The Fake Virgin Mary of Medjugorje Endorses a
Heretical and Silly Book
The Virgin Mary at Medjugorje reportedly confirmed the truth of the life of
Jesus as written by mystic Maria Valtorta. Many mystics have come up with
biographies and the Church has not taken them seriously on the official level.
And they all contradict one another. And Valtorta will never be declared a saint
so it makes no sense for the Church to endorse her version instead of that given
by a canonised saint. If the Church says Medjugorje is really blessed by the
presence of Mary then it will have to say that the ridiculous story of Jesus in
Valtorta's writings is also true. The writings are worse than the gospels in
terms of credibility.
Our Lady said on September 4, 1982 “Jesus prefers that you address yourselves
directly to Him rather than through an intermediary. In the meantime, if you
wish to give yourselves completely to God and if you wish that I be your
protector, then confide to me all your intentions, your fasts, and your
sacrifices so that I can dispose of them according to the will of God.”
We have here an entity claiming to be the Virgin Mary who contradicts Catholic
teaching that we should go to Jesus through Mary and that the closer we get to
Mary the closer we get to Jesus for he has made her all she is. And bizarrely
after saying Jesus doesn't prefer that system, she tells us then to go to her
and tell her all that is in our hearts so that she can help us. The message is
contradictory. Maria Valtorta's revelations said Jesus wants us to go to him
through Mary and bizarrely the Medjugorje vision approves her revelations. Her
"inspired" writings glorify Mary as Queen of Heaven and mediatrix of all graces
between God and man.
Medjugorje "visionary" Vicka: "They are true. Yes, yes, true. Authentic, yes.
You can read these, they are true."
(listen to audio recording here)
"Visionary" Marija: "You can read it." (EWTN Interview, March 4, 1992,
Archbishop Hannan Focus program)
Vicka: "Yes. The Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta, ten volumes. Our Lady
says The Poem of the Man-God is the truth. Our Lady said if a person wants to
know Jesus he should read Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta. That book is
the truth." (Interview with Attorney Jan Connell of the Pittsburgh Center for
Peace on January 27, 1988).
Marija: "Our Lady says The Poem of the Man-God is the truth." [cf. R. Laurentin,
Dernieres Nouvelles de Medjugorje No 15, OEIL, 1996, p. 19]
VISION APPROVES POEM OF THE MAN-GOD
The Virgin Mary has been reportedly appearing in Medjugorje since 1981. The
local bishops have condemned the apparition as false. Church investigations and
commissions concluded that it cannot be established that anything supernatural
is happening there. Supporters however claim to have evidence that the visions
are of Mary and are supernatural. Curiously not a single healing has been
accepted as inexplicable. At Lourdes, the Church uncovers lots of inexplicable
healings and has categorised some of them as miracles.
The vision promotes the Roman Catholic faith as the true faith and invites
people to obey the teaching of the Church as infallible and to come back to
Mass, prayer and fasting and confession. Yet the vision shows signs of not
caring much about correct Catholic faith.
The Medjugorje apparition promoted the blasphemous and heretical book, Poem of
the Man-God. This book had even been declared officially dangerous and heretical
by the Church. It was put on the Index of Forbidden Books.
Marija Pavolivic asked the vision about the book and got the reply that, “It
makes for good reading” (Medjugorje after Fifteen Years, Michael Davies, page 65
and page 127, Medjugorje, the Untold Story). Mr Colfrancesco, a close friend of
hers and top Medjugorje benefactor testified to this.
The Wikipedia article on Poem of the Man-God says, “The Medjugorje visions by
Marija Pavlovic and Vicka Ivankovic have both stated that Maria Valtorta’s
records of her conversations with Jesus are truthful. According to Ivankovic, in
1981 the Virgin Mary told her at Medjugorje: “If a person wants to know Jesus he
should read Maria Valtorta”.
Jan Connell wrote in a pro-Medjugorje book, Visions of the Children, that
Mirjana had been told by Our Lady that the twentieth century was granted to
Satan to try the Church and things would not be so bad after that. But that
century is over and it would be a miracle if things got better for the Church.
And so many visionaries in the world prophesied terrible troubles for the Church
that have not happened yet so the hardest times are still to come. Mary approved
of the revelations of Maria Valtorta and here she denies them though they
predict amazing successes for the Devil and the reduction of the Church to a
tiny sect which are still future. Vicka said according to an advertisement for
Poem of the Man-God that Mary told her that the book was the truth and anybody
who wants to know Jesus should read it. The advertisement appeared in the Queen
of Peace newspaper from Pittsburgh (page 32, Fall, 1995). Now the gospels say
Jesus said we wouldn’t have a clue when he would return. If we listen to this
book we can rest safe that he won’t be back until this happens to the Church.
