On Father Iannuzzi’s bizarre claim that there are fallen aliens.
An AI-generated image reflecting Fr Iannuzzi’s belief in fallen aliens. A heretical and disturbing image, for sure.
Introduction
Some Catholics believe that aliens exist. Others are inclined to believe it. They may even want to believe it, but concede that the existence of aliens has not been demonstrated. Catholics who are agnostic on the question are at least open to the possibility that God has created other embodied intelligent beings and situated them light years away from us. Rightly or wrongly, these Catholics—alien-believers, alien-agnostics, and everyone in between—do not recognise any fundamental incompatibility between the Catholic faith and belief in aliens, nor between salvation history and the existence of aliens (should they exist).
In my first post I defined exclusivism as "the claim that the Catholic faith understood correctly (including everything we know about God’s revealed will for man and creation) excludes the possibility of ETIs (extraterrestrial intelligences, aliens) existing in our universe. I wrote that there are three possibilities regarding the writings of Luisa Piccarretta and the question of whether ETIs exist:
Luisa’s writings support exclusivism and therefore the view that ETIs do not exist.
Luisa’s writings neither support nor contradict exclusivism.
Luisa’s writings contradict exclusivism and support the view that ETIs exist or might exist.
What does Luisa have to do with anything? you might ask. Let me provide the necessary context by quoting myself extensively (from my first post):
I re-read all 36 volumes of Luisa’s Book of Heaven … along with The Hours of the Passion, The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will and Luisa’s letters. Finally I re-read Fr [Joseph] Iannuzzi’s dissertation. I looked through all of this material carefully and always in light of my research question: which of the three scenarios is true?
I came to the conclusion that the first scenario is true. Luisa’s writings support exclusivism. In fact, there are several lines of argument beginning from different passages and themes in the writings and converging on the same conclusion.
My contention is (1) that Iannuzzi is wrong to claim that the writings support the (possible) existence of ETIs and (2) that to make such a claim is to place an unnecessary obstacle in the way between the writings and Luisa’s potential readers.
I voiced my concern as follows:
It even appears that Fr Iannuzzi took certain passages of Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta out of context, and falsely interpreted a couple of sentences by St Annibale di Francia, in support of his belief in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence … If that is what Iannuzzi has done, then this is a serious matter.
… [I]t is bizarre that Fr Iannuzzi of all people would have gotten things wrong in this area, his area of expertise (the writings and spirituality of Luisa)! And it is both ironic and concerning that the same scholar priest who (rightly) warns about the dangers of taking passages of Luisa’s writing out of context and spreading erroneous interpretations would do precisely that. (Again, these claims of mine are yet to be substantiated. I don’t want anyone to simply take my word for it …)
We are all human [pun not intended!]. In this case, I think, Father got over-excited about the (possible) existence of ETIs. And in his enthusiasm he left behind sound reasoning and sound principles of interpretation. Not to mention pastoral prudence. For (1) he was speaking authoritatively to a wide audience. And (2) he didn’t consider the fact that using (or misusing) passages from Luisa Piccarreta’s writings to support his view that ETIs exist will inevitably create obstacles for people who might otherwise have been open to the writings.
No doubt Fr Iannuzzi’s public speculations have had a number of negative effects, and will continue to do so unless counteracted. I return to this point in the conclusion of the article. For more about Fr Iannuzzi, read my first post.
For this research article I narrowed my focus to the question of whether man is the only fallen intelligent being in the physical universe. I relate the question to the belief-system of Fr Iannuzzi, and compare that belief-system to the writings of Luisa Piccarreta.
The reason for my narrower focus is that demonstrating the difference between Iannuzzi’s claims on this particular point, and Luisa’s own position on the same point, is quite straightforward. By contrast, for the broader question — whether man is the only intelligent being in the physical universe, and how does Iannuzzi’s belief-system compare to the writings of Luisa on his point — there will be more evidence to consider, and more arguments to work through. On top of that, one of the demonstrated conclusions in this article, will become a premise in one of the arguments in a future article. The latter argument will go as follows:
If there are no fallen aliens and no unfallen aliens, then there are no aliens.
If Luisa’s worldview excludes (i) the notion that there are fallen aliens and (ii) the notion that there are unfallen aliens, then it excludes (iii) the notion that there are aliens.
Luisa’s worldview excludes the notion that there are are fallen aliens
Luisa’s worldview excludes the notion that there are unfallen aliens.
Therefore, Luisa’s worldview excludes the notion that there are aliens.
The underlined premise is a main conclusion of this article.
*
Late last year I scoured all 36 volumes of Luisa Piccarreta’s Book of Heaven again and found 22 excerpts which demonstrate, beyond all possible doubt, that Luisa’s clear and consistent position is that man is the only fallen intelligent being in the physical universe. More precisely, the excerpts demonstrate that this — the statement in bold — is the clear and consistent position of Jesus as narrated to Luisa over the course of at least 19 years (Volume 12 to Volume 36). The excerpts are provided toward the end of this article. The statement in bold can be expressed more precisely as follows:
Thesis A:
Human beings are the only creatures who are both (i) embodied and intelligent by nature (logos) and (ii) inwardly corrupted by sin in respect to their factual condition or circumstance (tropos).
Let EIC stand for embodied intelligent creature. This acronym is used a lot in this article, so try and memorise it now! Following Aquinas we understand “intelligence” as an intellectual power inseparable from freedom, personhood, and spiritual being (chimpanzees do not have intelligence, properly speaking). Thesis A is more simply expressed as the claim that man is the only fallen EIC. The negation of Thesis A is the claim that man is not the only fallen EIC. Thesis A is false if and only if there are fallen non-human EICs.
