The earth is not separate from the sky. Letter to the Bishop of Trivento (Italy) regarding alleged supernatural phenomena connected to Mount S. Onofrio (July 25, 2025)

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DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH

‘The earth is not separate from the sky’

Letter to the Bishop of Trivento regarding the alleged supernatural phenomena connected to Mount S. Onofrio in Agnone

To His Excellency
Monsignor Camillo Cibotti
Bishop of Isernia-Venafro and Trivento

Your Excellency,

I am writing to you regarding the alleged supernatural phenomena that have given rise to a spiritual movement centering on Mount S. Onofrio, near the town of Agnone, located in the territory of your Diocese. In this regard, the Diocesan Commission of Inquiry established by your predecessor has carried out a very thorough investigation, the findings of which have been sent to this Dicastery so that, in accordance with the new Norms for proceeding in the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena, we may proceed to confirm or reject the determination proposed by the diocesan Ordinary (cf. Art. 20), which is that of prae oculis habeatur (cf. n. 18).

The spiritual experience on Mount S. Onofrio

From reading the extensive material provided, we can conclude that there are several positive aspects and signs of the action of the Holy Spirit in the midst of this alleged supernatural phenomenon, which we can summarize in two points.

1) The manner of the manifestations

An important point that leads us to a positive evaluation of this spiritual experience is the manner of the manifestations, in that they occur suddenly, without any previous cause, expectation, or request. Part of this fact is that the alleged visionary is an honest, deeply believing, sincere person, and at the same time very simple, without the characteristics of someone who, by education or nature, can easily articulate a complex discourse or construct an elaborate spiritual proposal using his own ingenuity. This can be seen, for example, in the linguistic form in which the transmitted texts are presented, which is often not exactly flawless and clearly reflects the spoken language. At the same time, we find confirmation of the unpredictability of the manifestations in the messages:

“If these events were to happen every time we gather to pray, then they would have to happen every day, since every day in our family we try to gather for the Holy Rosary [...] When we gather to pray, we do not do so with the intention that something must happen. The thought does not even cross our minds. That would be crazy and would mean that we do not really believe, that we gather out of curiosity, that everything that has happened so far, all the gifts we have received, have been useless. Often these events happen when and where we least expect them [...] Instead, each of us must strive to begin a journey towards the Lord, to meditate on what is happening and to choose the Lord. This is what we must all be concerned about and reflect on” (Testimony of December 25, 2010, by one of the daughters of the alleged visionary).

This is precisely one of the positive signs indicated in The Norms: “The unpredictable nature of the phenomenon, by which it is evident that it is not the result of the initiative of the people involved” (Art. 14, 3º).

2) The content of the alleged messages

Along with the positive fruits noted in this spiritual experience, it is necessary to identify the value that the alleged messages may have in harmony with the message of the Gospel.

On the one hand, we find in them a frequent appeal to the Holy Spirit, often with the sequence of Pentecost. The invocation of the Spirit and the invitation to let him work is constant:

“Father, through your Son here in my arms, stretch out your hands over them: send them a Spirit of forgiveness, a Spirit of proclamation, a Spirit of love, a Spirit of peace. Father, remove from them every snare and every evil. Father, with power: a Spirit of forgiveness, a Spirit of proclamation, a Spirit of love, a Spirit of peace” (Message of 14 May 2014).

“Open your hearts to the Spirit of my Son who follows you day after day, step by step” (Message of 22 November 2017).

So often they ask for the witness of a life filled with joy, strength and serenity, which can show others how much good Jesus Christ does for us:

“Thank you, my children, this is how I want you to be, full of enthusiasm! This is the message you must carry: joy, the joy of the Lord in your hearts […] Come on, come on, come on. We will be with you […] Don’t worry. I don’t want to see you sad. Your joy will be the strength of others” (Message of 18 May 2011).

