Maria Valtorta was a Pius bed-ridden woman who experienced Private Revelations and Gospel Visions during the times of World War II.  Her writings are considered the most complete and detailed Gospel Revelations ever produced, fleshing out the day to day life of Jesus and Mary.  There are several other visionaries who were given this gift, but none approach the accuracy and detail of Valtorta's writings.  The bulk of Valtorta's writings pertaining to the Gospels were originally published in ten Italian volume narrative under the title: "The Gospel As It Was Revealed To Me".  Several years after her death they were reconfigured into five translated English volumes renamed by the Publisher; "The Poem Of The Man-God".

    Maria Valtorta was born in Caserta, Italy in 1897.  She was rendered handicapped at an early age by an assailant in 1920's, and eventually became bedridden in the 1930's when her condition became progressively worse. After becoming a third order Carmelite, Jesus appeared to her during her holy suffering calling her to be his mouthpiece.  From 1943 to 1954 she was given private dictations and detailed revelations of the entire Messianic cycle from the birth of Mary through the Coronation.  Her spiritual director was Father Romualdo M. Migliorini and the original editor of her works was Michael Pisani.  Maria Valtorta entered Eternal Life in 1961.  Her mortal remains are buried behind the altar of The Basilica of the Annunciation in Florence, Italy.  An inscription in her marble headstone reads; "Writer of Divine Things".  There has been a long-standing controversy regarding these works. There are many supporters as well as opponents. The most fitting response is that the sheep know the Master’s voice.

The sequence of events can be compiled from Maria Valtorta's autobiography, the written testimonies of those involved, as well as details from conversations with Father Cecchin, who lived into his nineties.  Maria recorded her voluminous dictations and visions in bound school notebooks in which the pages were fixed in place without corrections.  Her spiritual director Father Migliorini observed that her Gospel Revelations were in a sporadic succession that was impracticable to follow. Upon completion of some fifteen thousand pages, Maria received a vision in which Jesus detailed the precise chapter arrangement.  When Father Migliorini began the colossal task of typing the manuscript in the specified sequence, he was startled how her writings miraculously began to flow into a seamless chronology.  Realizing that something extraordinary was unfolding, he sought the advice of  Fathers Corrado Berti and Andrew M. Cecchin who reviewed the first part of the early manuscript and were convinced that it was of a Divine supernatural source.  Father Berti studied Maria Valtorta’s writings and assisted by providing theological notes.

As Valtorta's Visions were mystical in nature and the Local Bishop Fontevecchia's vision was fading, Father Berti sought Vatican guidance for procedural advice on presenting these Revelations to the proper ecclesiastical Hierarchy.  At the Vatican he encountered Pope Pius XII's confessor Cardinal Augustin Bea.  Cardinal Bea cautioned that the Head of the Holy Office, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani was unenthusiastic regarding Private Revelations, and previously attempted to place Sister Faustina Kowalska's Divine Mercy writings on the Forbidden Book list, but Pope Pius XII would not sign the Decree.  Father Berti took council with Cardinal Bea and Monsignor Alphonse Carinci (Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites) who after carefully scrutinizing Valtorta's writings  advised that the only chance of survival would be bypassing Cardinal Ottaviani altogether and presenting the typed manuscript directly to Pope Pius XII.

Valtorta's writings were presented to Pope Pius XII in April of 1947, who examined them for about ten months. After which His Holiness granted an exclusive meeting on February 26, 1948 to Father. Corrado Berti (Professor of Dogmatic and Sacramental Theology at the Pontifical "Marianum" Theological Faculty of Rome from 1939 onward, later becoming Secretary of the Faculty from 1950 to 1959, as well as consultant to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council) accompanied by two representatives Father. Romualdo M. Migliorini (Prefect Apostle in Africa), and Father. Andrew M. Cecchin (Prior of the International College of the Servites of Mary in Rome.  During the Papal meeting, His Holiness ordered "Publish this work just as it is; he who reads will understand."  The three Priests documented the the exact wording of the Papal Order immediately afterwards on a card and later provided signed testimony.  The fact that the Pope did grant this audience was historically documented the next day, February 27, 1948 in L’Osservatore Romano Citta Del Vaticano, no. 48, p.1.