I differentiate between two categories of non-human EIC.* The first category is the ETI or alien. The second is the “non-human earthling”. By definition, non-human earthlings are non-human EICs that inhabit the terrestrial realm, living on the Earth, in the Earth, or in the surrounding atmosphere. Some examples of (supposed) non-human earthlings are gnomes, fairies, leprechauns, the Nephilim (on certain interpretations) and alien-human hybrids that are said to roam the Earth (in the past, if not also in the present).**
*Our distinction between aliens and non-human earthlings is a purely logical statement. With this distinction we are not making a cosmological statement or an ontological commitment. We are not saying that aliens exist (nor are we denying it) and we are not saying that non-human earthlings exist (nor again are we dening it). Here we remain in the ideal realm—we are concerned only with the inner workings of the mind in relation to (a) its concepts and (b) the realm of intelligible possibilities. We are simply categorising different types of possible entities whose real existence someone may or may not affirm.
**Sometimes the distinction between the two categories is blurred. Many UFO enthusiasts and fringe theorists claim that the Earth is inhabited by one or more races of non-human earthlings that migrated here from outer space.
Now Father Iannuzzi claims that aliens exist and that some of them are fallen. This implies that man is not the only fallen EIC. But to imply that man is not the only fallen EIC is to contradict Thesis A, which states that man is the only fallen EIC.
In the following I demonstrate that
Luisa Piccarretta’s clear and consistent position throughout the Book of Heaven is that man is the only fallen EIC (as per Thesis A)
Fr Iannuzzi’s position is that aliens exist and that some of them are fallen
Fr Iannuzzi therefore (i) contradicts Thesis A and (ii) in this respect departs from the cosmology outlined in the Book of Heaven.
By “cosmology” I mean: the theory of the nature of the universe, what sorts of things exist in the universe, how the universe exists in relation to God, and what is man’s place in the universe relative to God and other creatures. The underlined part is the most relevant in this article.
I begin with a preliminary analysis of key propositions and their connections. Next I turn to relevant excerpts from video interviews with Fr Iannuzzi, and then the 22 passages from the Book of Heaven.
Conceptual Analysis
Thesis A (man is the only fallen EIC) is compatible with
(1) There are non-human creatures who are embodied and intelligent by nature (logos).
It is also compatible with
(2) There are non-human intelligent creatures who are fallen.
Proposition (1) is just the claim that there are non-human EICs. There are three options available for someone who affirms proposition (1):
(i) Claim that existing EICs are divided into two classes: human beings and aliens.
(ii) Claim that existing EICs are divided into two classes: human beings and non-human earthlings.
(iii) Claim that existing EICs are divided into three classes: human beings, aliens and non-human earthlings.*
*The three claims written in italics are cosmological statements. For they are assertions about what sorts of creatures exist. They are not merely logical statements about the intelligible categories by which we might organise our thought.
It is possible to affirm Proposition (1) (there are non-human EICs) without contradicting Thesis A, as long as no fallen creatures are included in the set of non-human EICs. Indeed, options (i), (ii) and (iii) are all compatible with Thesis A. For in none of these cases is it said that some non-human EIC exists in a fallen state.
Let’s turn now to Proposition (2): there are non-human intelligent creatures who are fallen.
Logically speaking, a non-human intelligent creature is either embodied (it is a non-human EIC) or it is non-embodied (it is an angel). (With this purely logical statement, we are not committing ourselves to the view that non-human EICs exist, or even to the view that angels exist). This gives us three ways of affirming (2) (in each case it is understood that there are fallen men also):
(i) There are fallen angels. There are no fallen non-human EICs.
(ii) There are fallen non-human EICs. There are no fallen angels.
(iii) There are fallen angels and fallen non-human EICs.
(These are cosmological statements). Under option (i) one might deny that non-human EICs exist (there are no aliens and no non-human earthlings). This is the traditional view of things. Alternatively, one might say that non-human EICs exist and that all of them are unfallen.
Under option (ii) one might deny that angels exist. Alternatively, one might say that angels exist and that all of them are unfallen (there are no demons).
Option (i) does not contradict Thesis A. Option (ii) contradicts Thesis A, as does option (iii). The only way to reconcile Thesis A with Proposition (2) is to take option (i).
Image from https://www.comix.it/caduta-alieni/
Fallen creatures: Iannuzzi versus Catholic tradition
Fr Iannuzzi affirms Proposition (1) there are non-human EICs. He also affirms Proposition (2) there are non-human intelligent creatures who are fallen. Under Proposition (2) he takes option (iii), there are fallen angels and fallen non-human EICs. By affirming (iii) he contradicts Thesis A and therefore the cosmology of Luisa Piccarretta, as I demonstrate later on.
Returning to what we said about Proposition (1), one might ask if Fr Iannuzzi divides existing EICs into two classes (humans and aliens) or into three classes (humans, aliens and non-human earthlings). In one video interview Iannuzzi speculates that there are (or at least have been) alien-human hybrids existing on Earth (link provided at the end of this section). On this basis I attribute to Iannuzzi the cosmological view that existing* EICs are divided into three classes. In any case, the important take away for this discussion is simply that Iannuzzi includes ETIs (aliens) in the class of EICs (embodied intellectual creatures).
*Here “existing” should be interpreted as “existing at some time in the history of the universe”.
