Maria Divine Mercy: The Book of Truth Exposed

What did Maria Divine Mercy claim?

Maybe it reached you like this. Someone from your prayer group forwards a PDF late at night. It is a small printed card in your language, headed "The Seal of the Living God", with a prayer to recite. The message says God the Father gave it for "a protection for each and every one of us and our families" in the hard times ahead. You love your family. You want them safe. Where is the harm in one more prayer?

That card came from Maria Divine Mercy. Her claims about herself were enormous. Her own website, quoted by Jimmy Akin in the National Catholic Register on 3 March 2013, said she had been told by Jesus that she was "the 7th Messenger, the 7th Angel sent to reveal to the world the contents of the Seals in the Book of Revelation" and that "she is the end time prophet." The messages, she said, had begun on 8 November 2010 and were preparing the world for "The Warning", a worldwide illumination of conscience, and then the Second Coming.

She never gave her name. The website described her as "a Roman Catholic married mother of a young family living in Europe" and said "it is the wish of Jesus that she remains anonymous to protect her family." By February 2013 Karl Keating of Catholic Answers counted "nearly 700 messages since late 2010." The Vatican journalist John Thavis later wrote that they had been translated into 38 languages and numbered more than 800, with more than 100 "crusade prayers" (as quoted by Where Peter Is, 24 April 2024).

Here is what the messages taught, in their own words as quoted by Akin:

• Pope Benedict XVI was the "last Pope on earth" and would be "ousted from the Holy See in Rome."
• The next pope would be the False Prophet: "The false prophet will now take over the Seat in Rome."
• "The three and a half years remaining in the Tribulation period commences in December 2012."
• After the Second Coming there would be an earthly reign of 1,000 years, taken literally.

Then Benedict resigned in February 2013, and the messages went viral. Mike Lewis of Where Peter Is, summarising Thavis, wrote that she "hit paydirt" in 2013 because she seemed to have foreseen it. That is the moment many good Catholics were drawn in.

What has the Church said about Maria Divine Mercy?

Every bishop's statement we could find rejects them. The record runs from 2013 to 2019 and across four continents.

Archdiocese of Brisbane, Australia (2013): Archbishop Mark Coleridge said he had examined the messages and "found them to be patently fraudulent and corrosive of true Christian faith as the Catholic Church teaches it." He noted that the seer "operates anonymously and refuses to identify and present herself to local Church authority for a theological examination," that the messages "are more likely to provoke fear rather than the peace of the Spirit," and that "they are outrageous in their claims against Pope Francis." He ruled that they "are not to be taken seriously, discussed, or distributed" in his archdiocese.

Diocese of Portland, Maine (27 August 2013): Bishop Richard Malone, then apostolic administrator, quoted Coleridge and wrote: "I hereby prohibit the dissemination or promotion of Maria Divine Mercy materials in the Diocese of Portland." He noted that because the seer used a pseudonym and stayed anonymous, "it is difficult to investigate."

Archdiocese of Dublin (16 April 2014): the statement quoted at the top of this page, from the diocese in which she "may live." Catholic World News reported the same day that the statement had special importance "because of reports that the alleged seer is Mary Carberry, a publicist who lives in Dublin."

Archdiocese of Singapore (2016): the archdiocese's Chancery warned Catholics in its newspaper, CatholicNews, about followers of "Maria Divine Mercy" who distributed "unusual devotional objects", and said her "ministry" had been rejected by Dublin and by other European, American and Australian dioceses (The Straits Times, 1 February 2016).

The Philippines (2019): on 15 April 2019 Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos wrote that "the message of Maria Divine Mercy is not to be taken seriously, discussed or distributed" in his diocese. On 29 June 2019 Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, urged the faithful to be "very careful" because such groups "bring confusion and propagate erroneous, false and distorted teachings" (CBCP News, 1 July 2019).