The book and therefore the apparitions of Medjugorje conflict with the gospels.
The Catholic Planet website rejects the thought that the Poem of the Man-God is
true revelation and accuses it of blasphemy and irreverence.
Did Mary at Medjugorje approve of The Poem of the Man-God?
Marija Pavlovic asked Mary in an apparition about the Poem of the Man-God. A
Franciscan friar named Franjo wanted the apparition's view. Marija asked, “Is
this book true?” Mary's reply was these words: “You can read it.”
(Source: http://www.childrenofmedjugorje.com/medj/pomgC.htm)
Believers in Medjugorje say that such a statement does not have the connotation
of approval. They argue that the question demanded a yes or no but Mary didn't
say yes or no. The theologians might think that Mary is afraid of taking over
the role of the Vatican and the bishops which is to decide what is to be
approved and disapproved.
It is claimed that her saying it can be read is an answer for the friar and does
not imply the rest of us can read it or should read it.
Reply: Not every priest and certainly not every religious brother is permitted
to read every forbidden book.
And Mary could have said, “He can read it.” She didn't. If Mary meant more than
Marija having the right to read the book then clearly she was saying anybody has
that right.
The religious brother was not in the business of examining the book and so had
no right to read it.
The Virgin's response to the question about the book being true was that you can
read it implying that if you read it you will see for yourself that it is true.
As the Virgin stresses avoidance of nonsense like television and endorses Bible
reading and the Poem is a heavy read this is the right interpretation.
The statement does have the connotation of approval.
Marian Times says,
The Virgin of Medjugorje never explicitly encouraged the reading of Poem of the
Man God. She simply said four words "You may read it". We can reasonably
interpret this as something along the lines of "your soul will not be harmed by
it", or that it is a pietic work - fostering piety, without necessarily being
accurate. It is permitted to both publish and distribute this work as long as it
bears a disclaimer that "the 'visions' and 'dictations' referred to in it are
simply the literary forms used by the author to narrate in her own way the life
of Jesus. They cannot be considered supernatural in origin." . So, this
completely refutes Rick's false reporting of the work as being "condemned". It
was only the FIRST EDITION in 1959 that was placed on the Index of Forbidden
Books in shady circumstances and despite Pius XII's imprimaturial statement
"Publish it as it is". The reasons for placing it on this list appear to be that
it was anonymously authored (Valtorta not desiring any recognition) and because
of lack of theological annotations to clarify passages that might lend
themselves to misinterpretation. For the full picture on the fluctuating Church
response to The Poem of the Man-God, as opposed to Rick's one-sided
black-and-white view, please click here]. It is far from simple and far from
over. The Virgin's statement at Medjugorje regarding this work is respectful of
current Church view on it, i.e. cannot be proven as supernatural, but
nevertheless can be published and read by anyone.”
The Virgin said more than that.
If the Virgin merely permitted the reading instead of encouraging it means
nothing. What we are concerned about is that she didn’t think there was any harm
in the book. Permitting is encouraging when you know somebody will read the
book.
Now Marian times is certainly right to say that the Virgin thinks the book
fosters piety. The poem claims to be supernatural in origin and its author
claimed to be the secretary of Jesus Christ. Would it be pious to read the book
and try to follow its spirituality and then refuse to regard it as supernatural
which it claims to be? Would the Virgin have said the same thing about say the
Book of Mormon?
Marian Times is trying to make out that the poem is not condemned but it is
merely said that it cannot be considered supernatural. But to say it cannot be
considered supernatural is to admit there is no evidence it is really from God
and thus it is the same as condemning it.
Even if that were all she said, why couldn’t she say, “Ask a priest who knows”?
That would have meant she was directed the seers to obedience to the Church and
ensuring it. and that she was keeping out of controversy about other
revelations. The Church believes God has given it the authority to make
decisions about alleged apparitions and miracles – it alone. If apparitions take
over then only chaos will ensue.
IS THE POEM FORBIDDEN READING?
The Poem of the Man-God was put on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1959.
The Index was done away in the sixties but its moral authority remains. Doing
away with the Index does not imply that Catholics can read dangerous books.
Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI stated in a letter to Cardinal Siri in
1985 that the Poem was the product of mental illness. We have seen that
Medjugorje believers sometimes try to say it was only the first edidtion that
was bad. But the Cardinal stated that the work itself not just the editions was
nonsense and then condemned the Second Edition (page 128, Medjugorje, the Untold
Story).
