Beautiful Description of Heaven by Maria Valtorta
There are some Medjugorje followers who seem to want to deny any connection between Medjugorje and “The Poem of the Man-God” (by Maria Valtorta), likely due to the fact that it was once included on the Catholic Church’s Index of Forbidden Books. To anyone who has not studied the history of this book, it may seem justified to harbor such reserve and caution with regard to it.
After all, what more compelling sound-byte is there (in an age where sound-bytes govern our culture and media, rather than thorough scholarship) than; “It was on the Index of Forbidden Books. Stay away.”? It would not be an exaggeration to say that this “one-liner”–this single sentence alone–has discouraged thousands, if not millions of people, from reading this book. And yet, any serious scholar of Maria Valtorta will agree that it is only a half-truth; one which does not reflect the Church’s true position with regard to this book.
It cannot be denied that the visionaries of Medjugorje have explicitly stated, on numerous occasions, that Our Lady not only permits the reading of this work, but also encourages people to read it if they want to know Jesus (see evidence below). And yet despite this, some Medjugorje followers continue to refuse to acknowledge the evidence. Well-intentioned though they may be, they nonetheless do a disservice to the apparitions and to Our Lady for their persistent denial of this truth (It should be no surprise that the greatest lies are those mixed with a little truth).