At the same time, they remind us of the fundamental means of sanctification—the Word of God, the Eucharist, Reconciliation—which give us life and joy and prepare us for eternal life:

“Dear children, the invitation I give you is to think first about the health of your soul and then about your body. Do not forget that the soul in each of us never dies, it lives for eternity, and I beg you to reflect on these words, stop for a moment and reflect. Without the Word of God in your hearts, you are like a tree without roots; sooner or later, you will slowly wither and then be burned. I beg you, it is very difficult for a mother to say these words. I beg you, all of you, save yourselves in time. I beg you to attend Holy Mass, if possible on Sundays. Do not remain lazily closed up in your homes, fill the houses of the Lord, there are many waiting for you. Thank you for your attention. I invite those in this community today, many do not believe a word, I invite them, I appeal to them, to make an effort to understand and find this joy in each one of them that we can give: joy in fatigue, in pain, in suffering; if you accept us in your hearts, all this will be overcome” (Message of 13 May 2012).

“Seek, empty yourselves, start with Confession. Many pastors are at your disposal, seek them out; through them, each of you can empty yourselves of any burden, of any problem. God the Father Almighty is waiting for nothing else but to receive your sins. Ask him with your heart, his mercy is infinite for all the children of the world, he is there waiting: to welcome all your sins, to forgive you, to save you and to be close to each one of you” (11 July 2012).

In a strong call for solidarity with the world in which we live, Our Lady urges us to collaborate with God for the good of humanity:

“Think about when a father and mother talk, talk, and keep repeating what is good for the future of their children, and the children do not listen, they answer back. A mother’s heart is wounded. I beg you, the world has become a bloodbath day after day. You will never be able to understand our suffering, to see this hatred, our children. Our tears are for all this evil that, despite our intervention, we are unable to make them understand, to make them understand the value of earthly life, but above all the value of eternity. Please, we can still save the world. We need all your collaboration, the collaboration of you, God’s children, who are called to proclaim His Word. I thank you for what you do day after day. Please, be stronger. Do not be afraid to proclaim the salvation of eternal life” (8 August 2012).

In addition to prayer, Our Lady also asks for concrete acts of charity towards those who suffer, and she does not fail to thank us for this:

“My children, my Son has asked you to go among the suffering, among all those who suffer in body and soul, and I thank you for this initiative of yours” (23 April 2014).

“My children, I give thanks to all our children who make themselves available to give love and a smile to their brothers and sisters who suffer in pain and illness: I thank them one by one; and I invite you again this evening to make yourselves available for these works, works that are pleasing to my Son” (8 February 2017).

It is important to emphasize how Our Lady always directs us to Jesus Christ:

“I thank this dear girl who has brought this purity of flowers up here. Do not let them wither on this mountain. Tomorrow, at sunrise, place them before the tabernacle, before the Eucharistic body of my Son” (22 July 2017).

“Do not forget, my children, that the Cross, the Crucified One, is always at the center of everything” (2 November 2014).

Finally, it is worth reading a beautiful invitation addressed to young people and young families:

“My children, when you feel oppressed, when you feel hatred reigning in your hearts, when you struggle to be patient, when your hearts are not at peace, even in difficult moments, in trials, I invite you to clear your minds. In those moments, it is the evil one who persecutes you, and today I invite you to strengthen yourselves with love and not to give in to all of this. In those moments, I invite you to make room for love, for the Holy Spirit of my Son. I give this invitation especially to young people, to young families. I invite them to walk in the roots of love, to give sweet words of love to their little ones so that they may grow in love. Not with a hateful voice, with quarrels, only in this way will we arrive at a new generation that is more understanding of love. I invite you to pass on to them the roots of the path of light, not to give in to hatred because evil spirits continue to reign among them, giving them wrong thoughts: thoughts of separation, of hatred, putting the well-being of the flesh before your eyes. I invite you to react with strength for love, to persevere for the light, for love. My children, we can still do it!” (26 July 2020).

