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Tuesday 26 September 2023
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By Fr. Guido Sommavilla, SJ
The Position of the Catholic Person Faithful to the Church
Meeting with Vassula at Teatro Carcano, Milan, 19 April 1997.
Those who know me or my writings, know that I am Catholic, that I am a priest, a Jesuit, who is very faithful to the Church, who loves her and defends her - some say even too much. I know that the Holy Office truly is a sacrum officium, that is, a sacred and holy service, necessary to the Church and rightful for the Church and for the faithful. These pronouncements by the Holy Office are magisterial pronouncements, of the extraordinary or solemn type, or of the ordinary type which can be private or universal. In this case it is an ordinary, private one. All of us, especially us priests, know that when concerning the ordinary, private cases, the magisterium can err. Everyone knows it. They, of the Congregation, are the first to know it, starting from Cardinal Ratzinger. It is possible to err. Nothing is infallible and nothing is definitive in this sacred service. It has come to be that the Congregation has erred.
What does the notification concerning Mrs. Vassula Ryden say? It is not a precaution, but a piece of information, which after having briefly laid out a number of motivations, invites the faithful not to believe that there is anything supernatural in Vassula Ryden, and that it is not God who writes, speaks, dictates, appears, directly through her. I repeat, it is an invitation. Now, invitations, like recommendations (take for example the Gospel recommendations of chastity, poverty and obedience), are something which we are free to accept or not to accept. Our conscience is free to choose. All of us, with regards to Vassula and her charismas, are free to believe that Jesus is in her, that He writes and communicates to her. Furthermore, this notification not only speaks in a certain sense against her, but it also speaks quite a bit in her favour by recognizing that there are positive aspects in the messages and prophecies. It also says that Vassula’s further writings do not contain the errors which they listed in the notification. Now this occurred when the first five volumes were available 15 months prior to the notification, however it is certain that the Holy Office has since seen the later volumes and noticed that there were no errors here either, otherwise they would have said. Therefore, from the fourth to the eighth volumes published, according to the Holy Office, there are no errors; everything is positive.
Now I would like to say something. I taught philosophy, among other things, in Milan for 40 years and I specializeded particularly in the logic of philosophy. Three of my books on the argument have been published, and so this is how I reason: if the Holy Office chose a simple invitation to tell the faithful of the negative side then I logically deduce that this negative part is weak; it is slight; it is fragile, otherwise they would have made an outright prohibition. Thus, if this negative part that we are called to be aware of is slight, then also the reasoning behind it is slight. The errors, singly and as a whole, are weak. (Today I do not have the time to point out the content of this slightness, however, if you care to read the third introduction to the eighth volume (of True Life in God) you will find a kind of analysis of the motivations of those who are against Vassula.) So, if the reasons are slight and the negative part which we are warned about is slight, then the weight which could press on the consciences of those who choose not to accept the invitation (and I am one of these) can only be slight. Now I ask, and some of you may be wondering: could it be more perfect to accept rather than not accept this invitation; could God be given more glory by the acceptance of it; could He be more pleased by our acceptance of it? Well, the answer has to be this: it is like with the Gospel recommendations of poverty, chastity and obedience which also come from God, that is, from Jesus. [The invitation] is a recommendation; if you choose not to accept it you are not committing the slightest of sins.
Then in 1995, Avvenire (Italian Catholic daily), of which I am a correspondent, asked me to defend Vassula against the negative pamphlet written by Fr. Dermine. My article was published in Avvenire and following this, the Italian publisher of True Life in God asked me to study Vassula and write a book. I have been studying the matter for more than one year now and I have come to the conclusion that Vassula’s charisma is authentic. Thus, against the evidence of the truth no obedience holds.
In his famous letters on obedience, St. Ignatius of Loyola (who is perhaps the greatest teacher on obedience in the Church) says that before the evidence of the truth one cannot obey when obeying means to go against the truth. Perhaps each of you should ask yourself: do I have this evidence? Thus it depends on the degree of evidence of truth that each of Vassula’s readers have responsibly and intelligently acquired from the reading of the messages. It depends on each single person. I think, even hope, that the greater part of the intelligent and responsible people who read Vassula should be able to understand this evidence of truth. Furthermore, in this notification there is not even the slightest mention that we should not invite Vassula, therefore, we can invite her, we can come and listen to her, come and pray with her. Neither does the notification say anything about prohibiting the information on her. Thus, we are free to be informed about her. Not even the slightest mention was made about this, and you see, her books are still being published. Introductions to her books and articles on her are being published by a Catholic publisher belonging to a religious community: the Priests of the Sacred Heart, the Dehonians. Any type of information, be it via the press, or via the television or the radio or any other communication system, is legitimate. It is all legitimate. This is how things stand. There is another thing to consider: the invitation, or rather the reminder made to the bishops of the world. Vassula goes around the world a lot because she receives invitations to go. She does not go so as to place herself on show. It must be said that she does not like being the centre of attention. I recall that in a conversation with her angel she said: "Angel of mine, you know I don’t like being on show." Vassula does it because it is her duty because it is Jesus Who wants it and she is more than certain that it is Jesus Who wants it. It costs her a lot to go, yet Jesus wants her to go and so she goes. So, there is a reminder to the bishops of the Catholic world to act accordingly. Now, this is something that regards the bishops. It is up to them to decide what action to take. Now the logic of things, however, brings me to observe that the bishops’ actions cannot go beyond what the Holy Office has already done. That means that they cannot do any more than to transmit the invitation, which leaves the faithful basically free.
We are thankful for this clarification by the Holy Office. Thank you. (Original text: http://www.tlig.org/it/itpro3.html) ![]()
Articles of the same Topic :
4. Commentary on the Notification
5. CDF: content of the dialogue with Vassula
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