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DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
July 15, 2024
“Trinity Mercy”
Letter to the Bishop of Como
on the Spiritual Experience Connected with the Sanctuary of Maccio (Villa
Guardia)
Your Eminence,
In my letter to you of 4 October 2023, I joyfully admitted that “the whole
affair [regarding the Shrine of Maccio] is imbued with positive elements”.
Recognising “certain signs of an action of the Holy Spirit in the midst to this
experience”, I stated that there was no difficulty “for Your Eminence to
continue the pastoral appreciation [...] treasuring the spiritual fruits that
have flowed forth in these years”. Although with those expressions the
discernment regarding this spiritual experience could be considered concluded,
there was still a need to offer some clarifications regarding the writings of
Mr. Gioacchino Genovese, to whom the spiritual experience in question is
connected.
Subsequently, on 17 May 2024, this Dicastery published the new
Norms for
Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena. They do not
foresee, by norm, a declaration regarding the supernaturality of the events, but
they do open the possibility of closing the discernment in this regard with
other “final judgments” (art. 18).
In order to reach the Nihil obstat you propose regarding the spiritual
experience of the Shrine of Maccio, I am now sending you this Dicastery’s
conclusions regarding the writings of Mr. Genovese, formulated in the light of
the opinions of various Consultors and Commissions that have offered their rich
considerations. I will first of all refer to the central message and the
positive aspects present in the writings, to then focus on some expressions that
could be a source of misunderstandings and thus require adequate interpretation.
Central message and positive aspects
First of all, I would like to highlight the central message of this spiritual
experience: The Trinity is the source of mercy and its perfect realization.
In light of this belief, what spiritual writings and the Magisterium have
frequently stated about the mercy of God or Christ acquires a strong Trinitarian
meaning. The marginalization of the Trinitarian mystery in the theological
reflection and spirituality of past centuries is well known. In this sense, Mr.
Genovese’s spiritual experience is in line with the rediscovery of the
centrality of the Most Holy Trinity for the faith and Christian life that
occurred in the last century.
The very mystery of the incarnate Word is thus contemplated in close connection
with the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. This message is present in the
following words of Saint John Paul II:
“The Saviour’s Heart invites us to return to the Father’s love, which is the
source of every authentic love” (Saint John Paul II,
Letter on the occasion
of the 100th anniversary of the Consecration of the Human Race to the
Divine Heart of Jesus, Warsaw, 11 June 1999);
and in the words of Pope Francis:
“With our eyes fixed on Jesus and his merciful gaze, we experience the love of
the Most Holy Trinity. The mission Jesus received from the Father was that of
revealing the mystery of divine love in its fullness” (Francis,
Misericordiae vultus [11 April 2015], 8).
In the writings of Mr. Genovese this truth is expressed insistently and the
message of Mercy flowing from the Trinitarian We is full of beauty. In the Son
of God made man, from his Incarnation until today, the infinite love of the
Trinitarian Communion is manifested for us:
“In Me, the incarnate Word, oh my Bride, you see and touch the Love, Charity and
Mercy of Me, the one God, and you contemplate, without understanding, except in
Me the Word, oh my Bride, the Gift of We Trinity” (864).
“By looking at Him we were able to touch, see in Him, the incarnate Word, the
Father and, remaining in Him, the Spirit, and, therefore, we contemplated the
action of the Trinity” (1420).
“… Jesus, Our and Your Lord and God […], Mercy Incarnate, the Face of the Trinity
Mercy, his Word, Word, Word of the Trinity, infinite Mercy!” (1681).
After all, the entire Mystery of Christ is a gift that has its ultimate source
in the Trinitarian Mercy:
“My Incarnation is a gift of Trinitarian Mercy!
My Word is a gift of Trinitarian Mercy!
My Passion is the Gift of Trinitarian Mercy!
My Resurrection is the Gift of Trinitarian Mercy!
I am Mercy!” (49).
Even if only the Son assumed human nature, the Church is called to rediscover
more and more in the gestures of Christ that infinite mercy of the triune God,
who in the writings of Mr. Genovese is called by the name “Trinity Mercy”. This
is the centre of all the messages because, ultimately, it is the centre of
Revelation: “And the heart of Revelation is this: God, Trinity of Love, One God, Gift that
gives himself in our humanity, in Jesus walks with us” (1098).
Peace is achieved “by imitating this gift which is Mercy” (ibid.). The
Trinitarian Communion, through the merciful Christ, is reflected in our
fraternal and merciful relationships and in this way the whole reality is
unified. The life of each of us attains its meaning in Christ, who leads us to
our true identity, which is Trinitarian. For this reason, Mr. Genovese,
contemplating Christ, can say: “I could also see My face reflected in Him”
(1103).