3) Proposed determination

As you well know, when the judgment of “nulla osta” regarding a presumed supernatural phenomenon is not considered adequate or prudent, but many positive signs are nevertheless found, it may become necessary to determine a “prae oculis habeatur.” This means that “although important positive signs are recognized, some aspects of confusion or potential risks are also perceived that require the Diocesan Bishop to engage in a careful discernment and dialogue with the recipients of a given spiritual experience. If there were writings or messages, doctrinal clarification might be necessary” (NormsI, 18). From the correspondence with your predecessor, it can be concluded that there are two aspects to be considered with particular care:

1) The previous Bishop of Trivento indicated a “failure to observe the prescriptions imposed by the local Ordinary regarding the prohibition of any form of public or private worship” (Letter of His Excellency Monsignor Claudio Palumbo, 30 May 2025). This refers specifically to the Decree he issued on 23 June 2021, confirmed by you on 3 July last, which establishes the prohibition “of any public or private manifestation concerning the alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin” (Decree of 23 June 2021) on Mount S. Onofrio.

This observation does not refer directly to the attitudes of the alleged visionary but to those members of the clergy who want to encourage non-compliance with “whatever the judgment of the Church may be,” thus constituting “a de facto parallel magisterium” (Letter of His Excellency Monsignor Claudio Palumbo, 30 May 2025). We are therefore faced with a wound in ecclesial communion that is certainly not a positive sign, especially if the necessary discernment of the diocesan pastor is rejected. Practical questions that may arise in a presumed supernatural phenomenon must be submitted to ecclesial discernment and must not be blindly followed, as if it were impossible to avoid fulfilling the Lord’s presumed requests that were “communicated” on these occasions, according to the rule of prudence set out by St. Paul: “The spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor 14:32-33).

Work must be done in this regard, hoping for growth in mutual understanding and healing of these wounds to the unity of the People of God, even if a healthy ecclesial communion does not exclude the possibility of different opinions coexisting as a sign of the richness sown by the Spirit. At the same time, we must note that even in other phenomena recognized or tolerated by the Church, there have been processes of public dissemination that have not always been explicitly approved. On the other hand, in the same alleged messages there is a call to obedience:

“To the obedience received from the heads of the priests, the invitation to you, brothers and sisters, to you, children, to you, faithful lay people, to persevere [...]. Continue to obey everything that the Spirit has suggested to you: not to go before the Cross of Mount S. Onofrio together with the faithful” (Message of 1 February 2019).

2) In the letter with the opinion of the previous Ordinary on the alleged phenomena, reference was also made to a possible confusion “about the nature of the relationship between the souls of the deceased” and the Church living in history. Although this “confusion” does not emerge from explicit and specific statements or from the practice of the alleged visionary, it is equally true that there are “possible risks” which, together with the evaluation of the positive signs, justify the need for a period of vigilance. This last point requires clarification, which is offered here in summary form to accompany this stage of dialogue proper to the “prae oculis habeatur.”

The “prae oculis habeatur” does not yet admit public worship, where the latter expression refers to those liturgical acts performed “in the name of the Church by persons lawfully deputed and through acts approved by the authority of the Church” (Code of Canon Law, can. 834 §2 CIC). Consequently, this judgment excludes the following elements:

1) the celebration of liturgical rites in places linked to the phenomenon without the explicit approval of the competent ecclesiastical authority;

2) pilgrimages or other pastoral events of public importance organized by parishes or other ecclesiastical structures;

3) the possibility of disseminating, without the approval of the ecclesiastical authority, the phenomenon and its alleged messages;

4) the accommodation of people to share this experience.

However, given that no serious concerns have emerged that would require further intervention, private worship is permitted: personal visits, in pairs or very small groups, in this case to the site of the cross erected on Mount S. Onofrio in a period prior to the beginning of the alleged phenomena, or along the Via Crucis route set up to accompany the ascent of the mountain with prayer.

This implies that those involved in the phenomenon maintain an attitude of humility and openness to dialogue with ecclesiastical authority, which is called to do everything possible to evaluate the progress of the experience and correct any confusing aspects. Below, I offer a brief catechesis on the theme of the relationship between the deceased and the Church on her journey, which may help to guide pastoral accompaniment of the spiritual experience under consideration.

