Litigation shuts down site critical of Vassula

[Salpy]

This is a shame.  The heretic Vassula, through litigation, has finally succeeded in shutting down a very useful website that was set up to warn people about her.  It is going to shut down at the end of May:

http://www.infovassula.ch/tliglawsuit2.htm

The history of litigation:

http://www.infovassula.ch/tliglawsuit.htm 

What a cowardly way to deal with criticism.  I wonder if Vassula is claiming that Christ told her to file the lawsuits.  :  I feel bad for the poor Christian woman who owns the website, Maria Laura Pio.  She has worked so hard to help others avoid falling into the trap of Vassula's heresy, and she has suffered for her efforts.  I think she needs our prayers.

 

[podkarpatska]

Which is why, in the United States of America, our Supreme Court had the wisdom years and years ago, in Times v. Sullivan, a landmark freedom of the press case to set forth the 'actual malice' test. The actual malice standard requires that the plaintiff in a defamation or libel case prove that the publisher of the statement in question knew that the statement was false or acted in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity. Because of the extremely high burden of proof on the plaintiff, and the difficulty in proving essentially what is inside a person's head, such cases—when they involve public figures—rarely prevail. This woman, by her conduct and self-promotion over the years, would surely have met the 'public figure' threshold in the States and this case would have been dismissed or not even been brought.

 

[Salpy]

I am very thankful for my first amendment rights.  I feel very sorry for Ms. Pio.  It seems all she did was reprint a translation of a document by the Ecumenical Patriarch dealing with Vassula.  It was translated by a Greek man to say that she was excommunicated.  Vassula claims that it is a mistranslation, and that it is really an accusation of heresy.  As if that is any better.  :

At least that is my understanding of the first lawsuit.  If I got this wrong, someone please correct me, but it seems all Ms. Pio did was reprint a translation made by someone else, and because Vassula disagreed with the translation, Ms. Pio was sued.  I don't think the guy who did the translation was sued, but I could be wrong.  I am assuming he was not sued because he lives in the US, where the free speech protections are stronger.  Again, someone correct me if I got this wrong.

It seems the latest lawsuit has to do with Ms. Pio using Vassula's name in her website.  If I understand correctly, it's like Vassula is claiming some sort of trademark rights over her name and she is suing Ms. Pio for using it.  Or something stupid like that.  I think this lawsuit is the final straw and Ms. Pio is just going to take down her website.

This really is too bad.  Ms. Pio's website was a great resource.  You could periodically check it to see what the latest was on Vassula and her heretical happenings.  Ms. Pio was also good about collecting every instance of when a bishop or patriarch warned against Vassula.  It was just a good resource on Vassula, and I don't know of any others that will take its place.

I wish Ms. Pio well, and I hope that the harassing litigation did not take too much of a toll on her.  It must have been very distressing.  She's posted the letters and documents from the suits on her site and people may want to have a look at them before the site goes down.  Reading them, you really get a feeling of how bizarre Vassula is.  Here's an example from the first lawsuit:

[4] The letter sent to me by Mrs Ryden's lawyers begins as follows: "Mrs Vassula Ryden is the author of a work titled True Life in God: a divine dialogue which contains many messages designed to promote the reunification of the Christian Churches under the authority of the Pope and the Foundation's founder [= Vassula]".

http://www.infovassula.ch/thenarrowdoor.htm

And to think that after Ms. Pio's website closes, there won't be any other good resources available to counter this heretic's activities.  Very sad.

 

[Asteriktos]

What a cowardly way to deal with criticism. 

:

 

[Salpy]

A Catholic website has an article about it:

Catholic World News

Legal action by Vassula Ryden shuts down critical web site

CWN - May 11, 2012


Vassula Ryden, a Swiss mystic who has claimed to receive personal messages from Jesus, has taken legal action to shut down a web site operated by one of her critics.

Maria Laura Pio, who operated a site that provided information and analysis critical of Ryden’s alleged visions, has announced that she will shut down the site at the end of May 2012, after receiving a letter from an attorney in Wales threatening legal action against her. The attorney claimed that Pio’s site, entitled “infovassula,” misleads visitors by creating the impression that it is authorized by Vassula Ryden.

Pio, who had already successfully defended herself against a similar legal action brought by Ryden in Belgium, announced on her site that “I do not have the means financially nor mentally to face another lawsuit,” so she has acceded to the lawyer’s demands.

Read the rest here:

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14282&amp

 

[Salpy]

This is all reminding me of how Scientology sues its critics in order to destroy them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_and_the_legal_system

According to a U.S. District Court Memorandum of Decision in 1993, Scientologists "have abused the federal court system by using it, inter alia, to destroy their opponents, rather than to resolve an actual dispute over trademark law or any other legal matter. This constitutes 'extraordinary, malicious, wanton, and oppressive conduct.' ... It is abundantly clear that plaintiffs sought to harass the individual defendants and destroy the church defendants through massive over-litigation and other highly questionable litigation tactics. The Special Master has never seen a more glaring example of bad faith litigation than this."[5] Rulings such as this have classified the Church of Scientology as a chronically vexatious litigant.

It is beyond me how someone can engage in this sort of activity and then claim they are acting on behalf of Christ.

 

[stanley123]

It is beyond me how someone can engage in this sort of activity and then claim they are acting on behalf of Christ.

