A group working to define and classify the crime of spiritual abuse in Canon Law is making progress, with its leader confirmed despite being transferred to another department. Source: Crux.
Pope Francis, in November 2024, authorised the creation of a working group to classify the crime of spiritual abuse in canon law, entrusting the task to both the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) and the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, and chaired by the latter.
As the then-prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Italian Archbishop Filippo Iannone was named president of the working group.
However, after Pope Leo XIV last month appointed Archbishop Iannone as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, the working group was left without a president.
In a communique published on Tuesday, Argentine Cardinal Victor Fernandez, prefect of the DDF, said that the group has been “working fruitfully” and he requested that Archbishop Iannone, despite being transferred out of Legislative Texts, “be confirmed as head of this team”.
That request was approved by Pope Leo during an October 10 audience with Cardinal Fernandez, meaning the study group will continue working with Archbishop Iannone at the helm, avoiding any potential delay in the process.
Pope Leo’s appointment of Archbishop Iannone as his own replacement in the Dicastery for Bishops came as a surprise to many, however, the fact he put a fellow canonist in the position was seen as an act of continuity with the curial reforms of Pope Francis, as Archbishop Iannone was involved in canonical restructuring of the curia, and it has also been interpreted by some observers as a bid of support to the study group’s work.
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Group defining crime of spiritual abuse making good progress, cardinal says (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
