In Defense of The Poem of the Man-God

Cardinal Ratzinger’s statement of April 17, 1993, may seem to be a condemnation, but is it? In a May 11, 1993 letter to a Mr. Terry Colafrancesco, Bishop Raymond Boland, then Bishop of Birmingham, Alabama, mentions this notification from Cardinal Ratzinger. Permit me to quote the letter in full:

Dear Mr. Colafrancesco:

His Eminence, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in a letter which I received from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith this week, has asked me to inform you about the position of the Church regarding the writings of Maria Valtorta called The Poem of the Man-God.

The Cardinal wants you to know that the Congregation in the past has issued certain "Notes" on this subject for the guidance of the faithful and these were published in L’Osservatore Romano.

In the light of the recent recurrance (sic) of interest in the work, the Congregation has come to the conclusion that a further clarification to the "Notes" previously issued is now in order. Thus it has directed a particular request to the Italian Bishops’ Conference to contact the publishing house which is concerned with the distribution of the writings in Italy in order to see to it that in any future reissue of the work "it might be clearly indicated from the very first page 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."

The implications of this most recent decision of the Holy See (Prot. N. 144/58 i, dated April 17, 1993) are obvious insofar as those who use, publish or sell the writings in question should know and clearly express the judgment of the Holy See as indicated in the underlined section of my previous paragraph.

Hoping that this letter will serve as an authoritative response to the question which you addressed to His Eminence Cardinal Ratzinger in your letter of July 21, 1992, I am,

Sincerely in Christ, 

(Signed)
Most Rev. Raymond J. Boland, D.D.
Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama

This extra information provided by the letter of Bishop Boland helps to put Cardinal Ratzinger’s statements in context. We can see that the Holy See was not stating that The Poem is condemned, it was only ordering that the publishers at the time must tell their readers that they cannot yet consider it a proven fact that The Poem is of supernatural origin. This approach to private revelation is a common one of the Church. They often advise promoters of an a private revelation that if it has not been proved or disproved that it "cannot be affirmed to be of supernatural origin" or "cannot be considered of supernatural origin." This is not Church-speak for "we have officially ruled that it is not of supernatural origin" but Church-speak for "we have not yet officially ruled that it is definitely of supernatural origin." But this does not close the door on personal belief in it as such. At the level of personal belief we are still allowed to consider it as coming from Heaven. We can see an example of this in Medjugorje: in a May 26, 1998, letter to Bishop Gilbert Aubry (Pr. No 154/81-06419), then-archbishop Tarcisio Bertone said of pilgrimages to Medjugorje:

As for the credibility of the "apparitions" in question, this Dicastery respects what was decided by the bishops of the former Yugoslavia in the Declaration of Zadar, April 10, 1991: "On the basis of the investigations so far, it can not be affirmed that one is dealing with supernatural apparitions and revelations." Since the division of Yugoslavia into different independent nations it would now pertain to the members of the Episcopal Conference of Bosnia-Herzegovina to eventually reopen the examination of this case, and to make any new pronouncements that might be called for.      

What Bishop Peric said in his letter to the Secretary General of "Famille Chretienne", declaring: "My conviction and my position is not only ‘non constat de supernaturalitate,’ but likewise, ‘constat de non supernaturalitate’ of the apparitions or revelations in Medjugorje", should be considered the expression of the personal conviction of the Bishop of Mostar which he has the right to express as Ordinary of the place, but which is and remains his personal opinion.      

Finally, as regards pilgrimages to Medjugorje, which are conducted privately, this Congregation points out that they are permitted on condition that they are not regarded as an authentification of events still taking place and which still call for an examination by the Church.      

Here the Archbishop re-iterates that though "it can not be affirmed that one is dealing with supernatural apparitions and revelations" private pilgrimages to Medjugorje are allowed (hence belief in the authenticity of Medjugorje is allowed). Notice how similar the language is to that used by Cardinal Ratzinger in reference to The Poem of the Man-God. Surely Cardinal Ratzinger chose his words carefully in 1993, and if he wanted to he could have used the term constat de non supernaturalitate when referring to The Poem, which is the Latin term declaring that an alleged private revelation is not of supernatural origin. He could have used words in this category but he chose not to.

