In my humble and pious opinion as a faithful Roman Catholic theologian, the messages and claimed private revelation to Marisa Rossi and the laicized priest Claudio Gatti (www.madredelleucaristia.it) are false and are not from Heaven. A list of reasons and examples follows.
Background: Marisa claims apparitions or messages from Jesus, Mary, Saint Joseph, and other Saints for years prior to 1971. Little or no information is available on the apparitions and messages of that time period. Then in 1971 she met then Father Claudio Gatti. In the words of the official site:
"The first period (from 1971 to 1988) was the most beautiful both for Don Claudio and Marisa, the one they most willingly remind, for they lived these supernatural experiences without any worry about having to endure criticism, curiosity, distrust or hostility from the people. Our Lady guided them with love and patience and at the proper moment they received also reprimands, which She called 'Motherly reproaches'. In those years She entrusted them with some missions whose sensitivity compels us to shroud them with silence and discretion." (http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/origins.htm)
The apparitions and messages continued for many years. From 1988 to 1993, select persons were permitted to join them during the apparitions, and to know about the messages, but the general public was not informed. From 1993, the messages began to be more widely disseminated. Claudio Gatti was still a priest in 1993.
From the same site, a description of the manner in which the messages are given:
"Our Lady is neither heard nor seen during the apparition, but we hear through Marisa's voice what Our Lady communicates. The Mother of the Eucharist talks in Aramaic to Marisa. She has the gift to understand this tongue only during the ecstasy; then she translates immediately in Italian what Our Lady says in Aramaic.... Occasionally Our Lady gives personal or secret messages that must be known only by the interested party or by everybody at a later stage. In these occasions Marisa hears what Our Lady dictates in the most complete silence. The visionary writes in a shorthand form taught her by Our Lady and nobody is able to decode it." (http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/origins.htm)
In June of the year 1999, Father Claudio Gatti claims that he was ordained a Bishop by Jesus Christ directly, by means of supernatural apparitions and messages. In the year 2002, Father Claudio Gatti (who claims to be a Bishop ordained by God) was laicized by Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
1. The title: Mother of the Eucharist
These apparitions use the title of Mary as "Mother of the Eucharist." Now there is nothing theologically wrong with this title. The Eucharist is Jesus Christ, and Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ. Pope John Paul II used this title of Mary in
an address to a seminary in January of 2005. However this use of the title by the Pope does not imply that he approved of the apparition. In fact, Pope John Paul II and then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger formally laicized bishop Claudio Gatti, who is a part of this claimed apparition and messages.
All false private revelations contain some truth, as the bait for the trap. This false apparition uses this title for Mary and various exhortations to be devoted to the Eucharist as the bait for their trap.
2. The Bishop ordained by God?
These apparitions and messages claim that Fr. Gatti was ordained a bishop directly by the apparitions and messages:
"I, Jesus of Nazareth, have ordained Bishop your priest, I, Jesus of Nazareth, in the name of God the Father, of God the Holy Spirit and of Me, God the Son, have ordained Bishop the priest Don Claudio Gatti." (http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/episc.htm)
"You are priest for ever according to Melchisedek's order, you have the episcopate given to you by God because you have always loved the Church, the men of the Church and the souls who I saved through my death.... The men, I mean the men of the Church, will not accept it, they will keep on smiling and repeating not beautiful things, but you and you, my little flock, go on without listening to anybody, without giving explanations because only God can give and can take away, only God can do all that He wants. No man of the Earth can take the episcopate from you because God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and I, God the Son, are all with you." (http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/episc.htm)
The claim that a priest, Fr. Claudio Gatti, was ordained a bishop by means of a supernatural private revelation is false and heretical. Jesus does not circumvent the Church that He himself established, nor the authority of Saint Peter and His Successors, which He himself also established. Pope John Paul II, with the accord of Cardinal Ratzinger and other Cardinals, laicized Father Claudio Gatti. He was never ordained validly to the episcopate. He wrote several letters after his laicization to the Vatican rejecting their orders and decisions, claiming that he has the right to continue to act as if he were a bishop, because he was "ordained by God." He even uses 'Ordained by God' after his name on letters. And he calls himself 'Bishop of the Eucharist.'
Numerous messages of this claimed private revelation make this same claim in various forms: that the priest Claudio Gatti, who is now laicized, has been ordained as a Bishop directly by Jesus through the apparitions and messages. This heresy alone is sufficient to prove that these apparitions and messages are false and are not from Heaven.
These messages not only claim to ordain this priest as a bishop, but to exalt him above other bishops who are ordained, including the Pope: "you are Bishop in everything for everything and for everybody" and "you are my favourite priest" as well as claiming that no man has the right or authority to take the episcopate from him. One of the messages even claims that Jesus bowed to Claudio Gatti and called him 'Your Excellency.' Then a message said that Jesus was joking when he bowed, but not when he said 'Your Excellency.'
But Pope John Paul II does have authority over priests and bishops, and he laicized this priest falsely claiming to be a bishop. And Cardinal Ratzinger supported this action and helped to carry it out. And this fact is admitted to by the official site and by Claudio Gatti. The site includes letters from Gatti to the Bishops, Cardinals, and the Holy See, complaining about this action laicizing him. He still signs his name as: "Claudio Gatti, Bishop ordained by God, Bishop of the Eucharist."
The action of the Pope and the Cardinals is described here: http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/satan.htm and the letter itself is here: http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/lettlaical.htm This official action by the Pope is called 'the final blow of satan' by the official site of these apparitions.
