A Response to Arthur Policarpio's Response to Dr. Mark Miravalle

By David Moorcroft 

Mr. Arthur Policarpio graduated from Catholic University 

De La Salle,  and holds a degree of Bachelor of Science in 

Business Management. He heads the local Mobext mobile 

marketing company. He promotes Maria Divine Mercy 

on his website Totus Tuus, Maria

The theologian Dr Mark Miravalle has published an article condemning the alleged prophetic messages to an anonymous ‘seer’ who calls herself ‘Maria Divine Mercy’ (MDM). The article has provoked a response from Mr Arthur Policarpio on his website ‘Totus Tuus, Maria’. 

Mr Policarpio claims to be a ‘Catholic writer’. There are many like him, taking up space on the Internet and representing every strain of ‘Catholic’ thought abroad in the world. If we were Anglicans, we could call ‘Catholic writers’ a Broad Church. So where in this Latitudinarian profession do we place Mr Policarpio? 

At the beginning of his ‘Response’, he accepts without question ‘the prophecies and messages given by Our Lord to the Irish seer “Maria Divine Mercy”.’ It is as well to get this clear: no time-wasting chit-chat about being objective. He says:

‘On February 11, 2012, exactly one year before the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, MDM received this message from Jesus: “My poor Holy Vicar, Pope Benedict XVI, will be ousted from the Holy See in Rome.”’

There are several problems with this sentence which Mr Policarpio has, perhaps, overlooked. 

(1) We have Pope Benedict’s word for it that he was not ousted: 

‘After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to the exercise of the Petrine ministry.’ 

Our author finds this problematic. He calls the Pope’s resignation ‘unprecedented’. Later in his article he mentions earlier Papal resignations. (Is he paying attention? It’s hard work being a ‘Catholic writer’.) 

But he clearly believes the Pope’s statement was made in bad faith. This would imply very bad faith, as the Pope said he had examined his conscience ‘before God’. (Remember this is MDM’s ‘Beloved Holy Vicar’.) 

Is he accusing Pope Benedict of taking the Lord’s name in vain? Apparently so. 

(2) There is no evidence that he was under any pressure to resign. If our author knows of any, he is duty-bound as a ‘Catholic writer’ to provide it. 

(3) MDM’s ‘Jesus’ says elsewhere (‘message’ 19th Feb 2013): 

‘They will now try to kill him, just as they killed Me. They will say that he was guilty of a crime of which he is truly innocent.’ 

Is ‘Jesus’ saying they would try to crucify Pope Benedict? Has this been tried? Has our author heard of any such accusations? 

(4) Pope Emeritus Benedict is known to be safe in his apartments in the Vatican, and Pope Francis has encouraged him to come out and give more public addresses. Some ‘ousting’! 

Mr Policarpio says that history is ‘replete’ with accounts of antipopes ‘competing’ for the Papacy. We shouldn’t expect a busy ‘Catholic writer’ to have time to do much historical research.  Even during the worst periods of Church history, e.g., the 11th and 12th centuries, competitors for the Papal chair were noticeably scarce, compared with the many pretenders for secular thrones, even during the Great Western ‘Schism’.

Our author refers to popes who may have been validly elected but were ‘virtual “antipopes” in word and deed’, and refers us to Pope Boniface VIII, who ‘forced his predecessor, Pope Celestine V, to resign’, and put him into prison ‘in conditions so desolate and inappropriate for a former pope’. He mentions that Pope Benedict XVI visited the tomb of Pope Celestine before his own resignation. 

Pope Celestine V was a saintly man but an incompetent pope. There is no real evidence that

Body of Pope Celestine V

Benedetto Gaetani – the future Pope Boniface – forced a resignation on him. He said, and others agreed, that he acted as a counsellor, even urging Celestine not to resign. As the pope was adamant, Gaetani urged him to issue a constitution legitimizing a Papal resignation. The imprisonment of Celestine was a matter of prudence. Celestine’s supporters were threatening a serious schism which would have been graver if Celestine were at large. There is no evidence that Boniface was responsible for Celestine’s harsh confinement. 

The phrase ‘virtual antipopes’ is a nonsense – and ironically so in a world of virtual ‘prophets’, like the invisible and unnameable MDM, and virtual ‘Catholic writers’ like Mr Policarpio. The worst popes in history did not change a single doctrine of the faith to justify their conduct: all were protected by the charism of INFALLIBILTY from teaching error. Our author might like to look this word up in the Catholic Encyclopaedia. 

Our author says that ‘At the turn of the century, Pope Pius XII seized documents from a masonic lodge’ containing secret plans to destroy the Church’ (the ‘Alta Vendita Instruction’). 

History is a big subject, but a quick online search could have shown Mr Policarpio the facts. 

Pius XII reigned from 1939 to 1958: not, therefore, at the turn of the century. 

The ‘Alta Vendita Instruction’ was discovered in the middle of the19th century and passed on to Pius IX, who declared its authenticity.

He also claims that, at the turn of the century, an alert Cardinal prevented the Church from

Cardinal Rampolla

electing Cardinal Rampolla, ‘a high-ranking member of a Satanic, Masonic sect’, as Pope. 

There is no evidence worthy of the name that Rampolla was a member of the ‘Ordo Templi Orientis’ – unless you believe that an alleged Masonic document is admissible evidence. Pope St. Pius X thought so highly of Rampolla that he appointed him ‘Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church’, in addition to his post as head of the Holy Office. A ‘Catholic writer’ has an obligation to make some effort to get his facts right. 

The Masonry issue is an unfortunate one for Mr Policarpio to raise in this context. The foundational teaching of Freemasonry is the heresy of syncretism, or religious indifferentism, the belief that it does not matter which religious faith, if any, you follow. 

