Vatican considers classifying ‘spiritual abuse’ as crime
Date
11/30/2024 1:55:46 PM
(MENAFN) Pope Francis has instructed the Vatican to consider whether “spiritual abuse” should be formally recognized as a crime within Church law, aiming to prevent priests from exploiting alleged mystical experiences to manipulate or harm others.
Last week, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, head of the Vatican’s doctrinal department, met with the Pope to discuss the issue. Following their meeting, they issued a statement emphasizing the need to address the issue of "false mysticism" in the Church. Fernandez was tasked with collaborating with another Vatican office to further explore the matter, with the goal of potentially classifying "spiritual abuse" as a crime in its own right, rather than just an aggravating factor in other offenses.
The Vatican’s updated guidelines, approved in May, highlighted that using claimed supernatural experiences or mystical elements to control or abuse others is of significant moral seriousness. Although the communiqué did not reference specific cases, the Church has faced multiple scandals involving priests who allegedly used false spiritual experiences to justify abuses.
One prominent case involves Reverend Marko Rupnik, a famous liturgical artist and former leader of a spiritual community in Rome, who is accused of sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse over three decades. Another case involved Father David Morrier, a former chaplain at Franciscan University of Steubenville, who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse after claiming that his actions were divinely inspired during deliverance and exorcism sessions.
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