Iannuzzi’s claim that aliens exist does not in itself contradict Thesis A. But his claim that some aliens are evil/fallen does.
*
Luisa’s writings are consistent with the traditional Catholic view concerning fallen creatures, which is as follows:
(T1) man is the only embodied intelligent creature,
(T2) there are intelligent creatures other than man,
(T3) the only intelligent creatures other than man are the angels, who are non-embodied intelligent beings,
(T4) man fell in Adam,
(T5) some of the angels fell (these are the demons),
(T6) the Virgin Mary was preserved from original sin, and never actually sinned,
(T7) with the exception of Jesus and Mary, every descendent of Adam and Eve has inherited original sin, and members of the human race who do not yet exist will inherit original sin upon their conception.*
*This is hardly an exhaustive summary covering all aspects of the traditional Catholic view on fallen creatures, and it is not meant to be. For example, I have not mentioned the doctrine that sinful man is offered redemption, whereas the fallen angels are not.
In the 36 Volumes of the Book of Heaven one can find statements affirming each of these seven points. And there are no statements which, correctly interpreted, contradict any of the seven points, either directly or by implication.
On the traditional view of fallen creatures, which is also Luisa’s view, the set of fallen creatures is the union (sum total) of two mutually exclusive sets:*
(i) all human creatures other than the Virgin Mary (note that Jesus is not a creature).
and
(ii) the fallen angels.
*Of course Luisa never articulates ideas or doctrines in terms of sets! Nor does the Catholic tradition, at least not usually. But that is beside the point. It is the inner logic or substance of the belief that matters here.
On the traditional/Luisian view, “man is the only fallen intelligent being” is false, yet “man is the only fallen intelligent being in the physical universe” (i.e., Thesis A) is true.*
*As already indicated, I define a creature that exists “in the physical universe” as a creature whose metaphysical consitution includes a physical body (still, it might be said that angels exist “in” the physical universe in some other sense—as having an influence on physical creatures, for example).
Now an alternative, non-traditional view is that the set of fallen creatures is actually the union of three mutually exclusive sets:
(i) all human creatures other than the Virgin Mary
and
(ii) the fallen angels
and
(iii) the fallen ETIs (fallen aliens).
To repeat, this view is promoted by Fr Iannuzzi. On his view, man is not the only fallen intelligent creature in the physical universe. Recall the traditional seven points:
(T1) man is the only embodied intelligent creature,
(T2) there are intelligent creatures other than man,
(T3) the only intelligent creatures other than man are the angels (fallen or unfallen), who are non-embodied intelligent beings,
(T4) man fell in Adam,
(T5) some of the angels fell (these are the demons),
(T6) the Virgin Mary was preserved from original sin, and never actually sinned,
(T7) every descendent of Adam and Eve has inherited original sin, and members of the human race who do not yet exist will inherit original sin upon their conception.
I am confident that Fr Iannuzzi affirms (T2), (T4), (T5), (T6) and (T7), based on my positive recollections of things he has said and written in the past. Still, he departs from the traditional view by denying the two underlined points: both (T1) that man is the only embodied intelligent creature and (T3) that the only intelligent creatures other than man are the angels.
Some Catholic theologians might count this “departure” as an instance of material heresy (if not also formal heresy). However, in this study I leave aside the question of whether Iannuzzi’s non-traditional view is in any way heretical. I will even concede this: departing from a certain belief or opinion to which Catholics have traditionally adhered, does not necessarily amount to heresy (material or formal). It depends on how central to the Faith the traditional proposition is (the one which is being departed from).
In respect to the seven points, Iannuzzi’s “departure” actually boils down to his denial of (T1)—that man is the only EIC. This denial is equivalent to an affirmation: non-human EICs exist. But if non-human EICs exist, it already follows that (T3)—the only intelligent creatures other than man are the angels—is false.
However, Iannuzzi adds a further twist. He does not merely claim that aliens exist—this is his departure from the traditional view that man is the only EIC.* He also claims that some of these aliens are evil/fallen—this is the twist added to his depature. On top of that, he conjectures that a third of the aliens fell.
*If I am not mistaken, Iannuzzi also claims that human/alien hybrids exist on Earth, or that they used to exist on Earth—see Part 2 in the “Vatican and Aliens” YouTube series. This too is a departure from the traditional view that man is the only EIC. However, in this discussion our focus is on Iannuzzi’s beliefs about aliens.
Quotations from Fr Iannuzzi on “fallen aliens”
Excerpts 1c and 1d below are copied from my previous post. They are part of Iannuzzi’s response to a question from the interviewer, Dr Michael James. This is from Video 1 from the “Vatican and Aliens” series on YouTube. I refer to this video simply as “Video 1”. Text in blue is Fr Iannuzzi speaking.
Video 1: 15:08 – 15:27
Watch from here until 15:27.
[Dr Michael James] If one-third of beings fell with the angels, are there hostile anti-Christian alien beings that are at war with friendly alien beings? What would you speculate?
Excerpt 1c
Video 1: 15:36 – 15:51
See the 14 second clip here or watch from here until 15:51.
Well you mentioned that one-third of the beings fell and this goes all the way back to Revelation chapter 12 verses 4 through 9 that one third of the stars fell. It does not mention a third of the angels fell […]
Excerpt 1d
Video 1: 16:11 – 17:29
See the 46 second clip here and the 31 second clip here.
Alternatively watch from here until 17:29.
