He died on the evening of Good Friday, in his home in Desenzano del Garda, a few days before his 85th birthday. Vittorio Messori, Catholic journalist and writer among the most influential on the Italian and international cultural scene, he told the faith to millions of people. Born in Sassuolo (Modena), the same town that gave birth to Cardinal Camillo Ruini, on 16 April 1941, he converted from atheism to Catholicism in July 1964. Of his journey conversion derived from direct readings of the Gospels and which he then deepened thanks to the readings of Blaise Pascal and the Christology courses for lay people at the Pro Civitate Christiana in Assisi, he tells in his book, which became a best seller, Hypotheses on Jesus, published in 1976. In Assisi he also met the writer Rosanna Brichetti with whom he married in 1996 after obtaining the declaration of nullity of his previous marriage. In the years of his conversion he began his work with the Sei publishing house, starting to collaborate with various newspapers.
The success of the book Ipotesi di Gesù, which the publisher had initially published in less than three thousand copies and which instead sold out in a short time, recommending not only reprinting, but also translating into different languages for the international publicwill lead him to a period of reflection. He asked for a six-month leave of absence and retired to a house without a telephone in Monferrato. It was in this period that Don Giuseppe Zilli, historic director of Famiglia Cristiana, went to look for him. Together with Don Antonio Tarzia, Don Zilli was thinking about the creation of Jesus, the monthly religious information magazine. Messori agreed to support Don Tarzia for the release of the first issue, which many will remember with the provocative cover of Jesus in a suit and tie, which saw the light in January 1979. Since then Messori collaborated with the magazine for 22 years, editing the column “Dialogues with Jesus”, in which he discussed with agnostics, atheists and believers of other faiths. Column that later became another best seller: Investigation into Christianity. During the period of collaboration with our monthly magazine, the volumes Patì sotto Ponzio Pilato? were also born. (1992) and They say he is risen (2000), while in 2005 the publication Ipotesi su Maria was taken from the other column “Marian Notebook”.
A few years after the beginning of the collaboration with Jesus, he published again for Sei Messori Bet on death, another book destined for success, in which he denounces the inhumanity of Marxism.
In 1985, for the Pauline editions, and thanks to the insistence of Don Tarzia, he published a work that marks the history of the contemporary Church: “Report on faith”. A long interview with the then cardinal Joseph Ratzingerprefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The volume, which caused confusion but also criticism for its condemnation of liberation theology, was the result of a long meeting in August 1984 in a closed wing of the seminary in Bressanone. He was also the first journalist to carry out a long interview with John Paul II (Crossing the Threshold of Hope).
Having retired to Desenzano, Vittorio Messori, on April 16th four years ago, lost his wife Rosanna (author of the autobiographical book Una fede in due. My life with Vittorio). He continues to dedicate himself to prayer and meditation while also building a small chapel dedicated to the Madonna dell’Ulivo in the Maguzzano Abbey, on Lake Garda. A little church built, as he himself said, “piece by piece” according to a design he had in mind to prepare for the encounter with the Jesus who had fascinated him so much. Almost a spiritual testament for one of the clearest and most passionate pens who never stopped seeking the truth.