Communion between the pilgrim Church and the deceased

1) The Church’s teaching on our relationship with the deceased

How can we explain precisely the meaning of our relationship with the deceased without falling into practices condemned by the Church?

A text in the Catholic canon of the Bible attests to the practice of praying for the dead already in post-exilic Judaism, which was considered “a very good and noble deed [...] holy and devout” (2 Macc 12:43, 46). This practice then continued in the Christian Church. It is important to specify that praying for the dead is very different from evoking the dead, a practice explicitly condemned in the Bible, as can be seen from the well-known episode of Saul’s evocation of Samuel’s spirit (cf. 1 Sam 28:3-25), a prohibition confirmed by the Apostles together with the use of all kinds of magic arts (cf. Acts 13:6-12; 16:16-18; 19:11-20). In particular, “evocation” or “Spiritism” means “any method ‘by which one attempts to establish, by human means, a perceptible communication with spirits or souls separated from the living, in order to obtain information or assistance’.”[1] The Catechism of the Catholic Church places it among the practices of divination, which as such are directly contrary to the first commandment and are therefore to be rejected (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2116). Some time ago, this Dicastery also expressed itself explicitly and decisively against the evocation of the dead through spiritualistic practices, with pronouncements that are still valid today.[2]

Having specified this, it must now be emphasized that the idea of “evocation” outlined above differs greatly from that of “invocation,” which includes prayer for the dead, the latter being considered an expression of the mystery of the communion of saints.

“We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves” (Rom 14:7), says St. Paul. None of us is created as an isolated individual, without ties to others, but by the very fact of being born we are already inserted into a network of relationships that contribute to forming our very identity. Furthermore, salvation also has a radical communal dimension. Eternal life is in fact a relationship with God (cf. John 17:3), a relationship that is dialogical in nature, since God created us for communion with himself (cf. Rom 8:29-30). This dialogue, however, is not an isolated “one-on-one” between two individuals, since God is in himself a communion of love. It is realized in the “we” of the Church: through Baptism Christians are incorporated into the great “family” of God, which constitutes a bond of love that even death cannot destroy. As the Second Vatican Council also reminds us, all “who are in Christ, having His Spirit, form one Church and cleave together in Him. Therefore the union of the wayfarers with their brothers and sisters who have gone to sleep in the peace of Christ is not in the least weakened or interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the perpetual faith of the Church, is strengthened by the exchange of spiritual goods” (Lumen Gentium, n. 49). This means that there is a mysterious but real relationship, founded on the love of God manifested in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, between those who are “beyond” and us who are on this earth.

The experience of death as a passage can certainly be lived on a human level as extreme loneliness. However, let us not forget that it is part of an even greater mystery of life, that of the death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Indeed, Christ’s victory ensures that such loneliness is never truly such: the “Descent into hell” mentioned in the Apostles’ Creed means that even there, where every bond would seem to be definitively severed, Christ is present to welcome us into his loving embrace.

It is in this mystery of life that all loneliness, even the most radical and seemingly insurmountable loneliness of death, is broken, and the communion of saints is inserted as an expression of the overflowing grace of the Father’s love that transcends all boundaries. This mystery is at the basis of both the prayer of invocation to the saints and the prayer of intercession for the dead.

But what do we mean by “soul” when we speak of “souls of the dead”? First of all, we must bear in mind that the soul is not a “part” of the person, but is a way of indicating the person in everything that cannot be reduced to the biological sphere: consciousness, will, intelligence, feelings, and, above all, one’s relationship with God, a relationship that even death cannot touch (cf. Cant 8:6).

When we are faced with this mystery, we must “hold together” two aspects: the concrete experience of the dissolution of the body and faith, founded on God’s promise, sealed in the Resurrection of Christ, that the same body will be, so to speak, restored to us “on the last day” (John 11:24). Here too, it must be emphasized that the resurrection refers to “the whole person,”[3] because, like the soul, the body is not a “part” of the person, but a dimension of his or her being. It is therefore legitimate to ask what happens to the person in the “time” between bodily death and resurrection.