But in scripture “stars” also refers to all rational beings including those throughout the cosmos. This is alluded to in Daniel chapter 12 verse 3, Philippians 2:15. The point is, one must avoid theological reductionism which takes “stars” and applies it to only one group of individuals like the angels. And in Christian circles this has been the case. They interpret this passage of Revelation referring to a third of the stars as meaning only … only the third of the angels. The Church does not teach that it refers only to the angels. Yes, it includes the angels. Because stars is referred to as angels, as is Jesus Christ, as are believers. But it doesn’t limit it to just the angels.
[16:58] So it is theologically sound to propose that one third of all rational beings fell with Lucifer. Therefore this may explain in part the difference between the good beings throughout the cosmos that are supported by many eyewitness testimonies as well as the bad ones throughout the cosmos. Well, considering that only one third fell, the good outnumber the bad.
More excerpts from Iannuzzi
Video 1: 24:59 – 25:30
Watch from here until 25:30
I have personally witnessed exorcisms with people who had been physically abducted. There are millions of testimonies throughout the world and the exorcists will tell you that they have cast out demons that were neither human nor angelic, they were other entities. And I'm not saying this on my own behalf, other exorcists have told me this as well.
Video 1: 28:08 – 28:32
Watch from here until 28:32
Basically in 1956 a group of ETS appeared to him [Bruno Sammaciccia] according to his memoirs and they were good. And they shared to him things about how to be better in the world improve the society in which we live and things like that. But on the flip side as I mentioned you have the bad ones and that in my opinion refers to that one-third that fell with Lucifer.
There is also a video entitled “Fr. Iannuzzi Radio Program: Ep 198- Luisa vs. Demons - Learning to Live Divine Will (3-25-23)”
Luisa vs Demons Video: 20:31 - 21:18
Watch from here until 21:18
As one who has performed many exorcisms and who has shared my experiences with other exorcists, I can attest to you on their behalf and mine, that during exorcisms there have been expelled from people demonic entities that were neither angelic nor human. Let me repeat that. Several exorcists can attest to the fact that they have expelled from people that were diabolically afflicted, entities that were neither angelic nor human …
Luisa vs Demons Video: 24:40 - 25:54
Watch from here until 25:54
[24:40] But I mention this in passing because when these individuals I know claim to have been abducted invoke the name of Jesus, the abduction stops on the spot, every single time.
From 25:00 - 25:26 Fr Iannuzzi mentions MUFON (Mutual UFO Network, see https://mufon.com/)
[25:26] Over 1000 documented cases where when an individual was being abducted and they called upon the name of Jesus, the abduction stopped. Which means these are not good beings.
[25:39] Now I know what you're thinking: they're fallen angels. No they're not. And I know people have claimed that but that's not true because they have physical bodies and angels don't have physical bodies that die and then go on to an eternal place like these do.
Luisa vs Demons Video: 26:41 - 27:40
Watch from here until 27:40
Now to conclude this theme on exotheology I'll say this. It is from my studies from the Eastern and Western Church Fathers and Doctors and saints and mystics, I've come to the conclusion based on their writings not my own theories, that when Lucifer fell as the Book of Revelation reports, he took a third of the stars with him. And that's what the Book of Revelation states. It does not state ‘a third of the angels’, but ‘a third of the stars’. And the star is the center of a galaxy that has life. [NASA says otherwise! “A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems”]. A solar system that has life. Our star is the sun. So according to them … and I believe this very much – that a third of all rational beings in the cosmos fell. And this may explain … the evil abductions, who knows?
Finally there’s this longer excerpt from Video 3 in the “Vatican and Aliens” YouTube series.
Video 3: 30:11 - 32:05
Watch from here until 32:05
[30:11] I referred to in Parts Two and Three to the Biblical meaning of stars comprising one third of not just the angels but all rational sentient beings of the cosmos that fell with Lucifer, and this may explain the millions of reported traumatic events of alien abductions many of which are also published by Dr David Jacobs. He's studied over a thousand cases of people that have claimed to have been abducted. And this phenomenon of alien abduction I've come to understand after having spoken myself with abductees is not a myth or a theory, it's a reality. And we have to come to accept it. Millions of people will not be lying throughout the world over decades and centuries. This has been going on for a long time.
[31:07] And one person I will share that I have spoken to briefly is a woman from British Columbia, Canada. And she shared with me how her mother, she, her daughter were all abducted and I did send her in the mail some holy water, holy exorcised water … and things like that because these things do stop these abductions.
[31:31] There's another report of Dr John Edward Mack. He died recently, he was a Harvard PhD Professor who interviewed and clinically studied individuals who were abducted and published two books in 1994, 1999 on the trauma that accompanies these abductions. Now these are related on my opinion to this one third that fell. And then you have of course the two thirds that are good, the majority. And these are the ones of whom Clifford Stone speaks and Philip Corso writes about and so forth.
Summary of Iannuzzi’s claims in these excerpts
One third of all rational beings throughout the cosmos/universe fell with Lucifer
This may explain why there are testimonies of encounters with good ETIs and also testimonies of encounters with bad ETIs.
It is theologically sound to propose that one third of all rational beings throughout the cosmos fell, and to read Revelation 12:4 in this way.
The good ETIs outnumber the bad 2:1.
Exorcists including Fr Iannuzzi testify to the fact that they have cast out evil entities that were neither human nor angelic. These have physical bodies. So they must be fallen ETIs.
Millions of people have testified to being abducted by aliens. Fr Iannuzzi has interviewed some of them. In all cases the experience stops when the name of Jesus is invoked. Exorcised holy water and other sacramentals also prevent the abductions. But these entities are not demons (fallen angels) as many have concluded. They are fallen ETIs.