Catholic Answers (6 October 2023): asked whether the Seal of the Living God is true, Fr Charles Grondin answered that she "was never approved in any way, shape, or form by any Church authority" and that "all messages and associated devotions connected to Maria Divine Mercy are false and should not be used or shared."

Which Maria Divine Mercy prophecies failed?

Maria Divine Mercy attached her prophecies to popes and to dates, and that makes them easy to check. Jimmy Akin predicted this in 2013: "We're fortunate that she's associated dates with them... That provides a short shelf-life for her prophecies."

"Pope Benedict will be ousted"

Her followers call this her great hit. The messages said Benedict "will be ousted from the Holy See in Rome" through a plan hatched "within the corridors of the Vatican." On 11 February 2013 Benedict XVI announced his resignation in his own words: "with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome." He gave his reason as strength that had "deteriorated" with "advanced age." As Akin wrote, to accept her version "you must set aside Pope Benedict's own claim."

"The last Pope on earth"

The messages called Benedict "My innocent, beloved last Pope on earth." The Church has since had Pope Francis, elected in March 2013, and Pope Leo XIV, elected in May 2025. After his resignation the messages said, "They will now try to kill him." Benedict lived quietly in the Vatican for almost ten years and died there on 31 December 2022, at 95.

"The Tribulation commences in December 2012"

On her own timeline, the last three and a half years of the Tribulation began in December 2012, which, as Akin calculated, put its end around mid 2016. The years passed. There was no Warning, no conversion of "billions", no Second Coming. Her own site went dark in March 2015, before the period she had announced was even over.

"The False Prophet will sit in the Seat of Peter"

The messages said the next pope would be the False Prophet who would unite all churches into a "New World Religion." When Francis was elected, followers applied this to him. The Church's answer is that this is an attack on the pope, and Archbishop Coleridge called the claims "outrageous." Akin warned that refusing submission to the pope is schism under canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law. Pope Francis served for twelve years and died on 21 April 2025. The prophecy produced division, and nothing it described came about.

Akin's overall judgement was that the messages were "a mishmash of other visionaries' material combined with Premillennial Protestant ideas", the millenarianism the Catechism rejects (CCC 676). Our page on the millennium in Revelation explains why the Church does not read the 1,000 years as an earthly reign.

How did Maria Divine Mercy make money?

The messages were free to read. The free material brought people in, and the paid material followed. Here is what archived copies of the official pages show.

• The Book of Truth, Volume 1: €14.99. Sold in the shop on TheWarningSecondComing.com under the name ComaBooks, in a capture of 18 August 2012. The sales page asked, "Do you believe that the Second Coming of Christ will take place in your lifetime? According to this book this generation will witness the Second Coming of Christ." Later volumes followed, in several languages.
• The Crusade of Prayer book: €4.00. A booklet of the first 74 "Crusade Prayers", in a capture of 22 January 2013.
• The Medal of Salvation: €25.00 for a pack of 25. On 5 June 2014 the official site announced the medal "is now available for all countries" at salvido.com. An archived copy of that shop on 10 June 2014 shows "Medal of Salvation - Packs of 25", a "lightweight aluminum medallion", at €25.00, with a limit of eight packs per order. Salvido.com said it was a division of Unico Distribution Ltd, a company registered in England, and that the medal was "only available for sale online through the www.salvido.com website." The same shop listed a "Seal of Living God Scapular" as "coming soon".
• The Seal of the Living God: free. The seal itself was a downloadable card, posted as PDFs in dozens of languages. It travelled furthest of all: UCA News found it on sale in parish stores in Vietnam.

Look closely at the medal. The message of 18 July 2013 that created it said the medal "is to be made available in bulk and then, when received by those seeking them out, must be blessed by a priest and then given freely to others." The faithful could give it away freely only after they had bought it in packs. A later message, dated 20 January 2014, told readers: "Do not reject the Gift of the Medal of Salvation, because this final Medal... will draw billions of souls towards Eternal Life," and "Those who do reject it or try to prevent others from accepting it will deny salvation." That is salvation language attached to a product.

