year of opposition from the Holy Office.
• 1950 was the year of the almost open confrontation.
• 1951 was the year of neutralization which this petition concludes.

After which a status quo was established. The confrontation would wait to resume with the placing on the Index after the death of Pius XII. The Osservatore Romano, commenting on this condemnation, points out "the illustrious personalities" who had been deceived. These are the signatories of this petition, to whom should be added La Pira, deputy-mayor of Florence, absent from the list.

Simply examining the background of these signatories and the true basis of the Osservatore Romano’s "indictment" reveals that these personalities were by no means naive in their judgment.

The "illustrious personalities" signatories

Here is the list of these signatories with a recall of their level of responsibility, the justification of their expertise, and their opinion on the work of Maria Valtorta.

1. Mgr Alfonso Carinci :

• Secretary of the Congregation of Rites (for the cause of saints).
• Rector of one of the major seminaries of Rome.
• "We spontaneously feel the desire to give thanks to the Lord for having given us, through a suffering Woman confined to bed, such a Work that is so beautiful literarily, so elevated, accessible and profound doctrinally and spiritually, and pleasant to read."

2. Father (Cardinal) Augustin Bea :

• Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, confessor to Pius XII, consultor to the Holy Office.
• Professor of Biblical Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
• "As for exegesis, I found in the booklets I examined no error of any kind. Moreover, I was very impressed by the remarkable accuracy of the archaeological and topographical descriptions [...] However, if one takes into account modern ideas, the Work of Maria Valtorta should not be published as coming from visions or extraordinary spiritual states, but simply, and without author's name, as a 'Life of Jesus, told and illustrated for the Catholic people.'"

3. Mgr Angelo Mercati :

• Prefect of the Vatican Archives from 1925 to 1955, collaborator of the Osservatore Romano.
• Professor of Dogmatic Theology.
• "I must acknowledge that it is a perfectly canonical work in every respect. I was astonished by it [...] The Work should be printed with the imprimatur, accompanied by a declaration stating that the Church does not intend to pronounce on it, but only permits the printing because it contains nothing reprehensible."

4. Mgr Ugo Emilio Lattanzi :

• Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Lateran from 1960 to 1968.
• Professor of Fundamental Theology. Consultor to various congregations, he was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology.
• "I consider it absolutely impossible that the Woman who is the author, a Woman of below average culture, could have written such a quantity of pages with a pen without having been influenced by a preternatural power [...] I am indeed convinced that reading these volumes, thus revised, can bring more than one indifferent Soul to quench their thirst at the source of Living Water: the Holy Scripture."

5. Mgr Maurizio Raffa :

• Member of the Congregation of the Council (later renamed Congregation for the Clergy) - Director of the Center for Comparison and Synthesis (International Scientific Center) - "Righteous Among the Nations".
• (Degrees and training unknown).
• "Reading this text (Maria Valtorta) exerts a particular fascination and arouses a lively emotion, not only in learned people but also in simple Souls, who do not know science but possess wisdom. I believe that the Work, duly reviewed and properly presented, could do a lot of Good to Souls Thirsting for goodness and light."

6. Master Camillo Corsanego :

• Procurator at the Vatican State Tribunal, Dean of the Consistorial Counselors of the Vatican (in charge notably of beatification and canonization trials), one of the founding fathers of Italian Christian Democracy.
• Lawyer graduated in Canon Law and Civil Law (utriusque iuris), professor of criminal law at the Pontifical Lateran University.
• "I have had the opportunity to read a multitude of apologetic, hagiographic, theological or biblical criticism works. I have never found in them such a combination of science, art, piety and conformity to the traditional teaching of the Church as in the Work on the Gospels of Mademoiselle Maria Valtorta [...] whether 'the finger of God is there" [...] I humbly consider, as a faithful, that the publication of this Work will be useful to bring many Souls back to God, that it will have a great apologetic echo in the modern world, and that it will be a Leaven of Christian life comparable only to the effects of the private revelation to Saint Mary Alacoque."

7. Professor Nicola Pende :

• Endocrinologist physician, senator, expert to the Congregation of Rites (in charge of the cause of saints).
• Professor at the University of Rome, he was world-renowned in the field of endocrinology and constitutional pathology.
• "But what aroused my greatest admiration and all my amazement as a physician is the skill with which Maria Valtorta describes, like an expert, a phenomenology that few established doctors would be able to expose: the scene of Jesus' agony on the cross [...] Pity and emotion invade the Christian reader before these magnificent pages, in the medical style, of Maria Valtorta's manuscript."

8. Lorenzo Ferri :

• Painter and sculptor selected for the final competition of the Jubilee Door of the Vatican.
• Author of works on the Shroud of Turin. Illustrator of Maria Valtorta's visions whom he met.
• "Many obscure or controversial points of the Gospel are clarified with logical and persuasive evidence. Reading this Work awakened in me a firmer faith and a greater desire for elevation [...] As a specialist of the Shroud, I can affirm, proof in hand, that Maria Valtorta’s description of the Face and Body of the Lord finds an impressive Confirmation in the features of the Lord on the Shroud."