Comment
Are there any passages in Luisa’s Book of Heaven that support Iannuzzi’s view that there are fallen aliens? Or even the view there is at least one fallen alien in the universe? I am certain that no such passage exists anywhere in the 36 Volumes, and that no sound argument for Iannuzzi’s unusual view can be constructed on the basis of that text. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.
The position narrated consistently throughout the Book of Heaven is that man is the only fallen being in the physical universe, as I demonstrate next. It would be odd if Luisa had also written something that blatantly contradicts these 22 passages, all of which speak directly against Iannuzzi’s view. I’m sure Fr Iannuzzi does not want to attribute that level of inconsistency to a mystic of whose cause he is a champion.
The 22 excerpts from the Book of Heaven
Currently (January 2, 2025) there is no official English translation of the 36 volumes of Luisa Piccarreta’s Book of Heaven. A critical edition with theological commentary should be released in the future (hopefully soon). Here I use the translation by Marina d'Ariano — the “Marina translation” or “MT” for short.
In the Volumes, Luisa speaks in the first person. Text inside inverted commas are the words of Jesus, as reported by Luisa. I have highlighted certain words and passages by putting them in bold.
I briefly comment on some of the passages below. For the rest, I let the quotations speak for themselves.
1. Volume 12, March 22, 1919
As I was in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself, and I could see all the order of created things. And my sweet Jesus told me: “My daughter, see what harmony, what order in all created things, and how all of them came out to life from the Eternal Fiat …” Then He added in a more afflicted tone: “It was not so in creating man. It is true that his origin is my Fiat, but this was not enough for Me. Taken by excess of love, I breathed on him, wanting to infuse in him my very Life; I endowed him with reason; I made him free, and I constituted him king of all Creation. But man, ungrateful - how did he correspond to Me? Amid all Creation, he alone has become the sorrow of my Heart, the clashing note.” [Marina translation]
2. Volume 14, August 6, 1922
“My Will contains perfect balance. Balance brings order, regimen, utility, harmony. All things harmonize together as if they were one single thing. Order brings equality; equality brings likeness. This is why there is so much harmony, order and likeness in the Three Divine Persons, and all created things are in perfect harmony - one is the support, the strength and the life of the other. If just one created thing disharmonized, all the others would tumble and end up in ruin.
Only man moved away from Us, from the balance of Our Will. Oh! how man tumbled, and from the highest place he fell into the deepest abyss!” [MT]
3. Volume 17, May 4, 1925
“Therefore, be attentive, because this is about placing in safety that Eternal Will which, with so much love, wants to dwell in the creatures [i.e., in human beings]. But It wants to be known, It does not want to be like a stranger, but wants to give Its goods and become Life of each one. However, It wants Its rights, Its place of honor; It [the Divine Will] wants the human will to be put aside – the only enemy for Itself and for man. The mission of my Will was the purpose of the creation of man. My Divinity did not depart from Heaven - from Its throne, while my Will not only departed, but descended into all created things and formed Its Life in them. But while all things recognized Me, and I dwell in them with majesty and decorum, man alone drove Me away.” [MT]
4. Volume 18, January 28, 1926
“[T]he whole Creation, including man, came out of the Eternal Creator as their source of Life, in which they were to be preserved only with the Life of the Divine Will. Everything was to be founded upon It, and this foundation of the Divine Will was to preserve all things as beautiful and noble, just as they had come out of God. And, in fact, all created things are just as they were created – none of them has lost anything of its origin; only man lost the life, the foundation, and therefore he lost his nobility, the strength, and the likeness to his Creator.” [MT]
5. Volume 19, May 27, 1926
“[T]he purpose of Creation was that, all things having come out from within the unity of this light of the Supreme Fiat, all should have remained in the unity of It. Only the creature [i.e., man] did not want to recognize this purpose; he went out of the unity of the light of the sun of my Will, and reduced himself to begging for the effects of this light, almost as the earth begs its vegetation and the development of the seeds it hides in its womb, from the sun. What sorrow, my daughter – to reduce oneself from king to beggar, and to beg from those which were to be at his service.”
...
And Jesus, sighing, added: “My daughter, feeling your nothingness more does not oppose the living in my Will; on the contrary, it is a duty of yours. All of my works are formed over nothing, and this is why the All can do what He wants. If the sun had reason, and someone asked it: ‘What good do you do? What are your effects? How much light and heat do you contain?’; it would answer: ‘I do nothing, I just know that the light given to me by God is invested with the Supreme Will, and I do whatever It wants. I extend wherever It wants, and I produce the effects It wants; and while I do so much, I remain always nothing and the Divine Will does everything in me.’ The same for all my other works - all their glory is to remain in their nothingness in order to give the whole field to my Will, to let It operate. Only man wanted to do without the Will of his Creator, he wanted to make his nothingness operate, believing himself to be good at something; and the All, feeling Himself placed after the nothing, went out of man, who reduced himself from superior to all, to inferior to all.” [MT]
Anyone who has read a substantial amount of the 36 Volumes knows that “creatures” always signifies human beings.
