John Paul II and Maria Valtorta

His Holiness Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) - Pontificate from October 13, 1978 to April 2, 2005

Pope John Paul II did not express an opinion on the case of Maria Valtorta. However, he canonized Padre Pio, who recommended reading her work, and beatified Mother Teresa, a reader of this work whom she took with her on her travels.

Father Yannik Bonnet, during his studies in Rome^[1] met cardinal Stanislas Dziwisz, secretary to John Paul II, on three occasions. He testifies^[2] that the cardinal assured him he often saw Maria Valtorta’s works on the bedside table of the Sovereign Pontiff.

Cardinal Ratzinger (future Benedict XVI), Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, naturally relying on the acts of his predecessor, declared in a letter to the Archbishop of Genoa that he was not personally favorable to the dissemination nor recommendation of the work because of its possible impact on "the most naive" people. However, he left Cardinal Siri free to respond as he saw fit to the request of a priest from his diocese. In his letter, he indicated that the condemnation must have been made for good reasons, which shows that he did not investigate further than the official acts he was transmitting.

Faced with the renewed interest in the writings of Maria Valtorta, Cardinal Ratzinger asked the publisher, via the Italian Bishops' Conference, to clarify in future editions that Maria Valtorta’s work should be considered a personal work. He specified: "should not be considered as" rather than "are not of supernatural origin". This conditional imprimatur is consistent with private revelations for which there are only "human certainties and not divine ones."

The position of Cardinal Ratzinger, more theological than pastoral, became subject to interpretation and yielded varied results: in 1992, the bishops of Kerala unanimously rejoiced at the translation of Maria Valtorta into their language; in 1993, Bishop R. Boland of Alabama seemed to interpret that Maria Valtorta's writings had nothing supernatural about them; in 2001, Bishop R. Danylak, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic bishop, certified on the contrary the perfect value and conformity of these writings. In 2008, Chinese bishops requested that the translation of Maria Valtorta continue in their language, …

If the imprimatur is no longer in doubt, the prophetic phrase by Pius XII is found in practice: "there is no need to pronounce on the origin of the work, it is enough to read it to understand."

Notes and references[edit | edit source]

↑ In the years 1996/1999. Father Yannik Bonnet became a priest late in life, after becoming widowed. A graduate of Sciences-Po and former Director of Human Relations at a major French industrial group, he is the father of seven children. He attributes his vocation to the discovery of Maria Valtorta and discussed it with the cardinal. He also met the Holy Father three times.
↑ May 19, 2017: Interview by Maxime Dalle on Radio Notre-Dame (program "Ecclésia") (go to 1’50’’).

[1] In the years 1996/1999. Father Yannik Bonnet became a priest late in life, after becoming widowed. A graduate of Sciences-Po and former Director of Human Relations at a major French industrial group, he is the father of seven children. He attributes his vocation to the discovery of Maria Valtorta and discussed it with the cardinal. He also met the Holy Father three times.

[2] May 19, 2017: Interview by Maxime Dalle on Radio Notre-Dame (program "Ecclésia") (go to 1’50’’).

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