Cardinal Edouard Gagnon (who served as Peritus during the second Vatican Council, that is the Expert Theologian Advisor and Consultant. He had a Doctorate in Theology and taught Canon law for ten years at the Grand Seminary), wrote from the Vatican that Pope Pius XII's action was: "The kind of official Imprimatur granted before witnesses by the Holy Father in 1948. An "Official Imprimatur" of the Supreme Authority of the Church".  The Code of Canon Law - Book II, Part II, Section I, Chapter I, Article I - gives the Pope full and supreme power over all levels of the Church and free use to exercise this power. The Papal order came first. Canon law prohibits this Papal order from being reversed by subordinate levels of Church authority. Canon law clearly requires that this Papal order be embraced with unconditional acceptance and submission.

The guidance given to Father Berti by Cardinal Bea and  Monsignor Carinci to bypass Cardinal Ottaviani was not without consequence. As the responsibility of discerning the nature of Private Revelations was the responsibility of the Holy Office, Cardinal Ottaviani considered circumnavigated Papal approval an evasion of the authority of the Magisterium. As any person in a bureaucracy is well aware, going over an Administrator's head to the CEO can often have dire consequences. While attempting to Publish Valtorta's writings via the Vatican Polyglot Printery in 1949, Cardinal Ottaviani summoned Father Corrado Berti and Father Andrew Cecchin to the Holy Office. Furthermore, during this meeting both Priests were forbidden to speak or communicate in any way. Monsignor Pepe and Father Berruti (officials of the Holy Office) were entrusted with informing both Priests of a new judgment that reversed and undermined the Papal Imprimatur. This reversal commanded Father Berti to deliver to the Holy Office all of Maria Valtorta's manuscripts and typescripts to be destroyed or kept shut away forever. Although Father Berti brought all the typescripts in his possession; he could not deliver all the copies, because some were in the possession of other people who declined to be deprived of them. The Holy Office, headed by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, forbade the publication of these writings and threatened to place them on the Index of forbidden books in the event of a publication. The order of silence cleverly restricted Father Berti from informing Monsignor Pepe and Father Berruti of the Papal Imprimatur given by Pope Pius XII.  Persistent attempts by Fathers Berti, Cecchin and Migliorini to gain another audience with Pope Pius XII was strategically and tightly blocked by the Holy Office.  Eventually they concluded that the Papal Order to publish took precedence over lower levels of the Church Hierarchy.  Furthermore, they deduced that it would be impossible for Cardinal Ottaviani to make good on his threat of placing Valtorta's works on the Forbidden Book List, as it would require a Papal signature.  Obviously Pope Pius XII could not be coerced into signing a Decree against His own Supreme Papal Imprimatur.

When Father Migliorini completed preparing the manuscripts, "The Gospel as it was Revealed to Me" was published via the Pisani Publishing Company in 1956 with Pope Pius XII Imprimatur and statement boldly affixed to the inside cover.  There was little Cardinal Ottaviani could do.  As long as Pope Pius XII was alive, the Poem could be published with the Papal Imprimatur, unchallenged.  When Pope Pius XII past away on October 9, 1958, the Lion was finally out of the way.  As soon as the next Pontiff, Pope John XXIII, took office, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani's first and foremost action was to present Him with the condemnations of Maria Valtorta’s writings as well as the writings of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska which Pope Pius XII refused to sign. He could now kill two birds with one stone, presenting condemnations to new Pontiff, who signed the decrees. perceptibly, just taking Office, Pope John XXIII did not have the personal time and luxury of reading Maria Valtorta’s 15,000 pages of Private Revelation and Saint Faustina’s Life works.

At this point it would be prudent to mention that Cardinal Ottaviani authored the infamous Secret 1962 Vatican document that mandated the excommunication of children victimized by pedophile priests in the event they sought help from authorities, as uncovered by CBS News in 2003.  This same Cardinal also had several notorious tantrum incidents. While giving a protracted harangue at the pulpit, a technician resorted  to switching off his microphone, which resulted in a standing ovation by the whole congregation. In another similar incident, the Priests listening to him one by one started turning their chairs around facing away from him.