6. Volume 19, May 31, 1926
“Before sinning, since he [Adam] possessed the source of the unity of light with his Creator, each little act of his was a ray of light which, invading the whole Creation, went to fix itself in the center of his Creator, bringing Him the love and the return for all that had been made for him in the whole Creation. He was the one who harmonized everything and formed the note of accord between Heaven and earth. But as soon as he withdrew from my Will, his acts no longer invaded Heaven and earth like rays, but they shrank, almost like plants and flowers, within the little circle of his field. So, losing the harmony with all Creation, he became the clashing note of all Creation. Oh! how low he descended, and cried bitterly over the lost unity of light, which, raising him above all created things, made of Adam the little god of the earth.” [MT]
Jesus says that man (in Adam) became “the” clashing note, not “a” clashing note of all Creation.
7. Volume 19, August 27, 1926
“My daughter, how beautiful are Our works – they are Our honor and Our perennial glory. All of them remain at their place, and each created thing fulfills its office perfectly. Man alone is Our dishonor in Our creative work, because by withdrawing from Our Will, he walks upside down, with his head down on the earth and his feet up in the air. What disorder! What disorder! It is disgusting to see him. By walking with his head upside down, he crawls on the earth, he becomes all upset, he transforms himself.” [MT]
8. Volume 20, September 17, 1926
“So, all things, even the smallest ones, have their place. It can be said that they are in their home, secure, and no one can touch them. They possess abundance of goods, because that Will which flows in them possesses the source of all goods; they are all in the order, the harmony, and the peace of all. On the other hand, by withdrawing from Our Will, man lost his place; he remained without Our home, exposed to dangers. All can touch him to harm him; the very elements are superior to him because they possess a Supreme Will, while he possesses a degraded human will, which can give him nothing but miseries, weaknesses and passions. And because he lost his origin, his place, he remained without order, disharmonized from all, and he enjoys no peace, not even within himself. So, it can be said that he is the only being wandering in the whole Creation, to whom nothing is due by right, because We give everything to one who lives in Our Will, for he is in Our home – he is one from Our family. The relations, the bonds of sonship which he possesses by living in It, give him the right to all Our goods.” [MT]
9. Volume 20, October 24, 1926
“Now, you must know that all Creation and all my works done in Redemption are as though tired of waiting, and find themselves in the condition of a noble and rich family, whose children are all of proper stature, good looking, of uncommon intelligence, always well dressed, and with marvelous neatness. They are the ones who make always the best impression among all others. Now, after such great fortune, this family has had a misfortune: one of these children, degrading himself, descends from his nobility and goes around always dirty; he does unworthy and vile acts which dishonor the nobility of the family, and as much as they do so that he may appear together with the other brothers, they do not succeed; on the contrary, he keeps getting worse and worse, to the point of becoming the mockery and the laughingstock of all. The whole family has a constant sorrow; and as much as they feel the dishonor of this son, they cannot destroy him and say that he does not belong to them, and that he did not come from that same father to whom they belong. Such is the condition in which all Creation and all the works of my Redemption find themselves. They are all a celestial family, their origin is divine nobility; all of them have the Will of their Celestial Father as their insignia, dominion and life, and therefore they all maintain themselves in their nobility – beautiful, decorous, pure, of enchanting beauty, and worthy of that Will which possesses them. After so much glory and honor for this celestial family, they have had the misfortune that one alone – man – who came from their same Father, has degraded himself; and in the midst of such great glory and beauty of theirs, he is always dirty, he does foolish actions - unworthy and vile. They cannot deny that he belongs to them, but they do not want him in their midst so dirty and foolish.” [MT]
Jesus says that the whole family has “a” constant sorrow, which is the dishonour of “this” son (singular).
10. Volume 20, December 25, 1926
Note that whenever Luisa writes “creatures”, she means human beings.
“There was a contest between Mother and Son – I in giving, She in receiving. As this little Humanity of Mine made Its first entrance upon earth, my Divinity wanted to shine forth from It, in order to go around everywhere and make the first sensible visit to all Creation. Heaven and earth – all received this visit of their Creator, except for man. They had never received so much honor and glory as when they saw their King, their Maker, within their midst; all felt honored, for they were to serve the One from whom they had received their existence, therefore all made feast. So, my birth was of great joy and glory for Me on the part of my Mama and of all Creation; but it was for Me of great sorrow on the part of creatures.” [MT]
11. Volume 25, December 8, 1928
“So, all Creation – Heaven and earth, and even hell – felt in the immaculate conception of this Virgin little girl, just newly born in the womb of Her mama, the strength of the order which She was placing in all Creation. With my Will, She associated Herself with all as their sister, She embraced all, She loved everything and everyone; and all longed for Her, loved Her, and felt honored to adore the Divine Will in this privileged creature.
How could all Creation not celebrate? In fact, up until then, man had been the disorder among all created things; no one had had the courage, the heroism, to say to his Creator: ‘I do not want to know my will – I give it to You as gift; I want your Divine Will alone as life.’ But this Holy Virgin gave Her will in order to live of the Divine, and therefore all Creation felt the happiness of the order which, through Her, was given back to It …” [MT]
Jesus says that man has been “the” disorder, not merely “a” disorder among all created things.
12. Volume 25, March 22, 1929
“The Fiat Voluntas Tua on earth as It is in Heaven is precisely this: that man return into my Divine Will; and only when It sees again Its child happy, living in Its house, with the opulence of Its goods - then will It calm Itself. And so It will be able to say: ‘My child has come back, he is clothed with his royal garments, he wears the crown of king, he lives together with Me, and I have given back to him the rights which I gave him in creating him. So, the disorder in Creation is ended, because man has come back into my Divine Will’.” [MT]
Jesus speaks of “My child” in the singular. He also says that man coming back into the Divine Will is a sufficient condition for the disorder in Creation ending. This entails that there are no fallen intelligent creatures in the physical universe besides man.