Everything said, by the gift of grace, becomes a personal encounter, prayer,
admiration, as is reflected in this beautiful prayer:
“It is You who look at Me, you look over Me, You attract Me to You and, taking
My lowered face, you raise it towards Yours and tell me to fix you in the Heart,
in Your Heart, where the Love that You have for Me pulsates, so that I can sink
my ear into that eternal beat and be able to rest my head peacefully. And again,
lift My Face so that I fix Your Face. In You, man Jesus, who are God, the very
Face of the Trinity Mercy so that, staring into your eyes, I can truly Trust in
You, My Lord and My God. So, behold, even though I am a sinner, I can, in You,
raise and fix the Gaze without fear. To the Mercy, to the Infinite Love of You, My Only God, Impenetrable Trinity of the
Infinite Mystery of Love in Yourself, which You are! I love You and in You I
feel made new and cleansed from the weighty filth of sin” (1331).
In the writings considered here we do not find important developments regarding
the specifics of each of the three Persons, their positive differentiation and
mutual and dynamic relationship, even if there are some traces:
“And He, however, has repeatedly reaffirmed his equality in the One with the
Father and the Spirit who is from Them, also testifying that the Spirit is a
distinct Person, like He and the Father in their unique action, even in the
specificity of Each One” (880).
“The Holy Spirit has inspired many prayers where every ‘Person’ of Me, the
Trinity, is prayed, even in the awareness of My Only Being and Acting” (1241).
“Most Holy Trinity, Infinite Mercy,
Mercy, inscrutable Light of the Father who creates;
Mercy, Face and Word of the Son who gives himself;
Mercy, penetrating Fire in the Spirit who gives life” (51).
In this spiritual experience what is underlined is the unity of the divine
mystery in the co-presence of all three divine Persons in the salvific action,
their communion which is the source of mercy: the “We Mercy”.
Even if the overflowing gift of Trinitarian Mercy is constantly offered to the
human person as a river of life, and the Trinity delights in this gift, several
times in the writings respect for God is insisted upon, God who awaits us in the
face of our freedom:
“Do not be surprised, my son. What you think is right and that water, not
one, but infinite lands could alone regenerate, because it comes from the very
Essence of God, from the very depths of the Source God, from the heart of the
Trinitarian Love who delights in itself in Love and, overflowing with this, from
the very Abyss of Love which is God, Trinity, Mercy, it pours into the universe
created by Charity which is God himself. God is Mercy! Mercy! But Mercy waits to
be welcomed in turn by the Love of its Creature” (468).
At the same time, it is clearly highlighted that the Trinity wants us to
participate in the diffusion of so much good and gives the Church the task of
reaching everyone with the river of Trinitarian Mercy:
“My Daughter, my Bride, I have given you, in the Abyss of My Charity, to bring We
Mercy to every Creature. […] Almighty Love asks his creature to help him quench
every person’s thirst with the Water that gives Life. This is My Church, in
which We Mercy become Light and Water for the Life that never dies” (472).
Matters to be clarified
It is certainly never easy to express oneself with precision on the mystery of
the Most Holy Trinity; and if this applies to the great theologians and to the
Magisterium of the Church itself, it becomes even more complex when one tries to
express in human words what is lived in a spiritual experience. Mr. Genovese
clearly recognizes this when, referring to his words, he says that he is “aware
of their imprecision, just as everything I have written so far has been
imprecise” (1164). He then adds that when he tried to offer more
explanations, he was internally reminded that his word cannot fully convey what
he experienced. This recognition becomes a hermeneutic criterion of great weight
in the discernment of his writings.
Regarding the writings, in fact, the most complex issue, especially in reference
to those of the first period, is the imprecise use of the Trinitarian plural
(“We”) to refer to the mystery of the incarnation and other similar expressions:
(A) “We Mercy […] have
become incarnate” (541).
(B) “Father, Son and Spirit […] we incarnate in the Woman” (622).
(C) “In the Face
of the Son we took your humanity” (150).
(D) “For the Gift of your Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection, Most Holy
Trinity, Infinite Mercy, I trust and hope in You” (780).
It becomes clear that such expressions are not acceptable and their diffusion
must be avoided, as they can easily be interpreted in a way contrary to the
Catholic faith. This does not mean attributing errors to all of Mr. Genovese’s
writings. In many of them, in fact, especially in the subsequent ones, we find
clarifications that lead us towards the correct interpretation. In texts
subsequent to those mentioned above we can read, in fact, the following:
“In the Incarnation the Trinity did not assume humanity, but in the Humanity of
the Word, we also contemplate and touch his Divinity” (1407).
“‘For the gift of your Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection’ is clearly
referred to the Word [...] because the Word reveals the action in time and
history of the whole Trinity, the One God!” (1411).
“In my humanity, the humanity of Me, Jesus, there is the Word and only the Word
takes up humanity” (1706).
It remains clear, then, that, on the one hand, only the Word became incarnate
and that all the texts that include a Trinitarian “We” refer to the common and
constant presence of the three Persons, and on the other that, even if it is
only the Word who becomes incarnate, all three Persons are manifested as
Mercy in the Mystery of Christ:
“The Divinity that we contemplate in the Face of Christ is that of the whole
Trinity. Yes, son, not because the whole Trinity has become incarnate, but the
whole Trinity has revealed itself” (1420).