3. Invalid and illicit actions of this false bishop
The false bishop Claudio Gatti gave an invalid and illicit decree recognizing the apparitions and messages to Marisa Rossi and himself as of supernatural origin from God and also declaring the associated claimed miracles as true miracles. He closed the decree thusly: "I affirm again my obedience to the Pope and my union with the bishops and the priests who love the Eucharist and who believe that in the Eucharist Jesus is really present with his body, blood, soul and divinity." Yet when the Pope laicized him for falsely claiming to be a bishop, he did not obey.
This false bishop and Marisa Rossi claim that a message gave him the authority to offer a plenary indulgence to the 'holy doors' of the Chapel of the Mother of the Eucharist. (http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/hdoor.htm) This man was never a validly ordained bishop, nor do individual bishops have the authority to issue plenary indulgences on their own.
4. False miracles
The claim is made that various miracles are associated with these false apparitions and messages. (http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/miracles.htm) The apparent miracles could be due to deceitfulness and trickery, or could be due to the action of fallen angels. We live in a time period when God permits false signs and wonders to occur (cf. Mt 24).
There is a claimed miracle of 'the hair.' They claim that a hair from the Virgin Mary in Heaven miraculously appeared. The single strand of black hair appeared on Marisa's clothing when they were praying outdoors. It then blew away in the wind. Later, in a vehicle, it was seen again on her clothing. The messages claim it belongs to the Virgin Mary. A hair that appears suddenly would not even make a good magician's trick, nor would it be hard to do as a mere trick. How is this even a miracle?
Often the claimed miracle involves a host suddenly appearing. The problem with this claim is that such a host is not known to be consecrated. It suddenly appears in her hand, and she claims she alone saw it emerge from a statue of Jesus or Mary. This could merely be an unconsecrated host that she already had in her possession. There are many claims of Eucharistic miracles by these persons, but the claims involve a host that cannot be said to have been validly consecrated. Some of these hosts that 'appear' are damaged: "they appear, in fact, crushed, trampled on, burned, pierced...." The claim is made that they were taken by angels from places where they were being mistreated. Very doubtful. There is one such claim (Easter 1996) in which a dirty and misshapen 'host' appears in Marisa's hands and she immediately eats it. How is this even a miracle?
In one claim, Marisa shows up late at a prayer service, already with a large host in her hands. She claims to have received it supernaturally on her way to the service. That's it. That is all that they claim happened. At the service, the large (probably unconsecrated) host was placed in a monstrance and paraded around and then placed on the altar. This is called 'the announce miracle.' More than a few people showed up for this event. They do not even claim that anything miraculous happened at the event.
Marisa is confined to a wheelchair, yet has walked in the presence of numerous witnesses at various so-called miraculous events. Some persons who use a wheelchair have a limited ability to walk, they just cannot walk as much as an entirely healthy person. It may also be the case that her illness is due to her affliction of fallen angels, who then remove their own affliction to present an apparent, but false, miracle.
The claim is made of a 'Eucharistic miracle of the sun.' This claim is merely a photo taken by one person, who claims that the sun looked like a host. The photo on the site is too small to determine if it was digitally faked.
A false multiplication of hosts: The claim is made that then father Claudio Gatti came into a chapel in the morning and found ten hosts that miraculously appeared in a chalice in a statue of Mary as Mother of the Eucharist. He finds that each host has a different smell. Then, at the direction of the messages, prayers and a ritual of exorcism are said over the hosts. Next a service is held in which no hosts are consecrated. The ten hosts are broken into pieces. The claim is that over 170 people received from the broken pieces, and there was enough for them. Now concerning this claim of hosts appearing, they could have been placed there by anyone, and there is no reason to assume they are consecrated. If they thought that these were consecrated, as the messages claim, why would they do a ceremony of exorcism over hosts? Also, the number of persons in a chapel at a morning service was claimed to be over 170. It could easily have been a lesser number, for they do not give an exact count of the number present. Ten hosts broken into 16 pieces each can supply 160 persons. By contrast, in the true miracle of the multiplication of the loaves left more bread in baskets full of leftover pieces than the amount of bread that began. Again, here is an event that even by appearances is non-miraculous, yet they claim it is a miracle comparable to the miracles of Christ's ministry. (http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/jun16.htm)
5. false claim of the stigmata
Marisa Rossi claims that she has the stigmata. She claims that these stigmata are generally invisible on her. This claim is similar to the claims of miracles of the Eucharist, where the main part of what is called miraculous is not seen by anyone, except her. On a few occasions when these claimed stigmata are visible, they do not have a supernatural appearance (according to my review of the photos of the stigmata on the web site: http://www.madredelleucaristia.it/eng/stigmata.htm). Some of these 'wounds' appear to be nothing more than blood applied externally (esp. the forehead blood). Several wounds have the clear appearance of self-inflicted cuts, which are bleeding normally (esp. the leg photos and some of the wrist photos). Add to this the other false miracles, and the false claim that a priest could be ordained by an apparition, and these stigmata cannot reasonably be considered to be from God.
I could go on, but there is no point to refuting such absurd claims any further.
In conclusion
I see no need to read through the hundreds of messages associated with this false apparition. It is already clear, from the messages that claim to ordain a priest as Bishop, apart from the Pope and Bishops on earth, by means of the apparitions and messages themselves, that this is a false claimed private revelation. The laicization of the priest who claims to have been ordained by God further shows this to be the correct discernment. Most of the claimed miracles do not even have the appearance of supernatural origin.
by Ronald L. Conte Jr.
January 14, 2006