13. Volume 26, May 16, 1929
“[N]othing is lacking to Our work of Creation – heavens, suns, works and magnificence of every kind; but one point is missing – yet a point which disfigures a work so beautiful. This point is the most important; it is the most beautiful shade, it is the most vivid color that is missing in the Creation: everyone and everything lives in my Fiat, but one point of It – that is, the human family – is outside of It, outside of my Kingdom, and it lives unhappy.” [MT]
14. Volume 26, June 27, 1929
Then my sweet Jesus continued, saying: “My daughter, the sea of Our Divinity always murmurs, without ever ceasing. But do you know what it says in its murmuring? ‘Love! Love toward the creature!’ And the ardor of Our Love is so great, that in Our continuous murmuring We overflow with Love, and We form such gigantic waves as to be able to drown Heaven and earth, and all creatures [i.e., human beings], all with Love. And seeing that they do not let themselves be filled completely with Our Love, with the desire to see creatures overflow with Our Love, the delirious Love forms within Us; and in Our delirium, putting the human ingratitude aside, and murmuring, We repeat more loudly: ‘Love! Always love to the one who denies and does not take Our Love to let herself be loved and give Us love.’“ [MT]
There is only one who does not freely receive God’s love. Not one individual, but one species. “The creature” signifies a human being, taken either individually or collectively as a species (“man”).
15. Volume 26, August 12, 1929
I was doing my round in the Divine Volition, and my sweet Jesus, drawing me outside of myself, made me see the whole Creation in the act of coming out of His creative hands. Each thing carried the mark of the creative hand of its Maker, therefore everything was perfect, of an enchanting beauty. Each created thing was animated by vivid light, either as property of nature given to it by God, or indirectly, communicated by one who possessed it. Everything was light and beauty. But amid so much light and enchantment of beauty, one could see a black speck, which appeared so ugly, especially being in the midst of so many works, so beautiful, majestic and refulgent. This black speck aroused terror and compassion, because it seemed that, in its own nature, God had not created it black, but beautiful; even more, it once was a work of the most beautiful created by the Supreme Being.
…
“We are inseparable from Our works, and We like them so much that We delight in doing them continuously, and this is why they maintain themselves majestic, beautiful, fresh, as if, there and then, they were receiving the beginning of their life. Look at them – how beautiful they are; they are the narrators of Our Divine Being and Our perennial glory. But amid so much glory of Ours, look – there is the black speck of the human will. Loving man with greater love, We endowed him with a free will, but, abusing, he wanted to breathe and palpitate in his human will, not with Ours, and therefore it changes continuously to the extent of blackening, losing its beauty and freshness, and it reaches the point of losing the Divine Life in its human nature.
So, who will put to flight the thick darkening of the human will? Who will give back to it the freshness, the beauty of its creation? The acts done in Our Divine Will. They will be light which will dispel the darkness, and heat which, molding it with its heat, will destroy in it all the bad humors that have rendered it ugly. The acts done in my Will will be the rebound to all the human acts done with the human will. This rebound will restore the freshness, the beauty, the order, as the human will was created. Therefore, many acts are needed, done by the creature in Our Divine Volition, in order to prepare the counterpoison, the beauty, the freshness, the act opposite to everything evil that the human will has done. Then will Our works in Creation appear all beautiful; the black speck will disappear, and it will convert into a point, the most luminous one, in the midst of the magnificence of Our created works; and Our Divine Will will take the dominion of all, and will reign on earth as It does in Heaven.” [MT]
Again, man’s returning to the Divine Will is a sufficient condition for the Divine Will taking “the dominion of all.” This means that there are no fallen intelligent creatures in the physical universe other than man.
16. Volume 27, November 14, 1929
“The first rights of how all things were created, including man, are sacred, are holy and just; and, with justice, all should stick to the first act, as they were created. Only man was unable to maintain for himself the great honor of the way he was created by God; but this cost him so much, and therefore all evils swooped down upon him.” [MT]
17. Volume 28, November 20, 1930
“And since my Will fills heavens, sun, sea and everything, even though they do not have reason, they are dominated freely by the powerful Strength and Reason of my Fiat, from which they never moved away.
Therefore, in the name of the heavens, sun and everything, you can, by right, ask for Its Kingdom, because the smallest thing as well as the greatest, animated and dominated by my Divine Will, is always superior to man. In fact, without It [the Divine Will], man occupies the last place; he is the degraded one and the most humiliated in the midst of all created things; he is the neediest, the poorest who, in order to live, has to stretch out his hand to all created things to receive the charity of their beneficial effects.” [MT]
If there were other fallen beings in the physical universe besides man, he would not occupy the “last place”, nor would he be the “neediest” or “most humilitated” or “poorest” in the universe.
18. Volume 29, May 31, 1931
“The sea, as it murmurs, the water, as it gives itself to creatures, the earth, as it becomes green and produces plants and flowers – so many multiple acts of my Will do they perform. My Will is the motor of everything and keeps all Creation in act of doing Its Will; and this is why they are all happy, they never lose their place of honor, nor are they subject to dying – because my Will operating in created things gives them perennial life. Only the creature, the one who was to make the greatest display in doing a continued act of my Will, is the only one that goes out of the motor of It, and reaches the point of placing herself against a Will so holy.” [MT]
To repeat: “the creature” is man.