Medjugorje believers respond that what the Church banned was the first edition
of the book which was dubious. They say that more accurate editions that are
true to the original notebooks and revelations are not banned. But do they wish
to deny that the original notebooks contain a lot of irreverence and error?
Another response is that the Virgin was only permitting them to read the book
and was not saying it was accurate. Why didn’t she just tell them to use some
other similar book that hadn’t been in trouble with the Church? There was no
shortage of them and they were more popular than the Poem of the Man-God. The
revelations about Jesus’ life to Anne Catherine Emmerich who was beatified by
John Paul II are universally regarded as wholesome for Catholics. The evidence
for her holiness was better than fro that of Maria Valtorta. Anne Catherine is
believed to have shown evidence of clairvoyance and stigmata. It is a serious
problem that Valtorta’s revelations often contradict hers.
One big contradiction is how Poem of the Man-God has Mary being conceived
naturally while Emmerich has her being conceived virginally at the temple.
The Medjugorje Virgin also contradicts the revelations of Emmerich. Emmerich
says that Mary was born on August 24th. The Medjugorje apparition says it was
August 5th.
This is refuted by the glowing endorsement of the book to Vicka and by the fact
that the book is still a forbidden book.
It is simply not true that the Vatican condemned not the Poem but an edition of
it as if the edition were faulty and not the work itself. Read the following
from http://www.ewtn.com/library/scriptur/valtorta.txt:
When volume four appeared, the Holy Office examined the "Poem" and
condemned it, recommending that it be placed on the Index of Forbidden
Books Dec. 16, 1959. Pope John XXIII signed the decree and ordered it
published. L'Osservatore Romano, on Jan. 6, 1960, printed the
condemnation with an accompanying front-page article, "A Badly
Fictionalized Life of Jesus," to explain it.
The article complained that the "Poem" broke Canon Law. "Though they treat
exclusively of religious issues, these volumes do not have an
"imprimatur," which is required by Canon 1385, sect. 1, n. 2."
Second, the long speeches of Jesus and Mary starkly contrast with the
evangelists, who portray Jesus as "humble, reserved; His discourses are
lean, incisive." Valtorta's fictionalized history makes Jesus sound "like
a chatterbox, always ready to proclaim Himself the Messiah and the Son of
God," or teach theology in modern terms. The Blessed Mother speaks like a
"propagandist" for modern Marian theology.
Third, "some passages are rather risque," like the "immodest" dance before
Pilate (vol. 5, p. 73). There are "many historical, geographical and
other blunders." For instance, Jesus uses screwdrivers (Vol. 1, pp. 195,
223), centuries before screws existed.
There are theological errors, as when "Jesus says" (vol. 1, p. 30) that
Eve's temptation consisted in arousing her flesh, as the serpent
sensuously "caressed" her. While she "began the sin by herself," she
"accomplished it with her companion." Sun Myung Moon and Maria Valtorta
may claim the first sin was sexual, but Scripture does not.
Vol. 1, p. 7, oddly claims, "Mary can be called the 'second-born' of the
Father . . ." Her explanation limits the meaning, avoiding evidence of an
authentic heresy; but it does not take away the basic impression that she
wants to construct a new mariology, which simply goes beyond the limits of
propriety." "Another strange and imprecise statement" made of Mary (vol.
4, p. 240) is that she will "be second to Peter with regard to
ecclesiastical hierarchy. . . " Our Lady surpasses St. Peter's holiness,
but she is not in the hierarchy, let alone second to St. Peter.
Further, Valtorta did not claim to write a novel, but called herself a
"secretary" of Jesus and Mary, so, "in all parts on reads the words 'Jesus
says. . .' or 'Mary says . . .'" The Church takes this claim to revelation
very seriously, since it has the God-given duty to discern what is or is
not truly from the Holy Spirit. In Valtorta's case, the Church decided
against Divine inspiration.
Finally, "Poem" is condemned for reasons of disobedience. Competent Church
authority had prohibited the printing of Valtorta's work.
CONCLUSION
The Virgin Mary appearing to promote the Catholic Church is not going to approve
of a book banned by the Church.
Nor is she going to approve of a heretical book.
The Medjugorje entity is not the Catholic Virgin Mary. Suppose it does not
mean it is not Mary though!
UNDERSTANDING MEDJUGORJE, HEAVENLY VISIONS OR RELIGIOUS ILLUSION? Donal Anthony
Foley, Theotokos Books, Nottingham, 2006
To Order Understanding Medjugorje visit http://www.theotokos.org.uk or write to
Theotokos Books, PO Box, 8570, Nottingham, England
Videos
VISIONS ON DEMAND, Network 5 International, 1997
DIVINE OR DECEIVED? COVER-UP, Network 5 International, 1998
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