    In 1961, Father Berti was able to secure an audience with Pope Paul VI's private secretary Monsignor Pasquale Macchi. Monsignor Macchi informed Father Berti that Pope Paul VI, when he was Archbishop of Milan, had read the first volume of the Poem and was impressed enough to have Maria Valtorta's works sent to the Milan Seminary library. Father Berti gave Monsignor Macchi a copy of the Second edition of the Poem for review. Later that year, Father Berti was summoned to the Holy Office by Father Mark Giraudo O.P., Commissioner of the Congregation. Father Berti informed the Commissioner of Pope Pius XII’s order to publish the Poem in 1948. Monsignor Macchi directed Father Berti "Continue to publish this second edition. We will see how the world receives it." In 1966, Pope Paul VI took the action of suppressing the Index of Forbidden Books, which liberated the Poem from ecclesiastical restriction. There are many people who argue that this action was taken specifically to liberate the Poem, allowing Church compliance to the original order by Pope Pius XII. Unfortunately, The Roman Catholic Church has on occasion mistakenly condemned innocent victims and later exonerated them when modern science or contemporary deductive reasoning shed new light on the issue. One example would be how Roman Catholic Church hierarchy placed Galileo’s writings on the forbidden book list. They burned his written observations and nearly burned him at the stake in order to force him to retract his ideas regarding the earth being round and orbiting the sun. He was brutally compelled to sign retractions stating that the world was actually flat and located at the center of the universe. In the past, a few Church Officials may have fallen into the trap of persecuting today’s saints, just as the Jewish leaders and the Sanhedrin persecuted the Messiah two thousand years ago. It is important to remember a core teaching found throughout the Bible: That poor fishermen, prostitutes and tax collectors were able to recognize God Incarnate, when the Chief Priests, Doctors of the Law and Pharisees condemned Him.  Once again, the stone rejected by the builders turned out to be the corner stone.

    Some antagonists cite that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict condemned Valtorta's writings.  He did not personally scrutinize Maria Valtorta's writings, he reiterated (simply upheld), Cardinal Ottaviani's verdict, avoiding the undermining his predecessor.  “There appears to be multiple English translations of this document circulating on the Internet, some of which contain significant errors in key statements. Upon reading an accurate translation, it becomes immediately evident that Cardinal Ratzinger avoids passing judgment, either positively or negatively, by restating the history of events. Far from being a negative judgment, the Cardinal simply highlights events of history, and states that diffusion of the Poem, at the time, was "not held to be opportune". The final statement, as quoted above, restricts the range of the condemnation further, limiting it to the “more unprepared faithful” (of which one interpretation could refer to those who lack good catechesis, who would attach themselves too strongly to the Poem, effectively elevating a private revelation above public revelation). At most, this text could be interpreted as a cautionary caveat; however a negative judgment it is not.”

    Additional positive affirmations come from Medjugorje visionaries Maria Pavlovich and Vicka Ivankovich, who questioned Mary regarding these works and received favorable confirmations. The following is an excerpt from a supporting web site, "Maria Pavlovich and Vicka Ivankovich were specifically requested to ask the Madonna about it. So in 1985, Maria Pavlovich upon hearing someone ask about the Poem, stated that two years previously a Franciscan friar had requested her to ask the Madonna about it. The visionary then became very serious and said: "Maria Valtorta! All true. The Poem of the Man-God. The Madonna said two years ago, all true! Dictated by Jesus!" Likewise, in a recorded interview with Attorney Janice Connell of the Pittsburgh Center for Peace on January 27, 1988, Connell asked the visionary Vicka Ivankovich if there were any other books Our Lady had told her about. Vicka replied, "Yes, The Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta. 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 The Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta. That book is the truth." Attorney Janice Connell still has the original video of this interview.  The Poem received another Medjugorje related approval during a broadcast interview on Mother Angelica's EWTN cable network, which aired an interview with Medjugorje seer Marija Pavlovich conducted by retired New Orleans Archbishop Philip Hannan. On March 4, 1992 on the Archbishop's Focus program, Bob, a call in viewer from Milwaukee asked Marija, on the air, "What exactly did our Lady say regarding the Poem of the Man-God?" Marija responded that our Lady told her, "You can read it."

     In an interview with Elliot Miller and Kenneth Samples (who turned out to be critical of Medjugorje), Vicka Ivankovic confirmed Our Ladies endorsement of Maria Valtorta’s writings. The testimony can be found in their resulting book, "The Cult of the Virgin", Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI , 1992, p. 150.

