This year we have been  blessed with three very promising events. As most of you may know, I have been dedicating the past year in Rome to the completion of a thesis on Luisa Piccarreta's 36 volumes. It was in this time-frame that all three events occurred. The first event concerns the unofficial positive assessment by two pontifical university appointed professors of Luisa's writings (censors). It is important to emphasize that this positive assessment applies ONLY to Luisa's Italian 36 volumes that were submitted to the Vatican a few years ago.

For all practical purposes, this Italian edition is considered a typical edition. The typical edition is not the final product, but a work in progress. This edition will prepare the way for what will eventually be published some time from now, namely, the critical edition. The critical edition of Luisa's collected works will be the edited and refined edition of her writings  that will contain the standard table of contents, index, bibliography, etc.). Therefore what grammatical and doctrinal errors all the presently circulated volumes contain, the critical edition will seek to eliminate.

Again, this positive assessment of the two theologians is yet unofficial. And although the Vatican has not yet confirmed this announcement, one may assume that soon it will do so. It is noteworthy that for several years now I've been acquainted with the two aforementioned pontifical university professors. One professor instructs at the university I frequented, and the other I had engaged in theological discussion on Luisa's 36 volumes at the university where he instructs. We spoke on more than one occasion and he gladly accepted  some time ago my Church-approved publication on Luisa's writings entitled, The Splendor of Creation. This work demonstrates the orthodoxy of Luisa's writings. This work was translated into Italian, his native tongue, to facilitate his review.

Second, a few weeks before this unofficial announcement, many witnessed the unveiling of the Statue of St. Hannibal of Francia within the Vatican. This statue presently stands 4 meters above the Roman Protomartyrs' Square that is situated within the Vatican wall and behind the left facade of St. Peter's Basilica.

Third, this year over 350pp. of the defense of my thesis has been submitted to the pontifical university. Once finalized and approved, this work will constitute an compendium for Luisa's 36 volumes. Why a theological compendium?

Although Luisa's volumes enjoy a positive assessment, which is required before she may be declared Venerable, much needs to be done concerning the correct interpretation of her writings.

Much like the Bible, whose numerous editions bear varied and sometimes inconsistent footnotes or commentaries, the extensive corpus of Luisa's writings - that surpass in their scope those of St. Thomas Aquinas - require an approved compendium that will enable the Christian faithful to correctly and definitively understand her thought and doctrine. That this approval comes from the Vatican university rides on its own merit.

Because much of Luisa's writings use words and expressions with which most readers are unfamiliar - e.g., creating suns in the Divine Will, bilocating in creation, participating in the ad intra and ad extra operatio, God performing the first acts in Adam, Living in the Divine Will differs in state and degree from the state of mystical marriage, etc. - most readers will not correctly understand her words as she intended. It suffices to recall the recent outpouring of disputed interpretations that raised some red hats and eyebrows.

Subsequently, one may expect a plethora of varied interpretations to emerge from the reading of her volumes when they are released after a significant wait, first in Italian and then in the vernacular.

Another example of the importance of correctly understanding Luisa's thought is found in the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska. After her writings were removed from the Index of Condemned Books,  it took numerous decades for priests and laity to finally accept and understand their importance. Indeed even today, a good part of the clergy does not consider the Divine Mercy Feast Day obligatory'a Feast Day that procures for millions of souls the mother of all plenary indulgences: the complete remission of all sin and punishment.

(Nota bene: The reason for this omission is due in part to the present-day misinterpretation of the church's liturgical ordo. The May 5, 2000 Vatican Decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments states in Latin the following: On the Second Sunday of Easter there shall henceforth be added the specification, namely (seu), Divine Mercy Sunday, prescribing that the texts assigned for that day in the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of Hours be always adhered to.

Now, some translators of the Latin text have interpreted this word  seu to mean or, which it may signify, but in a different context.  Therefore, in the American English liturgical ordo it reads Second Sunday of Easter OR Divine Mercy Sunday, possibly suggesting the Second Sunday of Easter is optional, and therefore need not be celebrated. And this is not what the Vatican Decree intended.

Let us recall the Vatican decree that emphatically stated that on this Sunday liturgical texts must always adhered to this Feast! So, in 2008 a formal appeal was made to Francis Cardinal Arinze to have this error corrected, as it deprives millions of souls of the graces of the indulgences to those who adhere to Jesus' requirements on this day. The Cardinal replied in a letter dated 9/6/08 in the affirmative as follows: You are right that it is time to resolve that translation of seu.... Despite the Cardinal's letter, many priests continue to misinterpret the Feast Day of Mercy as optional and do not celebrate it in their parishes.)