How much money came in is unknown. The Irish Mail on Sunday reported on 1 February 2015 that the amount the people behind the project "might be earning from donations and sales of books and medals" remained secret, and that followers were "encouraged to buy books and medals." It also reported that the movement claimed almost half a million registered followers and up to 1.2 million unique website visitors a year. No accounts showing the movement's income have been published, and this page will not guess a figure.

Who is behind Maria Divine Mercy?

The seer never identified herself. What the public record shows comes from one newspaper investigation and from Church statements that relied on it.

What was reported. On 1 February 2015 the Irish Mail on Sunday published an investigation by Michael O'Farrell. It reported that a group of Catholic bloggers had linked Mary Carberry, a Dublin public relations executive known in PR circles as Mary McGovern, to the project through Irish company records connected to businesses that profited from the website. The only time a woman speaking for Maria Divine Mercy had given an interview was in 2011, to a small US Christian radio station, where she described herself as a former "high flyer businesswoman" and an Irish mother of four. The paper recorded a conversation with Mrs Carberry and gave both recordings to a forensic audio analyst, Ed Primeau, whose report concluded: "The unknown voice matches that of the known voice beyond a 90% degree of scientific certainty."

What she said. When the paper approached her, Mrs Carberry confirmed only that she had worked for the operation: "I'm sorry. I am not going to get involved with internet trolls who are trying to destroy my life because of a job I did for somebody. That's all I have to say." She described the bloggers as "internet trolls talking a pack of lies" and declined to say what the job was or whether it included speaking as the seer on the radio. She has never publicly confirmed that she is Maria Divine Mercy.

What followed. Seven weeks later the website closed. Internet Archive captures show TheWarningSecondComing.com working normally on 17 March 2015 and replaced by 23 March 2015 with a single line: "This site is no longer in operation." No explanation was given. Catholic Answers later summed it up: "An Irish newspaper believed it found the woman behind the revelations... and shortly thereafter the associated websites were taken down." Church sources have since named her as the person believed to be behind the pen name when warning the faithful, including the Archdiocese of Singapore in 2016 and the Philippine bishops' news service in 2019.

What is unknown. Who actually wrote each message, who else ran the operation, and how much money it raised. We name only the person the newspaper and Church statements named, and we report her own words alongside the claims.

Is the Book of Truth still circulating?

Yes. The source went silent in 2015, but the messages did not. Where Peter Is reported in April 2024 that "there are countless websites and Facebook groups dedicated to MDM, some of which are still very active." The Philippine bishops warned in 2019 that her followers were active in Cebu, Iloilo, Bukidnon, Zamboanga and Batangas.

UCA News reported on 15 November 2024 that in Vietnam, "at one point, the MDM symbol, the Seal of the Living God, became popular among Christians and even found a place in parish stores," spreading especially in poor communities where evangelisation was young. It said the trend later waned. Searches in October 2026 still turn up Facebook pages and fan websites reposting the messages and the Seal as if they were new.

How can you test a seer like Maria Divine Mercy?

You do not need to be a theologian. These tests come straight from the bishops' statements above.

• The seer hides from the bishop. Archbishop Coleridge's first objection was that she "refuses to identify and present herself to local Church authority." Genuine visionaries such as St Bernadette and St Faustina submitted to examination by their bishops and confessors.
• The messages turn you against the pope. Any message that tells you the pope is false and you must follow the seer instead leads toward schism. The Church is built on Peter (Matthew 16:18), and no private message overrides that.
• The prophecies carry dates. Dated end-time predictions contradict Christ's own words: "of that day or that hour no one knows" (Mark 13:32). When the dates pass, the movement reinterprets them.
• An object promises salvation. A medal that will "draw billions of souls towards Eternal Life", a seal for "protection". Sacramentals in the Church are signs that dispose us to grace. They are never sold as a guarantee.
• Something is for sale. Books, medals, scapulars, all through companies you cannot see into. Ask who is selling, and where the money goes.
• Fear does the work. Coleridge noted that the messages "provoke fear rather than the peace of the Spirit." The fruits of the Spirit include peace (Galatians 5:22).
• The seer controls the message. The official site claimed to be "the only authorised website" and forbade republishing the messages "for sale without written permission." Heaven's messages do not come with a copyright notice.

