Vatican May Consider Adding ‘Spiritual Abuse’ to Its List of Recognized Crimes
The Catholic Church has been embroiled in numerous scandals concerning clergy members who exploited fabricated mystical experiences to inflict harm. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
The Catholic Church has encountered numerous scandals involving clergymen who employed fabricated mystical experiences to harm individuals.
Pope Francis has asked the Vatican to consider the classification of “spiritual abuse” as a criminal act, with the aim of preventing priests from misusing alleged mystical encounters to inflict harm on others.
Recently, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, who leads the Vatican's doctrinal department, convened with Pope Francis to discuss this proposal and subsequently issued a communiqué to address an ongoing debate among canon lawyers regarding the notion of “false mysticism.”
Following their meeting on Friday, the Pope instructed Fernandez to work with another Vatican department for further development of the proposal, as noted in a statement. This initiative may lead to the establishment of “spiritual abuse” as an official crime within Church law, rather than simply an aggravating factor related to other offenses.
The communiqué pointed to updated guidelines that the Vatican approved in May, highlighting that “the use of purported supernatural experiences or recognized mystical elements as a means of or a pretext for exerting control over people or carrying out abuses is to be considered of particular moral gravity.”
Although the document from the doctrinal office did not specify any particular instances of such abuse, the Catholic Church has been embroiled in various scandals in recent years involving priests who have perpetrated abuses under the guise of false spiritual and mystical experiences.
One highly publicized case involves Reverend Marko Rupnik, a prominent liturgical artist and former leader of a spiritual community in Rome, who faces allegations of sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse involving approximately two dozen women and at least one man over three decades.
One alleged victim, a former Jesuit, recounted to Italian media outlet Domani last December that Rupnik had coerced her into sexual acts with him and another nun, insisting it was a form of devotion to the Holy Trinity. Rupnik “had always firmly denied” the accusations, according to the center he once directed in Rome.
In another case, Third Order Franciscan Father David Morrier, a former chaplain at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, pleaded guilty in 2022 to sexually abusing a university student.
The victim reportedly informed the court that Morrier had subjected her to “deliverance sessions” and “exorcisms” where she was “forced to endure hands violating me because ‘this is what God revealed to in prayer.’”
Morrier avoided rape charges and was sentenced to five years of probation as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
Pope Francis has asked the Vatican to consider the classification of “spiritual abuse” as a criminal act, with the aim of preventing priests from misusing alleged mystical encounters to inflict harm on others.
Recently, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, who leads the Vatican's doctrinal department, convened with Pope Francis to discuss this proposal and subsequently issued a communiqué to address an ongoing debate among canon lawyers regarding the notion of “false mysticism.”
Following their meeting on Friday, the Pope instructed Fernandez to work with another Vatican department for further development of the proposal, as noted in a statement. This initiative may lead to the establishment of “spiritual abuse” as an official crime within Church law, rather than simply an aggravating factor related to other offenses.
The communiqué pointed to updated guidelines that the Vatican approved in May, highlighting that “the use of purported supernatural experiences or recognized mystical elements as a means of or a pretext for exerting control over people or carrying out abuses is to be considered of particular moral gravity.”
Although the document from the doctrinal office did not specify any particular instances of such abuse, the Catholic Church has been embroiled in various scandals in recent years involving priests who have perpetrated abuses under the guise of false spiritual and mystical experiences.
One highly publicized case involves Reverend Marko Rupnik, a prominent liturgical artist and former leader of a spiritual community in Rome, who faces allegations of sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse involving approximately two dozen women and at least one man over three decades.
One alleged victim, a former Jesuit, recounted to Italian media outlet Domani last December that Rupnik had coerced her into sexual acts with him and another nun, insisting it was a form of devotion to the Holy Trinity. Rupnik “had always firmly denied” the accusations, according to the center he once directed in Rome.
In another case, Third Order Franciscan Father David Morrier, a former chaplain at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, pleaded guilty in 2022 to sexually abusing a university student.
The victim reportedly informed the court that Morrier had subjected her to “deliverance sessions” and “exorcisms” where she was “forced to endure hands violating me because ‘this is what God revealed to in prayer.’”
Morrier avoided rape charges and was sentenced to five years of probation as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