19. Volume 30, April 2, 1932
“My daughter, all the works of Our Supreme Being are perfect and complete – none of Our works is by half. The Creation is all complete and perfect; even more, there are many things which are not of absolute necessity, but like luxury and pomp of Our power, love and magnificence. Should man alone, for whom all things were created, remain like an incomplete and imperfect work of Our own, without the purpose for which he was created – which is for Our Fiat to have Its Kingdom in each creature? And this, because he sinned and remained stained and degraded, which rendered him like a collapsing house, exposed to his thieves and enemies – as if Our Power were limited and did not have all the power to do what It wants, the way It wants it, and when It wants it? Whoever thinks that the Kingdom of Our Will cannot come puts Our very Supreme Power in doubt. We can do anything; We might lack the willingness, but when We want it Our Power is so great, that whatever We want We do – there is nothing that can resist before Our Power.” [MT]
20. Volume 31, September 8, 1932
“My daughter, created things were made by Us in order to form many ways, so that man might make use of them in order to come to Us. In fact, We left them all open, so that, whenever he wanted to come, he would have no need to knock, or to open in order to come to Us. He was Our son – it was right and reasonable that he would have all the ways open to go to His Celestial Father and spend time with Him, to love Him and be loved, and, as son, to ask Him for graces and favors. But do you know what the ungrateful son did? He himself shut the ways closed, formed the bars and, by sin, formed the doors, closing the correspondences with the One who had given him life. Now, do you want to know who returns to open the doors, to burn up the bars? One who loves Me and lives in my Divine Will. The love and my Fiat are the powerful forces that burn and empty everything, and open all the ways, so as to place the distant child once again in the arms of his Celestial Father.
21. Volume 33, May 12, 1934
“[A]ll things, and the very human nature, draw from the eternal motion of God, in such a way that everything revolves around Him. The whole of Creation, the breath, the heartbeat, the blood circulation, are under the empire of the eternal motion; and since everyone and everything receives life from this motion, they are inseparable from God; and as they have life, so do they revolve around the Supreme Being with a unanimous race. So, the breath, the heartbeat, the human motion – it is not in their power to breathe, to palpitate, to move; whether they want it or not, given the incessant motion of the Eternal One, they too feel the incessant act of breathing, of palpitating and of moving. It can be said that they live life together with God and with all created things, which revolve around Him without ever stopping.
Only the human will, as We had created it with the great gift of the free willing, that it might tell Us, freely, that it loved Us – not because it was forced, as the breath is forced to breathing, or the heart to beating and to receiving the motion of its Creator; but out of its wanted will, not forced, it might love Us and remain together with Us, to receive the operating life in Our Volition… [ellipsis in original] It [The Divine Volition] was the greatest honor and gift We gave to the creature, and she, ungrateful, moves away from Our union and inseparability, and therefore from the union of all and of everything, and therefore she gets lost, she degrades herself, becomes debilitated, loses the one strength, and is the only one in the whole Creation to lose her race, her place of honor, her beauty, her glory, and goes wandering, shifted from her place that she has in Our Will, which calls her, longs for her to be at her place of honor. So, all have a place, even the human breath and heartbeat; and since everyone and everything has a place, they never lose life and their incessant motion – none of them feels poor, weak, but rich in the eternal motion of their Creator. Only the human will, because it does not want to be in the royal place of the Divine Volition is the lost one and the poorest of all …” [MT]
22. Volume 36, April 25, 1938
“This is why I call the creature [i.e., the human being] to live in Our Will – so that she may be sustained and strengthened by It, and so give honor to Our creative work. In fact, only man is voluble, while all Our other works never change: the heavens are always fixed, nor do they tire of remaining stretched out; the sun always runs its course, nor does it ever change the action of giving its light for the good of all the earth; the air is always in act of letting itself be breathed. All things remain just as they were created by Us, and they keep doing the same action. Only man, by not wanting to live in Our Divine Will, descends from the manners of his Creator and is incapable of bringing his works to completion, therefore he can’t love them or appreciate them, nor can he receive the merit of his works.” [MT]
Conclusion
My stated objective was to demonstrate that
Luisa Piccarretta’s clear and consistent position throughout the Book of Heaven is that man is the only fallen EIC (as per Thesis A)
This was acheived in the previous section. An overabundance of evidence was given in support of this point. There is no room for doubt.
Fr Iannuzzi’s position is that ETIs exist and that some of them are fallen
This was acheived in the section just before that, entitled “Quotations from Fr Iannuzzi on fallen aliens”. An overabundance of evidence was given in support of this point also. There is no room for doubt.
Fr Iannuzzi therefore (i) contradicts Thesis A and (ii) in this respect departs from the cosmology outlined in the Book of Heaven.
This has been acheived. The conclusion follows from the previous two points, both of which have been demonstrated.
How far does Iannuzzi depart from the cosmology outlined in the Book of Heaven in general? That is another question, which we have not addressed here. To begin to answer it, we would have to ask whether Iannuzzi’s belief in ETIs (not just fallen ETIs) contradicts Luisa’s cosmology. Toward the beginning of this article I indicated in passing that there is no room in Luisa’s cosmology for the existence of embodied intelligent creatures other than man. However, I didn’t provide any evidence for this. This will be the objective of a future research article.
In a follow-up article I will
discuss the significance of Iannuzzi’s (very obvious and very public) departure from the cosmology outlined in the Book of Heaven, in light of the fact that Iannuzzi is an internationally renowned scholar, expert, teacher and champion of the spirituality of Luisa Piccarreta, and
draw attention to some of the negative aspects of this bizarre and unfortunate situation.
Final Comments
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