St. Paul expressed a dilemma in this regard: “I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you” (Phil 1:23-24). But if there were no possibility of some form of encounter with the Lord after death before the resurrection of the bodies, this dilemma would make no sense. On the other hand, in a later passage of the same letter, St. Paul includes faith in the resurrection of the bodies in the expectation of the Parousia (cf. Phil 3:20-21). Consequently, this leads us to believe that the Apostle believed that there were two phases: a dimension of the human being who encounters Christ immediately after death, which encounter is distinct from the full resurrection that will take place at the end of time.

This condition in which human beings find themselves after crossing the threshold of death, awaiting the resurrection, has been called by theologians the “intermediate state,” and is characterized by the survival of what the Christian tradition calls the soul. This term, which has multiple meanings in the Bible and in the tradition of the Church, in this context simply refers to the fact that, with death, the person is not erased from existence, but rather “a spiritual element survives and subsists after death, an element endowed with consciousness and will, so that the ‘human self’ subsists.”[4] When we speak of “souls of the departed,” therefore, we are referring to those same people whom we knew in life and whom we know to be alive in God despite the end of their earthly existence. This is a condition that is very difficult, if not impossible, for us to imagine, at least while we are here on earth, so it is best to avoid any kind of fantasy and entrust ourselves, in faith, to prayer.

From this we can understand that the problem with evoking the dead does not lie so much in the desire to seek contact with a loved one who has passed away, since this is a very human desire and shows how much we human beings are made for life and love. The problem is that we try to establish this contact through a “technique,” a method, which as such does not take into account the actual reality of our deceased loved ones: that they are alive in God in the communion of saints.

Prayer for the souls of the deceased, however, is different from invoking the saints. While the latter may be a prayer addressed “to” a blessed soul, prayers of suffrage are instead “for” the soul of a deceased person who does not yet enjoy the beatific vision. Here we are faced with another mystery of our faith, that of Purgatory. Beyond the more or less adequate images that have been proposed throughout history, we must avoid giving too much space to the imagination in this case as well, living this mystery with a genuine spirit of faith. What we can say is that many souls, not being condemned, are in a state of purification and healing, waiting to reach full communion with God. This is a consequence of the fact that these people, during their earthly life, in the choices they made, in some way compromised themselves in small and large ways with evil, which thus covered their intimate and radical openness to God’s love, without destroying it (cf. Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, n. 46). This, in truth, is perhaps the most frequent experience we have, and this—we must honestly admit—also applies to us.

But faith in Purgatory itself testifies that evil does not have the last word. If we build our lives on the foundation of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:12), even if we are not perfect, we have nothing to fear, because He is greater than our hearts, despite what they may reproach us for (cf. 1 John 3:20). This certainly requires us not to underestimate the reality of evil while we are alive, but it also gives us a solid hope that the people we have loved and who have crossed the threshold of death are in God’s hands (cf. Wis 3:1).

In this context, we can understand piety towards the dead, which, as we know, is one of what tradition has called spiritual works of mercy, in particular prayer (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1032; Tob 1:17-18). These are true works of charity which, through the mystery of humiliation by which the Lord accepts the accomplishing of his works through his creatures, allow the love of the Father to bring those souls into full communion with him. Prayer for the dead, even if done infrequently, keeps alive the bond with those who have shared their lives with us, even though today in many countries young people prefer to cut the thread that connects them to a common history. This attempt to deny history can be the cause of growing individualism, indifference towards others, a feeling of empty freedom, and loneliness. Praying for the dead, on the other hand, being a work of mercy, can produce the opposite effects.

