Question:
Answer:
The Book of Azariah is written by Maria Valtorta, who has shown herself to be an unreliable author on Catholic matters. Her multi-volume work, The Poem of the Man-God , has been discredited by the Holy See on more than one occasion, as then Cardinal Ratzinger, serving as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reaffirmed in 1993:
The “visions” and “dictations” referred to in the work, The Poem of the Man-God, are simply the literary forms used by the author to narrate in her own way the life of Jesus. They cannot be considered supernatural in origin.
The Book of Azariah is based on an alleged series of dictations that Valtorta said came from her guardian angel, whom she referred to as “Azariah.” This book, like Valtorta’s multi-volume Poem of the Man-God, has never received any Church approval. Consequently, stick with the four gospels and the works of approved Catholic authors for genuine edification.
It should be reiterated that alleged “visions”, “revelations,” and “messages” contained in the writings of Maria Valtorta—or, in any case, attributed to them—cannot be regarded as having a supernatural origin. Rather, they should be considered simply as literary forms that the author used to narrate the life of Jesus Christ in her own way.
In its long tradition, the Church does not accept as normative the apocryphal gospels and other similar texts since it does not recognize them as divinely inspired. Instead, the Church refers back to the sure reading of the inspired Gospels.