One text, in particular, presents itself as a key to the interpretation of Mr.
Genovese’s thoughts, in an attempt to explain what was experienced in the
spiritual experience, but which could not be expressed exactly in words:
“‘For the Gift of your Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection’, said
with the gaze turned to the Word [...] in the face of the Mystery of God, One and Three,
who reveals himself, and finally, by virtue of this, the Action of thanks and
praise to God, whose Gift is: ‘Most Holy Trinity, Infinite Mercy, I trust and hope in You!’”
(1412).
The first part of the sentence, therefore, addresses only the Word who becomes
incarnate, while the second part addresses the whole Trinity which reveals
itself in the incarnate Word. So, “the Trinity that becomes incarnate” simply
means: “The Trinity that manifests itself in the incarnate Son”. This
explanation is also found, finally, in the prayer that Mr. Genovese proposes in
the following terms:
“Thanks to Your Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection, My Lord Jesus, I
contemplate You, My God, Trinity of Infinite Love” (1418).
“‘Jesus, My Lord and My God’, for the gift of Your Incarnation, Passion,
Death and Resurrection, (I contemplate, adore and pray:) Most Holy Trinity,
Infinite Mercy, I trust and hope in you!” (1733).
In this context we can try to interpret some experiences full of rich symbolism
which, in themselves, seem to be inexplicable:
“Suddenly, the Man said to me: ‘Look into my eyes’. What a Wonder: in the Face
of the Man I saw reflected the totality of the Sea, the totality of the Light,
the totality of the Sky, the totality of every direction in which the Fire,
which departed from the Sun, was headed. But even more, I saw the Man himself in
the mirror: He was similar to the Light and the Fire and the Water of the sea,
which flowed from Him and from the Light and the Fire, went everywhere […] Then
he said to me: ‘Did you understand, my son? Just as your gaze cannot contain
everything that is not right in your eyes, in the same way, how can you expect
to understand, see and penetrate the All of My Triune being? But in Me, the Word
who comes to you, you contemplate and can touch the All of Us because I Am the Mirror
that, without shadows, reflects The Truth in your heart! I, by making myself
you, I, who contain the Everything Me, let myself be contained by you in your
humanity, so that you can share in me and, reflecting yourself in me,
contemplate the Truth of my being Triune’” (870.873).
The mystery of God who becomes close to his people, who enters our world and our
flesh, is fully manifested as love for us when the Son becomes flesh, and in
him, in his humanity fully involved in human history, the Most Holy Trinity
reveals itself perfectly as mercy.
This also applies to the Eucharistic presence. We can speak of a real and
substantial presence only in relation to Christ in the Eucharist, but the divine
Persons are inseparable and in the Blessed Sacrament the whole Trinity is
manifested with that mercy which becomes admirably close to the believing
people. In fact, in one of the writings, Christ refers to the Eucharist with
these words:
“‘Table where I continually give myself to you in communion with the Father and
the Spirit, because we are One, even in the gift of salvation which is
brought about in Me the Word, but who come out of the Trinity and in it I Am
and with it I Am One’” (840).
We can maintain that the spiritual proposal that arises from the experiences
narrated by Mr. Gioacchino Genovese in relation to the “Trinity Mercy”, if
interpreted in light of what has been said, as supported by the various
experts consulted, does not contain theological or moral elements contrary to
the doctrine of the Church. In any case, it is necessary to proceed in such a
way that, in the publication of an anthology of writings, texts containing
confusing expressions (such as A, B, C, D and similar) are avoided and
that this letter is placed as an introduction to the collection.
At the same time, various texts referring to the devil must be interpreted as an
expression of a God who never forgets his beloved creature, even when that
created being has freely and definitively become distanced from God. For this
reason, given the beauty of the texts referring to the Trinity Mercy – which
constitutes the central message of the spiritual experience considered here – it
does not seem appropriate to publish these texts referring to the devil, mostly
linked to the existential experience and personal concerns of Mr. Genovese.
Finally, texts that offer indications to the Bishop or to other people
(details on dates, times, places, and other detailed or minute details) are not
useful for the faithful and cannot even be considered as divine indications for
some, without careful discernment of the people involved.
In general, it must always be remembered that authentic fruits of the Holy
Spirit “at times appear connected to confused human experiences, theologically
inaccurate expressions” (Norms, 14) or to “purely human elements” (art.
15, §2).
Finally, if there are future messages from Mr. Genovese, before their diffusion
or publication, they must be evaluated by the diocesan Bishop, in dialogue with
this Dicastery.
In light of what has been said so far, taking into account the other elements of
judgment you have already provided, such as the various and rich spiritual and
pastoral fruits coming from this spiritual experience, we believe that you can
move towards a conclusion of discernment for the good of the Holy People of God,
receiving with this letter confirmation for the determination of the Nihil
obstat proposed by you.
In sharing the above with you, I take advantage of the circumstance to send you
my respectful regards and greetings,
Víctor Manuel Card. FERNÁNDEZ
Prefect
Ex audientia Diei 15.07.2024
Franciscus
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