    There are several other groups and web sites that oppose Maria's writings. Because of the wonderful insight her work provides, and the appalling state of the world, it would be amazing if there were no opposition. We observed that nearly all of the documents and web sites opposing The Poem jointly attack the Medjugorje visions as well. Apparently because the support and testimony of the visionaries. Upon examination, arguments in opposition to the Poem have been quite easy to counter. Most are simple misleading statements and misquotes that collapse like a house of cards, when scrutinized. The following is a good example of this. One of the first arguments encountered was a hostile letter claiming that Mary, in the Valtorta text, makes a statement that She would like to be a big sinner. The antagonist then argues that the Mary we know, could not have made a statement like that. He goes on to persuade people to avoid the Poem altogether, based on the indication of this quote. The author fails to mention that in this particular vision, Mary is a two year old little girl and had been informed that the Messiah was coming to save sinners. In the Poem, Mary made this statement because She was eager to be saved by the upcoming Messiah. The contender even endeavors to lead the reader to believe that Mary was an adult when making this proclamation.

    Some arguments against the Poem are based upon dogmatic adherence to imperfect annotations. For example: Several challengers cite that Maria Valtorta saw a screwdriver, then proposed verbose arguments that screws were not invented till well over a thousand years afterwards.   The screwdriver contention proposed by Father Mitch Pacwa is one of the most popular arguments used by Valtorta challengers.  Notwithstanding, that it is well known, even amongst the most novice archeologists that complex devices and tools were commonly used during the times of Christ.  Encyclopedia Britannica even credits Archytas of Tarentum as the inventor of the screw years before the birth of Christ.  Another example is the Antikythera Mechanism, a mechanical pocket calculator discovered in southern Greece that dates back to over one hundred BC.  The device contains tiny gears and springs rivaling the complexity of a Swiss watch.  It contains tiny screws, described as fine as those found on modern eyeglasses.  It doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to deduce that; where there are screws, there will be screwdrivers.  "We have used the latest technology available to understand this mechanism, yet the technological quality in this mechanism puts us to shame," project leader Mike Edmunds, professor of astronomy at Cardiff University. "If the ancient Greeks made this, what else could they do?"

    Cruel adversaries to Maria's writings have stooped as low as fabricating bizarre claims that the Poem portrays a homosexual Jesus. This is probably the most outrageous assertion antagonists have promulgated to date. It is a cruel attempt to shock potential readers into avoidance.  Here, F. John Loughnan and other adversaries distort the meaning of the word caress, which is clearly used by Maria numerous times to describe something as simple as a patting on the back, into some form of a lewd act. The act of Jesus kissing his disciples and vice-versa, are also employed to argue improper behavior. Obviously this kissing is a customary greeting of the times. A perfect example would be how we read in our bible about Judas kissing Jesus in the garden in order to identify Christ, to the mob. The Bible is not referring to a lewd act, but to a customary greeting of the era. There was no long separation in this instance. Jesus had recently participated in the Last Supper with Judas only a few hours before. Within some nationalities today, this type of kissing is still a customary greeting. Misquotes were also utilized to further embellish this odious contention. Any reader will quickly find that the Poem is so thoroughly interwoven with illustrations of God's eminent reverence for chastity and virginity, along with His utter repugnance of human sensuality, that this accusation becomes untenable. Furthermore, opponents who espouse such malicious calumny are plausibly recognizing this inclination within themselves, certainly not in a misconstrued subtext from the Poem. Some critics seem to perceive their own stench within their nostrils, and are quick to accuse the perfumes of virginal chastity emanating from the Poem.

    The very arguments proposed by those wishing to discredit these works, essentially help confirm the antithesis of their contentions. Understandably, the best way to discredit the works would be to highlight contradictions to the Gospels. The Poem of the Man-God consists of ten volumes that were condensed into five books that are over eight hundred pages each, in small text format. It is apparent from several imprecise quotes, that these opponents have reviewed this material meticulously. Since they have been clearly unable to find any contradictions from the Bible, the only remaining method to support their spiteful claims is to form these fallacious arguments. Even the most enthusiastic challengers could not find one Biblical error. That alone speaks volumes.

Fr. Leo, a personal chaplain of Mother Theresa of Calcutta for 3 years, noticed that she always carried 3 books with her, wherever she went. One was the Bible and the other was her breviary.  He asked about the third, and it was by Maria Valtorta.  He asked her what it was about, and she told him "Read it".  He asked her again, and she responded with the same answer, "Read it".  Additionally, in 1996, Mother Theresa made a personal request of artist Susan Conroy to render a depiction of Our Blessed Mother as She appeared in a description by Maria Valtorta.