The Vatican might make “spiritual abuse” a new Catholic crime

Pope Francis has asked the Vatican to look into whether the Catholic Church should make “spiritual abuse” a new crime so that priests can’t use fake mystical experiences as an excuse to hurt other people.

The Vatican’s doctrinal office announced the move, but it didn’t name any specific cases of abuse. However, the Vatican has had to deal with a number of these kinds of cases in the past few years.

The statement says that on November 22, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, who is in charge of the Church’s teachings, met with Francis to talk about the idea for a new crime called spiritual abuse. It was said that the pope told Fernandez to look into the matter with another Vatican office.

The news release cited new Vatican rules, passed in May, on how to evaluate alleged supernatural events. These rules said it was “morally grave” to use alleged spiritual experiences to control other people.

Rev. Marko Rupnik is a well-known Catholic artist and former leader of a spiritual community in Rome. He is accused of abuse in a high-profile case. About 25 people, mostly former nuns, have accused him of different kinds of abuse.

Someone who used to be a nun said in February that Rupnik made her have sex with him and another woman, saying that it was out of devotion to the Holy Trinity.

It is known that Rupnik has not said anything public about the claims. In July, though, the center he ran in Rome put out a letter saying that Rupnik “had always firmly denied” the charges.

In June 2023, Rupnik was kicked out of the Catholic Jesuit order, and in October of that year, the Vatican began looking into his actions again.

Rupnik was last seen serving as a minister in Slovenia, where he was born and raised.