9. President Vittorio Tredici :

• President of the Azienda Minerali Metallici Italiani (Italian Metallic Minerals Company). Vice-president of the Corporation of Extractive Industries and president of the Italian Potash Society. "Righteous Among the Nations".
• "What deeply struck me in the critical examination of the Work is the perfect knowledge the writer had of Palestine and the places where the preaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ took place. A knowledge that, in some passages, surpasses normal geographical or panoramic knowledge [...] But more than my critical mind, it is my Heart I feel becoming better each time I can read some pages of the Work, which assures me that it is Good 'the Work of God.' I wish with all my being that it soon belongs - Thanks to its rapid publication - to the heritage of all humanity, for I feel and think that a countless crowd of wandering Souls will return to the Fold."

The text of the petition

Most Holy Father,

Prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, I humbly implore, in my name and in the name

• of the Reverend Father Agostino Bea, s.j., as well as the reverends
• Angelo Mercati
• Ugo Lattanzi, professor of fundamental and biblical theology at the Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum,
• Maurizio Rafa, director of the Center for Comparison and Synthesis;

And in the name

• of Mr. Camillo Corsànego, professor of law at the Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum and of theology at the International University “pro Deo”,
• of Professor Nicola Pende of the University of Rome,
• of Professor Lorenzo Ferri, sculptor and painter,
• of Mr. Vittorio Tredici, mineralogist,

whose declarations are attached to this letter. We request that the Work “Words of Life,” written by Maria Valtorta (who has been bedridden for twenty years), may be published with the Imprimatur, “without author’s name, nor mention of visions or extraordinary states, but simply as the life of Jesus, told and illustrated for the Catholic people, after a meticulous revision carried out by a competent reviewer in theology and exegesis” (cf. the declaration of Rev. P. Bea), to be appointed by Your Holiness.

I can have the letters written to me by Mademoiselle Valtorta read to the reviewer that, I hope, Your Holiness will kindly appoint, because they clearly show the good spirit of this person.

I hope that Your Holiness will grant the grace of fulfilling the desire of the authors of these testimonies. Like Mademoiselle Valtorta and myself, they implore your apostolic blessing.

Rome, January 29, 1952

+ Alfonso Carinci, archbishop of Salteucia of Isauria, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites

Analysis and historical importance of this petition

It is unthinkable that such figures would stake their reputation on a simple life of Jesus written by a Woman without renown and without literary experience. For them, the work of Maria Valtorta is exceptional and edifying from many points of view. They do not demand the official recognition of a divine origin (which nevertheless shines through their testimonies) but the right to disseminate it as a private revelation or even as a simple edifying work. They submit in advance to the arbitration of a "mediator" to be appointed by the Sovereign Pontiff. He had requested the confirmation of his positive opinion by a formal traditional imprimatur.

The Holy Office had blocked three times the imprimatur of different bishops and had wanted to destroy the work. Faced with this, the signatories made a minimal request thinking that it would be the basis for an acceptable agreement. Mgr Carinci, not wanting to use his closeness to Pius XII, allowed the petition to follow the usual channels. It reached the Holy Office and had no follow-up. The only public response the Holy Office gave, eight years later, was after the death of Pius XII, in the article of the Osservatore Romano commenting on the placing on the Index: "despite illustrious personalities (whose indisputable good faith was taken by surprise) who supported its publication, the Holy Office deemed it necessary to place it on the Index of Prohibited Books. The reasons are obvious for anyone patient enough to read these almost four thousand pages."

This petition, the attached attestations, and the Osservatore Romano article thus respond to each other for a better Discernment of the mutual attitudes.

Do the "illustrious personalities" signal an edifying work? The Holy Office will strive to make it a bad novel. Do they endorse doctrinal correctness? The Holy Office tried four times in vain to find a clear error, even cultivating paradox by noting its high theological quality. Do these personalities praise the Good it would do to Souls? The Holy Office advances the danger of its reading in girls' boarding schools. Do they vouch for the truthfulness of the historical and scientific context? Censors will evoke, without evidence, the abundance of historical errors. So only the evident fault of the lack of imprimatur will remain for which the Holy Office actively worked.

When on November 8, 1963 Cardinal Josef Frings launched the charge Against the mores of the Holy Office that sounded its death knell, the conciliar assembly applauded. Among those applauding there was undoubtedly the memory of the condemnations by the Holy Office which struck Padre Pio or Saint Faustina Kowalska, but there was undoubtedly also that of Fogazzaro and probably that of Maria Valtorta along with many others.

In a Christian sense, study concerning God and divine things in the light of Revelation.

Analysis of the historical, cultural, and literary context of Biblical texts to better understand what they meant at the time they were written and how they can be interpreted today.

(University) Responsible for the quality of teaching, management of faculty and students. (Institution) Head of the corporation.

Preliminary stage to canonization recognizing that a deceased person can be called Blessed because of their holiness.

Official declaration that a person is holy and may be universally venerated.

Legal code defining crimes, offenses, and corresponding penalties.

Writing that defends a Doctrine against criticism, objections, or doubts.

Writing that defends a Doctrine against criticism, objections, or doubts.

Stories of the lives of saints.

In-depth research on God, faith, religious Doctrine.

Manifestation of the Holy Spirit after the Bible to a person or particular group. It is individual and relative.

In a Christian sense, study concerning God and divine things in the light of Revelation.