Luisa Piccarreta & the Divine Will

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta - Status of her Cause

July 2025

The following letter was received by EWTN from the office of The Most Rev. Leonardo D'Ascenzo, Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie, the Ordinary responsible for the Postulation of the Cause of Luisa Piccarreta. It was prompted by differing public claims being made regarding the status of the Cause, and to satisfy our commitment to the Postulation and the Holy See to provide only official information regarding the Cause. 

Following the letter is our summary of its contents. Notable is the Postulation's concern, one that began in 1990s (see the Historical information below), that misplaced zeal has spread false ideas and faulty translations. From a theological point of view, this can be the death knell of a Cause. It therefore describes the only authentic approach to Living in the Divine Will. 

Cause of Beatification of Luisa Piccarreta

The Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta has never been closed, but has always been pending at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which had temporarily suspended its canonical process. In fact, the spirituality, thought, and writings of the Servant of God had been submitted to the study of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in 2019 pointed out that the writings presented some ambiguities of a theological, Christological, and anthropological nature; ambiguities that, while not doctrinal errors in themselves, required further evaluation. Through the support of a theologian expert in mysticism, the Postulation's clarifying responses to the aforementioned findings enabled the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to conclude that in the writings and thought of the Servant of God there are no statements that are blatantly in contrast with the doctrine of the Church. Thus in June 2024 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the nihil obstat for the resumption of the Cause, which was formally notified by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to this Postulation on July 8, 2024.

According to the instructions of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the continuation of the canonical path, already in place, must necessarily be accompanied by the publication of the typical and critical edition of Luisa Piccarreta's Writings by the the actor of the Cause, the Public Association of the Faithful “Luisa Piccarreta-P.F.D.V” of Corato and under the supervision of the Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie. Such an edition should be accompanied by a relevant "Introduction and related notes" which, for the purpose of clarifying certain expressions that are easily conducive to misleading and erroneous inter- pretations of the Christian message, highlight the importance of the Lord's merciful and gratuitous love, which in some pages of the Writings is obscured due to the historical context in which they were drafted, a context marked by an obsessive view of God's justice and the consequent mysticism of reparation for sins. This edition will be the only one officially recognized by ecclesiastical authority. All Divine Will Groups will have to refer to it in order to correct harmful forms of spirituality, widespread in some Groups and brought about by a distorted reading of the Writings of the Servant of God, by their written dissemination or even by their arbitrary manipulation and translation into other languages.

Those who truly care about the Cause of Beatification are called to decisively orient or reorient their devotion to the Servant of God in the perspective of the mystery of glory: the cross is to be looked at, contemplated and welcomed in the resplendent mystery of the resurrection of Christ, victor over evil, sin and death. Reading Luisa's Writings, everyone should "feel encouraged to pay more attention to the author’s intention, in greater faithfulness to the teaching of the Church and above all in the awareness that the Divine Will is the Heavenly Father’s merciful appeal addressed to the free will of the men and women of our times, and never a threat to be hurled against the world corrupted by sin" (Msgr. Leonardo D'Ascenzo, Archbishop of Trani-Barletta Bisceglie, Communication No. 4 regarding the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, March 4, 2020).

While objectively recognizing that so many Divine Will Groups have implemented in this direction a decisive and evident path of ecclesiality, it is indispensable and incumbent on those who have not yet done so to strive " to anchor the reading of these writings in the doctrine of the Church and in a dignified conduct of life, making a balanced and respectful missionary proclamation spring from the doctrine of the Divine Will, a proclamation which has been harmoniously inserted into the pastoral activity of the local Churches" (Msgr. Leonardo D'Ascenzo, ibid.).

With this in mind, it seems most appropriate for bishops to recognize and admit into their eccle- siastical circumscriptions only those Divine Will Groups that meet the aforementioned requirements. After their bishop's approval, these groups can obtain the affiliation to the Family of the Divine Will, which was established by the Public Association of the Faithful "Luisa Piccarreta-P.F.D.V. " of Corato, a service structure under the supervision of the pro-tempore Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie, whose ecclesial figure the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has always indicated as the official reference for those who follow the spirituality and message of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta throughout the world.

Rome, August 10, 2024

The Postulator
Msgr. Paolo Rizzi

EWTN Summary:

1. The Cause. 

• it has never been closed, but was always pending at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which had temporarily suspended its canonical process.  

2. The Writings. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2019 pointed out that they presented:

• some ambiguities of a theological, Christological, and anthropological nature.  

• ambiguities that, while not doctrinal errors in themselves, require further evaluation

• in 2024, it stated that none are blatantly contrary to Church doctrine

• issued the nihil obstat (nothing stands in the way) for the resumption of the Cause and the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints formally notified the Postulation of this on July 8, 2024.

3. A Critical Edition

• it is necessary to produce a typical and critical edition of the Writings by the the actor of the Cause, the Public Association of the Faithful “Luisa Piccarreta-P.F.D.V” of Corato, under the supervision of the Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie.  

• with a relevant "introduction and related notes" clarifying certain expressions easily conducive to misleading and erroneous interpretations of the Christian message

• highlighting the importance of the Lord's merciful and gratuitous love, which in some pages of the writings is obscured due to the historical context in which they were drafted (marked by an obsessive view of God's justice and the consequent mysticism of reparation for sins)

• it would be the only text officially recognized by ecclesiastical authority

• all Divine Will Groups will have to refer to it in order to correct harmful forms of the spirituality

4. Authentic Devotion

• is oriented in the perspective of the mystery of glory.

• the cross is to be looked at, contemplated, and welcomed, in the resplendent mystery of the resurrection of Christ, victor over evil, sin and death.  

5. Reading the Writings  

• all should “feel encouraged to pay more attention to the author’s intention, in greater faithfulness to the teaching of the Church”

• in the awareness that the Divine Will is the Heavenly Father’s merciful appeal addressed to the free will of the men and women of our times, and never a threat to be hurled against the world corrupted by sin.

6. Divine Will Groups  

• indispensable and incumbent on those groups who have not yet done so, to strive “to anchor the reading of these writings in the doctrine of the Church and in a dignified conduct of life”

• to make a balanced and respectful missionary proclamation spring from the doctrine of the Divine Will, a proclamation which has been harmoniously inserted into the pastoral activity of the local Churches.

7. Bishops.  

• seems most appropriate for bishops to recognize and admit into their ecclesiastical circumscriptions only those Divine Will Groups that meet the aforementioned requirements.  

• with the bishop's approval, these groups can obtain the affiliation to the Family of the Divine Will, which was established by the Public Association of the Faithful “Luisa Piccarreta-P.F.D.V.” of Corato

Website of the Official Association

Historical Documents:

2003 Meeting of EWTN & Postulation

2015 Letter of Archbishop Pichierri to IV International Conference

2020 Communique of Archbishop Leonardo D'Ascenzo