In further regard to the earlier 1985 statement to Cardinal Siri, it is important to note that it would appear that Cardinal Ratzinger himself is modifying his earlier statement, for if in 1993 he is telling the publishers how they should publish the work it is clear that not only are the publishers now allowed to publish the work, the faithful are allowed to read it. It is not possible for Cardinal Ratzinger to have given guidelines to the publishers for the benefit of potential readers if he was not also at the same time acknowledging their right to publish The Poem and our right to read it.

Fr. Pacwa ends his article with these observations:

The best that can be said for "The Poem of the Man-God" is that it is a bad novel. This was summed up in the L’Osservatore Romano headline, which called the book "A Badly Fictionalized Life of Jesus."

At worst, "Poem’s" impact is more serious. Though many people claim that "Poem" helps their faith or their return to reading Scripture, they are still being disobedient to the Church’s decisions regarding the reading of "Poem." How can such disregard for Church authority and wisdom be a help in renewing the Church in these difficult times?

When Catholics insist on reading "Poem," despite Church condemnation, I make these requests: First, read three hours of Scripture for every one hour spent in the "Poem." The Church guarantees that the Bible is God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Church has judged the "Poem" to be a poorly done human work. Second, read solid Catholic theology books in addition to Scripture. G.K. Chesterton, Frank Sheed, Archbishop Sheen’s "Life of Christ" and many other works are excellent starts. Third, maintain a strong prayer life, drawing closer to Christ Jesus, Our Lord, at Mass and at eucharistic adoration, and to our Blessed Mother Mary, especially in the Rosary.

If sheep insist on bad pasturage, at least let them take antidotes.

Whether or not one believes that The Poem is genuine, surely the quality of it must be acknowledged. In fact, its quality has always been one of its strongest attributes. Defenders are wont to say, "but tell me, how could this monumental work be merely the product of this woman’s imagination? How could she have written it without divine help?" The Poem of the Man-God is not a bad novel. If novel it be, it’s a fantastic one, brilliantly written. I wish I could write as skillfully. If The Poem is simply Maria Valtorta’s private meditations, we are bound to declare that here true literary genius has graced the human race. I have read many books, theological, spiritual, secular, and The Poem is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read, both a delight to read and of the deepest profundity.

Fr. Gabriel Roschini, one of the most eminent Mariologists of the twentieth century, was so impressed by The Poem that he wrote a work entitled The Virgin Mary in the Writings of Maria Valtorta. He had this to say on The Poem:

I must candidly admit that the Mariology found in Maria Valtorta’s writings, whether published or not, has been for me a real discovery. No other Marian writing, not even the sum total of all the writings I have read and studied were able to give me as clear, as lively, as complete, as luminous, or as fascinating an image, both simple and sublime, of Mary, God’s masterpiece.

I think I have already sufficiently demonstrated that those who choose to read The Poem are not "being disobedient to the Church’s decisions" and that the work has not been condemned by the Church. No more need be said on this.

The spiritual advice to read Scripture, Chesterton, Sheed and Sheen is undoubtedly good. The insistence on a strong prayer life, especially the Mass, Adoration and the Rosary are laudable. I absolutely agree that there is a lot of bad "pasturage" out there. However, The Poem of the Man-God and other works like it are the antidote, for they bring us back to the full truth and wonder of our faith and rescue it from the stale desert our modern skeptical intellectualism has led us to. May we once again turn from the wasteland of contemporary doubt to the true Jesus and Mary—both of whom are found in The Poem of the Man-God.

Notes

(1) Cf. Pius XII, Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950, 40.

(2) This phrase originally had parentheses instead of m-dashes but they were replaced by the author, as an end-quotation mark followed by a close-parenthesis mark is sometimes displayed incorrectly by certain internet browsers.