Like Faustina's message of Mercy, Luisa's message awaits their correct interpretation. Imagine if Faustina wrote not one diary, but 36 volumes on the most sublime teachings of God's revelation in the history of mankind. Imagine how long it would take for today's clergy and laity, most of whom have never read anything of Luisa, to grasp the profound   message of her teachings?

Well, Luisa had less formal education than Faustina and she wrote more than 36 volumes with an extremely limited vocabulary, and in a remote dialect on a theology that confounds even some of today's most learned theologians.

How might the Church avoid this impasse? To properly understand Luisa's writings, the Church must first adopt a revised revelatory casuistry. This simply means that the church is just beginning to change its former view of revelation. In other words, from medieval times, the teaching emerged that since the death of the last apostle, St. John, all revelation has ended. This unofficial teaching began with a medieval theologian by the name of Melchior Cano and has continued to this day, despite the fact that the Church has never officially supported this teaching. Still several theologians and lay teachers have adopted it and made it a part of numerous catechetical texts. However, the Church's documents affirm that revelation is constituted with the teaching of Christ and the apostles and that it never ends! The word 'constituted' simply means that the foundation of our faith has forever been established with the teaching of Christ and the apostles. This is referred to as the deposit of faith.

Therefore since revelation never ends, Luisa's revelations, while adding nothing to the deposit of faith, will always continue to develop, explicate and actualize the revelation of Christ and the apostles.

By way of analogy, consider a magnifying lens and its effects. Just as the lens reveals in a blade of grass its minutest details that escape the human eye, but adds nothing to the blade of grass, likewise Luisa's private revelation reveals to the Church the most explicit teachings of the Divine Will that Christ possessed in himself, but adds nothing to the revelation of Christ. Indeed we find the Divine Will already fully revealed in Tradition, i.e., in Christ and in Mary who lived in it always.

And if most of today's clergy and laity rightly consider the deposit of faith our teaching foundation to which nothing may be added, many mistakenly conclude that Luisa's private revelations are therefore of little or no importance. And it is this attitude that requires a revised revelatory casuistry that gives Luisa's revelations the importance they deserve. Her writings compliment and develop like no other revelation in human history the teachings on the gift of Living in the Divine Will.

While Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium are the bulwark and foundation of our faith, Luisa's revelation develops this foundation. 

Hence the purpose of my Vatican thesis: To assist the Church's hierarchy and laity in correctly understanding Luisa's teachings. This Vatican-approved thesis will be a definitive and authoritative compendium on all of her writings, and a guide to Divine Will prayer groups, and to all who wish to deepen their Divine-Will spirituality. I have been privileged for some time now in writing by my superiors, by the Archbishop of Corato and by his Vicar, as well as by the Vatican University to prepare this work, but it cannot be the work of one. Your prayers and generous support have enabled me to get this far.  I have thus far submitted over 350 pp. of this work to the university and it approaches completion. With your prayerful support, this work will be published, translated and diffused in the Church.


Apropos of public retreats on the Divine Will spirituality and Luisa Piccarreta's writings, in 1998 the Archbishop emritus Carmelo Cassati placed a suspension (moratorium) in the USA on all Divine Will conferences on account on misinterpretations of her writings and poor presentations on her theology. The present Archbishop G.B. Pichierri however lifted this suspension, and granted permission only to priests who are conversant with her writings and Catholic theology to hold public presentations and retreats on Luisa. The Archbishop's letter states: The Archbishop will only grant permission to speak publicly to priests& Lay persons will no longer be permitted to teach publicly& (cf. Archbishop's letter on EWTN website). Such priests are requested to provide a letter from their bishop or religious superior that authorizes them to speak publicly on Luisa.

Regarding the writings, the Archbishop affirms that no printings of Luisa's 36 volumes is permissible, but the Horus of the Passion, The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom on the Divine Will and Luisa's letters may continue to be diffused.

On a more practical note, the Archbishop's decision to permit only priests to preach on Luisa is motivated by the concerns of his precedessor, i.e., insufficient theological preparation by lay promoters. Without disrespect to laity, the Archbishop's position is simply one of prudence and wisdom. Indeed Jesus tells Luisa that his priests will be the instructors of this heavenly doctrine and introduce it to the Church.