Obviously, among all these practices, the offering of the Eucharist, the “medicine of immortality,” through which all of us, living and dead, receive “the guarantee of participating in Christ’s resurrection,”[5] must be given the highest consideration. For this reason, “the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice of Christ’s Passover for the dead, so that, since all the members of Christ’s body are in communion with each other, the petition for spiritual help on behalf of some may bring comforting hope to others” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, n. 379).

Furthermore, faith and tradition confirm our conviction that this spiritual relationship is reciprocal, in the sense that it is not only we who pray for the dead, but they (the saints and martyrs) also pray for us, thus offering true intercession for the world (cf. 2 Macc 15:12-14; Rev 6:9-10) which is united with that of the other heavenly beings (cf. Zech 1:12).

2) Statements and practices present in this specific case

In their own way, the alleged apparitions experienced on Mount S. Onofrio follow this teaching, albeit in a manner that shows its originality with respect to spiritual tradition and which would therefore require further study. I am referring to the certainly unusual fact that some souls of the deceased are said to manifest themselves to the alleged visionary through the work of his guardian angel. It seems clear that, by emphasizing the mediation of angels (present in various texts of Scripture, such as, for example: Gen 16:7-11; 21:17-18; Exod 23:20,21; 1 Kings 19:5-7; Tob 5:4; Dan 3:49; 6:23; Matt 1:20-24; 2:13; Luke 1:19, 26; 2:9-10), on the one hand, there is a desire to exclude any “mediumistic” or “contact” phenomenon in the manifestation of these souls, attributing such events rather to God’s merciful initiative; on the other hand, there is an explicit rejection of any technique of evocation, as well as of any indiscreet curiosity about the “afterlife,” referring all relations with the deceased to intercessory prayer, according to the practice of the Church as illustrated above. The messages themselves, in fact, show that those who appear respond frequently with statements such as, “I cannot answer... I cannot give names,” to direct questions concerning the eternal health of certain souls, followed by exhortations such as, “think of eternity!” (Message of 19 December 2010).

With regard to magical practices, the alleged message of 14 August 2016 refers to the frequentation of magicians as “bindings that [...] had bound them to Satan.” On other occasions, the message is equally decisive: “Dear children, brothers and sisters, in your desperation, you turn to the occult [i.e., magicians], to brothers and sisters who are not with God, thinking that they can be your salvation. No, my children, no, brothers and sisters, Satan is with them; they are children of Satan. I beg you, stay away from them. True salvation is found in those who love God the Almighty Father above all else. Do not forget this. No man has the power to heal with words. Do not forget this” (Message of 5 January 2024, italics added). It must be said that this type of illicit dialogue does not concern the apparitions on Mount S. Onofrio, nor the messages attributed to the Virgin Mary, except in a very marginal way.

In any case, bearing in mind that the line between lawful and risky practices is rather thin, you, Your Excellency, are invited to confirm that within the group that follows and promotes the spiritual experience linked to the alleged apparitions, there is no doubt on this point.

The maturation regarding the two critical points mentioned above, namely the restoration of full ecclesial peace and a clarification of the ambiguities present in the messages, may perhaps allow us to move towards a “nulla osta” in the future, if and when you deem it appropriate.

With affection in the Lord and best wishes for your pastoral ministry in the Diocese of Trivento, I cordially greet you, entrusting you and your diocesan communities to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.

Víctor Manuel Card. Fernández
Prefect

[1] International Theological Commission, Some Current Questions Regarding Eschatology(1992), 7.2, citing Acta Synodalia Sacrosanti Concilii Oecumenici Vat. II, 3/8, 144.

[2] Cf. Sacred Roman and Universal Inquisition, Encyclical Letter Ad omnes episcopos adversus magnetismi abusus (4 August 1856): ASS 1 (1865-66), 177-179; Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, Resp. De spiritismo (April 27, 1917): AAS 9 (1917) 268.

[3] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Recentiores episcoporum synodi (17 May 1979), 2).

[4] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Recentiores episcoporum synodi (17 May 1979), 3).

[5] International Theological Commission, Some Current Questions Regarding Eschatology (1992), 6.3.