About me​

 

• Research Focus​

• Publications and Contributions

  • Books

  • Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

  • Articles in Research Repositories

  • Articles on This Website

  • Forewords to Books

  • Conference Presentations

• Scholarly Mentions 

• National and International Media Mentions 

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Research Focus 

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I hold a Master's degree in Humanities and teach professionally. My research focuses on the historical-critical analysis of religious phenomena believed to be supernatural. A specialist in Medjugorje, I have also turned my attention to other cases and topics, of which I have studied some specific and significant aspects: the Shroud of Turin, Guadalupe, Rue du Bac, La Salette, Maria Valtorta, Tre Fontane, Amsterdam, Kibeho, Anguera, and Civitavecchia.

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Publications and Contributions​​​​​​​​

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Books

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In 2007 I published my first volume on Medjugorje, followed eleven years later by a revised and updated edition entitled La verità su Medjugorje  [The Truth About Medjugorje] (Lindau, 2018).

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Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

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“Le fonti dell’opera di Maria Valtorta: un’indagine preliminare” [The sources of Maria Valtorta’s work: A preliminary investigation], Rivista di storia del cristianesimo 23, no. 1 (2026): 130–151.

The journal, which uses double-blind peer review, is placed in Class A by ANVUR (the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research Systems) in the field of history and is indexed in ERIH PLUS.

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​ABSTRACT

In the 1940s, the mystic Maria Valtorta, claiming to have written without referencing any books, composed a voluminous account of the lives of Jesus and Mary, now published under the title The Gospel as Revealed to Me. The lengthy narrative, allegedly based on her own personal revelations, is filled with a wealth of specific details that require specialized knowledge across a wide range of disciplines. This article represents the first documented attempt to identify the printed sources from which Maria Valtorta, beyond any reasonable doubt, drew the information and ideas that she later incorporated into her work. Two sources have been identified here: an encyclopedic biblical dictionary published in France around the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and, for a specific section of the work, a famous historical novel that was among the books in her possession.

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​​​​Articles in Research Repositories

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​My articles deposited in the Knowledge Commons repository, organized by theme:

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The Shroud of Turin

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• Images Not Made by Human Hand? (2024). DOI: 10.17613/pex4f-6s664

• The Shroud: The True and Unfounded History​ (2024, upd. 2025). DOI: 10.17613/322ya-4x944

• The Shroud and the Pray Codex Illusion​ (2024)​. DOI: 10.17613/emq3x-xnr40

• The Shroud: A Western, Late-Medieval Iconography​ (2024). DOI: 10.17613/273p2-s1r27

• Sindonology: Apologetic by Nature? (2025)​. DOI: 10.17613/jwz23-mza37

 

 

​​​​​​Guadalupe​

• Apparitions and Legends​ (2022). DOI: 10.17613/feha8-zzj45

• Juan Diego's Tilma: An Image of Miraculous Origin? (2023)​. DOI: 10.17613/bzh7q-qa617

• The Miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Emergence of the Legend (2024). DOI: 10.17613/hc4g8-er887

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Rue du Bac (in Italian)

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• Caterina Labouré, la Medaglia miracolosa e le profezie a fatti compiuti (2022). DOI: 10.17613/aqpmy-3xw69​

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​​​La Salette (in Italian)

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• La Salette e le lettere cadute dal cielo (2023). DOI: 10.17613/gtx5h-2ty24​

• La Salette e le fantasie fatate (2023). DOI: 10.17613/2h4g5-ffs71

• Le irrilevanti profezie di La Salette (2023). DOI: 10.17613/pzeta-hbx28​

• Mélanie Calvat aveva le stimmate? (2023). DOI: 10.17613/gb5cp-nn262​

• Mélanie Calvat: umiltà o autoesaltazione? (2023). DOI: 10.17613/xhda7-zp177​

• "Qualche giorno fa ho visto Maximin..." (2023). DOI: 10.17613/1gv68-q3z67​

• La Salette: non "segreti" ma credenze già diffuse (2023). DOI: 10.17613/t04h2-byb64​

• I "segreti" di La Salette: prevedere... il passato (2023). DOI: 10.17613/w56y8-r5549​

• 1858: Mélanie Calvat cambia versione (2023). DOI: 10.17613/6fydn-msr96​

• Mélanie Calvat e i segreti rimaneggiati (2023). DOI: 10.17613/n44nv-q6m47

• La Salette e le ingannevoli profezie sull'imperatore (2023). DOI: 10.17613/kvzk5-sct64

• L'approvazione e la rischiata sconfessione di La Salette (2023). DOI: 10.17613/t2j2e-1fz85

• Dopo La Salette: 150 anni di proliferazione dei "segreti" mariani (2023). DOI: 10.17613/68hvw-ev719

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​Tre Fontane (in Italian)

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• Uno sguardo critico su Bruno Cornacchiola e Luigina Sinapi (2021, upd. 2025). DOI: 10.17613/dnb9m-fye94​​​

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​Amsterdam (in Italian)

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• ​​Le inesistenti profezie di Ida Peerdeman (2021). DOI: 10.17613/1wp79-28t76​​​

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Kibeho (in Italian)

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• La facile profezia di Kibeho (2021). DOI: 10.17613/nwwap-v1060

 

 

Anguera (in Italian)

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• Anguera: come inventare profezie (2022, upd. 2026). DOI: 10.17613/wwd05-d3v03

