Please advise what is the status of Maria Valtorta's private meditations? I heard they were once on the list of condemned books, but that was lifted. Can a catholic read them for inspiration and what are the Churches rules on private meditations? Thank you.

The works of Maria Valtorta have been condemned by the Church after a careful and serious investigation and study that found their contents to be harmful to faithful Catholics. On December 16, 1959, the Congregation of the Holy Office ordered the 4-volume work entitled "The Poem of the Man-God" placed on the Index of Forbidden Books. Pope John XXIII approved the decree and directed that the condemnation be published. The decree was then promulgated by the Holy Office on January 5, 1960. The Vatican's newspaper "L'Osservatore Romano", on the following day, published an article summarizing the investigations of the cardinals of the Holy Office who were responsible for protecting the faithful in matters of faith and morals. It should be noted that none of Maria Valtorta's works have been approved by the Church.

On June 14, 1966, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith abrogated the Index of Forbidden Books. Although the Index was abolished in 1966, the censure and prohibition of books already on the Index still retain their validity as to the moral law which totally forbids the dilution of faith and morals.

The publishers who have re-printed Maria Valtorta's works have been deceiving the Catholic faithful in printing and distributing these condemned works to a devout, but unsuspecting Catholic faithful. They have done so despite the efforts of the highest Church authorities to warn the faithful that the moral authority represented by the condemnation on the Index of Forbidden Books remains even today, and that the works of Maria Valtorta should be avoided by sincere and conscientious Catholics.

We would like to sincerely urge you to consider the fact that the works of Maria Valtorta have been condemned by the Church as unreliable and spiritually harmful accounts of the life of Jesus and His Mother. Catholics wanting to know more about both should spend their time reading the Gospels or a good life of Christ.

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