Yes, it seems like  Christians should be able to resolve their differences in a spirit of goodwill and charity by calmly and respectfully talking to one another and reaching some sort of compromise agreement. It seems wrong for Christians to publicly fight one another by filing frivolous lawsuits at the slightest perceived injury.But frivolous lawsuits are being filed all the time.

 

[Salpy]

It is beyond me how someone can engage in this sort of activity and then claim they are acting on behalf of Christ.

Yes, it seems like  Christians should be able to resolve their differences in a spirit of goodwill and charity by calmly and respectfully talking to one another and reaching some sort of compromise agreement. It seems wrong for Christians to publicly fight one another by filing frivolous lawsuits at the slightest perceived injury.But frivolous lawsuits are being filed all the time.

Very true, as we can read in 1 Corinthians, chapter 6.

 

[DerekMK]

It is beyond me how someone can engage in this sort of activity and then claim they are acting on behalf of Christ.

I agree with you about the MP...oh wait, never mind. 

 

[Salpy]

The website is down now.

It is a pity that something like this could happen. 

 

[Salpy]

Here is an article about it:

http://catholiclight.stblogs.org/archives/2012/05/free-speech-par-1.html

 

[Salpy]

The website is back up with a different owner and name:

http://www.pseudomystica.info/tlighome.html

Here is some information about the new owner of the site:

François-Marie Dermine, a Dominican priest of Canadian origin, is a professor of moral theology at FTER (the Faculty of Theology of Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, Italy), a member of the executive council of GRIS
(Group of Research and Social-Religious Information), consultant to the Italian Bishops’ Conference for questions on alternative religions, co-director of the review Religioni e Sette nel mondo [Religions and Sects in the World], and official exorcist for his own diocese. He is author of numerous articles on alternative religions and of the following publications, of particular importance for the subject of the present investigation: Vassula Ryden – Indagine critica [Vassula Ryden – A Critical Examination] (Elle di Ci, 1995) and Mistici, veggenti e medium – Esperienze dell’aldilà a confronto [Mystics, Visionaries and Mediums – Comparison of after-life experiences] (Libreria editrice vaticana, 2002). He is co-author of L’estasi [Ecstasies] (Libreria editrice vaticana, 2003).

http://ephesians511blog.com/2013/04/10/the-critical-web-site-on-vassula-ryden-is-back-online/

 

[PJ]

A Catholic website has an article about it:
...
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14282&amp

I notice this paragraph:

In 1995 the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a warning about the work of Vassula Ryden, saying that her visions should not be regarded as supernatural, that her statements contain doctrinal errors, and that she has been “creating an ecumenical disorder” by sharing regularly in the sacraments of the Catholic Church although she is Greek Orthodox. The Vatican statement instructed bishops “that no opportunity may be provided in their dioceses for the dissemination of her ideas.”

I wonder what kind of the reaction there was from Catholics (including Catholics on a Catholic forum I frequent) to the Vatican saying that Ryden was “creating an ecumenical disorder” by sharing regularly in the sacraments of the Catholic Church.

 

[rakovsky]

Announcement On Vassula Ryden By The Ecumenical Patriarchate

we denounce from the Mother Church Vasiliki Paraskevis Pentaki - Ryden, widely known as "Vassula", and her organization founded under the title "True Life In God" which rashly and frivolously proposes teachings based on the supposed "direct dialogue between her and the Founder of the Church Jesus Christ our Lord", and those conquered by her and the supporters of "True Life In God", which deviate arbitrarily from the God-given teaching of the Church,

...

We express, lastly, the profound sorrow of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the acts of some - fortunately few - clergy of the Orthodox Church to be found at talks of the said "Vassula" and give to her a "certificate of Orthodoxy."
http://www.impantokratoros.gr/ecumenical_patriarchate_vasoula.en.aspx

From 1999:

Spiritual "Awakening?"

 

[PeterTheAleut]

^ OK. Why are you resurrecting this thread after its 3-year hiatus just to say what little you say above? Is there a new development to report about Vassula?

 

[rakovsky]

^ OK. Why are you resurrecting this thread after its 3-year hiatus just to say what little you say above? Is there a new development to report about Vassula?

I think that the EP's decision is important.

I am not sure that I could claim that her new "messages" or her tours really count as new developments though.

Feb 13 2016 The Lord gives us an Urgent Prayer (February 13, 2016)
http://www.tlig.org/en/messages/recent/

http://www.tlig.org/en/messages/1149/

Philippine Daily Inquirer
08:35 AM January 1st, 2016

Spiritual interaction

I joined the speaking tours of Vassula Ryden, Christina Gallagher and Julia Kim, among others, and wrote extensively about them—and June was so happy that the Inquirer, with Letty’s full support, made many readers aware of the key spiritual insights the visiting visionaries had to share.

Read more: http://entertainment.inquirer.net/186847/the-love-we-share-for-dearest-letty#ixzz4550dlNTD
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

 

[PeterTheAleut]

^ OK. Why are you resurrecting this thread after its 3-year hiatus just to say what little you say above? Is there a new development to report about Vassula?

I think that the EP's decision is important.

In context, yes. That context passed many years ago.

 

[Elisha]

^ OK. Why are you resurrecting this thread after its 3-year hiatus just to say what little you say above? Is there a new development to report about Vassula?

I think that the EP's decision is important.

In context, yes. That context passed many years ago.

+1.

Let the dead stay dead.