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Articles on This Website

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Medjugorje

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• The Church's Position on Medjugorje: Critical Issues and Inconsistencies (2024, upd. 2026)

• Did the Medjugorje Seers Get Rich? An Analysis of Ecclesiastical and Media Sources (2011, upd. 2025)

• The Medjugorje Ten Secrets and The Seers' Contradictions (2008, upd. 2026)​

• Vicka Ivanković: Her Reaction to the 1985 Test and an Incongruent Justification (2009, upd. 2017)

• Marija Pavlović: The Fabricated 1988 Message (2008, upd. 2009)

• Tomislav Vlašić: Praised by Our Lady of Medjugorje and Then Excommunicated (2008, upd. 2025)

• Father Jozo Zovko: Testimonies and Contradictions (2020, upd. 2025)

• Our Lady of Medjugorje and Support for Disobedient Friars (2020)

• The Medjugorje Message “All Religions Are Equal” (1981): Apologetic Reinterpretations and Unreliable Corrections (2020)

• The Medjugorje Seers and Fr. Michele Barone: The Gospa's Silence (2019, upd. 2026)

• Sun Miracles Explained (2008, upd. 2018)

• Medjugorje: Responses to Saverio Gaeta's Apologetic Objections (2020)

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Civitavecchia (in Italian)

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• La Madonnina di Civitavecchia: lacrime e illusioni (2008, upd. 2024)

 

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Forewords to Books​​​​​​​​

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I prefaced the books:

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• Ratko Perić (Bishop Emeritus of Mostar), Virgin Most Prudent: On Medjugorje Out of Love for the Truth, Tonimir, 2026.

• Giorgio Gagliardi, La Madonna negata, Vertigo, 2023 (see:​ Received from Dr. Giorgio Gagliardi, Coordinator of Scientific Medjugorje Commission).

• Donal A. Foley, Comprendere Medjugorje: visioni celesti o inganno religioso?, Cantagalli-Eupress FTL, 2017.

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Conference Presentations

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I was a speaker at the International Conference "Manipulation, Abuse and Maltreatment in Groups" (Trieste, Palazzo dei Congressi – Stazione Marittima, July 4-6, 2013, organized by ICSA – International Cultic Studies Association), with the talk "The Hidden Roots of Medjugorje".

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Scholarly Mentions​

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My work has been cited in:

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• Marijana Belaj (University of Zagreb), Milijuni na putu. Antropologija hodočašća i sveto tlo Međugorja, Jesenski i Turk, 2012, pp. 84, 90-91, 172, 195.

• Elke Pahud de Mortanges (University of Freiburg), "Wie halten Sie es mit Privatoffenbarungen?“, in H. Wolf (ed.), "Wahre“ und „falsche“ Heiligkeit, Oldenbourg Verlag 2013, p. 129.

• Manfred Hauke (Faculty of Theology of Lugano), Le prime “apparizioni” della “Gospa” a Medjugorje e la loro valutazione. Breve status quaestionis, in "Rivista Teologica di Lugano", XXIII, 2, 2018, pp. 435, 437, 439, 450, 459.

-----, Recensioni: Marco Corvaglia "La verità su Medjugorje. Il grande inganno" , in "Rivista Teologica di Lugano", XXIII, 3, 2018, pp. 673-675.

-----, Innere Widersprüche und Schönfärberei. Die vatikanischen Äußerungen vom 19. September 2024 über Medjugorje, in "Sedes Sapientiae Mariologisches Jahrbuch", 28, 2024, pp. 184-185.

• Francesco Ferrari (Universidad Católica de Colombia, Bogotá), Le "apparizioni" della Madonna a Medjugorje tra la dissoluzione della Jugoslavia e la guerra in Bosnia (1981-1995), in "Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni" - Sapienza University of Rome, n. 85/2, 2019, p. 799.

• Joachim Bouflet (former consultant for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints), Impostures mystiques, Cerf, 2023, pp. 222, 227, 231, 232, 357, 360.​

• Ratko Perić (Bishop Emeritus of Mostar), Djevice premudra: O Međugorju iz ljubavi prema istini, Tonimir, 2024, pp. 46-47, 53, 62, 64, 81, 93, 135-136.

• Ksenija Borojevic (University of Massachusetts, Boston), El fenómeno de la Madonna de Medjugorje: peregrinaciones, turismo religioso y pandemia,  in O. Molina Palestina (ed.), Peregrinar desde casa, Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior, Ciudad de México 2025, p. 186.

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National and International Media Mentions

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• El Mundo, El milagro económico de la Virgen Bosnia, 5 September 2010.

• Rai News, L'Inchiesta (written by Flaviano Masella), 16 June 2011.

• Radio Vaticana, Medjugorje – maszk nélkül (Hungarian-language programming, by Fr. Szabó Ferenc), 1 March 2012.

• Rai 3, La Grande Storia — Medjugorje: la Storia e la Fede (written by Fania Petrelli), 1 August 2014.

• Rai Radio 1, Radio anch'io (hosted by Giorgio Zanchetti), 24 June 2015.

• The New York Times, Church Inquiry May Pit Pope Against a Popular Bosnian Shrine, 27 August 2015.

• Catholic News Agency (CNA) Deutsch, Hintergrund: Sind die mutmaßlichen Marienerscheinungen in Medjugorje übernatürlich?, 31 July 2026.

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Personal ORCID profile