Past Grand Master Carl Claudy put it like this ‘A hundred paths may wind upward around a mountain; at the top they meet.’ 

MDM goes a step further. Message 21st Nov 2010: ‘ALL paths lead to God, the creator of mankind.’ And message 31st Aug 2011: ‘ALL religions, ALL creeds…are ALL so precious to my Eternal Father.’ The Grand Orient Lodge could hardly have put it better. If there is any question of Masonic plotting, the ‘warningsecondcoming’ must be a prime suspect. 

Our author mentions ‘reputable Marian apparitions’ that corroborate the claims of MDM. He accepts without question the ‘messages’ of Mary given to Fr Gobbi…(containing Church imprimatur and nihil obstat)’. 

It is a pity for our author’s credibility that none of this is true. Later editions of Gobbi’s continuing book show two Imprimaturs – from Archbishop James J. Byrne, formerly of Dubuque, and Bishop Donald W. Montrose of Stockton, (CA). Gobbi lived in Milan, where his Movement was based. The competent authority here was the Bishop of Milan, who gave no Imprimatur. The other ‘Imprimaturs’ are invalid. 

According to canonical procedures, only Sacred Scripture requires two Imprimaturs. What exactly was Fr Gobbi implying? There is also no ‘nihil obstat’ for Gobbi’s book. Of Fr Gobbi’s ‘locutions’, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has spoken: ‘…

they are not words of Our Blessed Mother, but Fr Gobbi’s own private meditations for which he assumes all the theological, spiritual and pastoral responsibility.’ 

One obvious difficulty in accepting Gobbi’s claims is his record-breaking list of failed prophecies. One early example will suffice: April 1978: ‘This year will not end before a great sign is accomplished.’ The ‘great sign’ was the Warning! 

Mr Policarpio says: 

‘The Book of Revelation warns that during the end times, the Antichrist and the False Prophet (the “false prophetess” referred to in Revelation) will rise and will greatly deceive God’s children.’ He quotes the relevant texts about ‘the false prophetess’.

Dare we suspect our author of a ‘Freudian slip’? 

The Greek term is ‘ho pseudopropheetees’, which is masculine – the ‘false prophet’. Only one ‘false prophetess’ springs to mind here. 

He goes on to say: ‘The messages, however, do clearly prophesy that major changes in the sacraments, the Holy Mass, the Eucharist, tolerance for sin’ will happen in the Church very soon, and will create a ‘one world church’ merging the Catholic Church with other religions. 

Our author clearly does not believe in the indefectibility of the Church. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopaedia explains it: 

‘Among the prerogatives conferred on His Church by Christ is the gift of indefectibility. By this term is signified, not merely that the Church will persist until the end of time, but further, that it will preserve unimpaired its essential characteristics. The Church can never undergo any constitutional change which will make it, as a social organism, something different from what it was originally. It can never become corrupt in faith or morals; nor can it ever lose the Apostolic hierarchy, or the sacraments through which Christ communicates grace to us. The gift of indefectibility is expressly promised to the Church by Christ, in the words in which He declares that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ 

Our author apparently doesn't know that apart from the Pope there is no ‘Apostolic hierarchy’, and therefore no Church. If the Cardinals have validly elected the ‘false prophet’, who is about to destroy the sacraments, God’s plan of salvation is over. 

But who is trying to create a ‘one world church’? MDM, apparently: Message 21st Nov 2010: 

‘I call on all the churches, religions and faiths around the world to pray for mankind…Come now, all My children, of all churches and creeds. Join together and fight for the right to believe in God.’ 

And who is preaching ‘tolerance for sin’? MDM message 25th Aug 2013: 

‘[God the Father] I Am going to save 200 million souls, WITHOUT HESITATION, IRRESPECTIVE OF HOW MUCH THEY OFFEND ME, and I will do this next week.’ 

Our author says ‘Fulfilment of the Prophecies will Prove or Disprove’. In that case, we may end this article right here. Not one ‘prophecy’ of MDM has been fulfilled. So-called prophecies of e.g., floods in areas flooded annually, volcanic eruptions in the most volcanic country in Europe, cannot be called in evidence of divine foretelling. 

MDM message 31st May 2011: 

‘The prophecies given at Garabandal [about the ‘Warning’] will now become a reality. Prepare now for this event because you have ONLY A FEW MONTHS LEFT to prepare your souls.’ 

Our author should look at the date of this ‘prophecy’, and check his calendar. Our author pleads that there was ‘no Church investigation of the prophecies of Noah [who made no prophecies!], Ezekiel, Isaiah.’ This is hardly surprising, as the Church did not exist until Pentecost.

MDM, by her closely-guarded anonymity, has avoided Church investigation. Why? Other ‘seers’, e.g., Fr Gobbi, Maureen Sweeney-Kyle, the ‘Little Pebble’, have published openly in defiance of Church condemnation. He claims that an investigation may take decades and so hold up the ‘urgency’ of spreading the messages. 

We must gasp at the temerity of what he is implying: that Omniscience failed to foresee the need of sending these messages in good time so that the Church would have the opportunity to approve them. 

Mr Policarpio has a long section on ‘Spiritual Fruits’ of the messages, and warns against the ‘fallacy of hasty generalisation’. We do not need to be hasty to note the open vilification of the Holy Father on MDM network sites, much of expressed in vile and blasphemous language (see screenshots below). 

It is a good thing for our author if he has been spared this.

Let us give MDM the last word. Message 22nd Sept 2012: ‘Messages received by genuine prophets or chosen souls are either true or false.’ 

We could say the same of articles by ‘Catholic authors’.


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Some Facebook posts from Maria Divine Mercy followers about Pope Francis