For the biblical tests in full, read our guide to false prophets and their warning signs.

What does the Church teach about private revelations?

The Church does accept that God can speak through private revelations, and it has approved some, such as Fatima. But it sets clear limits. The Catechism teaches that private revelations "do not belong... to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history." It adds that "Christian faith cannot accept 'revelations' that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfilment" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 67).

Maria Divine Mercy claimed to be the final prophet, the one who would open the seals of Revelation. That is a claim to complete Christ's Revelation, exactly what the Catechism rules out. In May 2024 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued new norms for judging alleged apparitions, which our page on the Trevignano apparitions explains through a recent case.

Do not confuse her with the real Divine Mercy devotion. That came through St Faustina Kowalska, whose diary the Church examined and whom Pope John Paul II canonised in 2000. Karl Keating pointed out the irony in 2013: one message from a woman calling herself Maria Divine Mercy claimed that for fifty years enemies inside the Vatican had been "spreading untruths about the Mercy of God", the same fifty years in which Pope John Paul II instituted Divine Mercy Sunday. If you want the real thing, pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the prayer the Church gives you.

If you followed these messages, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You were looking for God in frightening times, and someone took advantage of that. Bring it to confession if it led you away from the sacraments or from the pope, put away the seal and the medal, and come home to your parish. Jesus warned that "false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect" (Matthew 24:24). He also promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church (Matthew 16:18).

Sources

• Archdiocese of Dublin, "Statement of Archdiocese of Dublin on the alleged visionary 'Maria Divine Mercy'", published by the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference, 16 April 2014.
• Catholic World News, "Dublin's archbishop condemns 'Maria Divine Mercy' messages", 16 April 2014.
• Karl Keating, "Watch Your Step, Sister!", Catholic Answers Magazine online, 16 February 2013.
• Jimmy Akin, "9 things you need to know about 'Maria Divine Mercy'", National Catholic Register, 3 March 2013.
• Bishop Richard J. Malone, letter prohibiting dissemination of Maria Divine Mercy materials in the Diocese of Portland, 27 August 2013, quoting Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane (CatholicCulture.org library).
• Michael O'Farrell, "The Irish dentist, PR guru and daughter linked to sect getting messages from God", Irish Mail on Sunday, 1 February 2015, republished on NewsScoops.org.
• The Straits Times, "Singapore Catholic authority warns of fake prophets and preachers", 1 February 2016.
• CBCP News, "CBCP warns against 'Maria Divine Mercy'", 1 July 2019, and "Bishop warns Catholics of 'The Book of Truth'", 17 April 2019.
• Fr Charles Grondin, "Is the Maria Divine Mercy Seal of God Real?", Catholic Answers, 6 October 2023.
• Mike Lewis, "New document from the Vatican on Apparitions and Miracles?", Where Peter Is, 24 April 2024, quoting John Thavis, The Vatican Prophecies.
• Alex Hoang, "In Vietnam, Catholic cults find fertile ground", UCA News, 15 November 2024.
• Internet Archive captures of TheWarningSecondComing.com: shop, 18 August 2012 and 22 January 2013; "Crusade Prayer (33)", 20 February 2012 message; Medal of Salvation messages of 18 July 2013 and 20 January 2014; site announcement of 5 June 2014; home page, 17 and 23 March 2015.
• Internet Archive captures of salvido.com (Unico Distribution Ltd): shop, about and product pages, 6 to 10 June 2014.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 67 and 676.

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