The Holy See has declared that Cardinal Fernandez’s Dicastery does not have the competence to judge Fr. Rupnik, since the possible victims are neither minors nor people with habitually imperfect reason; therefore, he should be judged by the Dicastery for Consecrated Life.
Newsroom (06/02/2024 16:59, Gaudium Press) On 30 January, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a clarification note on “vulnerable adults”.
The note pointed out that with the implementation of the motu proprio “Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela” in May 2010, the Dicastery acquired competence “to deal with offences against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue committed by clerics with persons who habitually have an imperfect use of reason”, a competence that was confirmed in the revision made to this document in 2021.
Meanwhile, it was clarified that with the enactment of the motu proprio “Vos Estis Lux Mundi”, “the concept of vulnerable adult was introduced into canon law, encompassing ‘any person in a state of illness, physical or mental disability, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits the capacity to understand or to will or, in any case, to resist the offence’ (art. 1, § 2, b VELM)”.
Thus, “vulnerable adult” encompasses a broader category than the cases assigned to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is restricted to minors under the age of 18 and people with imperfect use of habitual reason. “Therefore, other cases are dealt with by the competent bodies, as established in art. 7, § 1 of the VELM.”
The application of this note is significant, as already reported by the Holy See and evidenced in the “Rupnik case”, which involved the former Jesuit accused of abuses against dozens of ex-religious women. Given that the possible victims are neither minors nor people with habitually imperfect reason, Fr. Rupnik would be judged by the Dicastery for Consecrated Life.
Considering the determination of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in October 2022, that the facts for which Fr. Rupnik was accused were “time-barred” and that no trial could proceed, it is pertinent to ask: on the basis of what competence was this decision made? In fact, this turned out to be a decisive determination, for which today the same Dicastery declares that it has no competence.
There is yet another technical-legal issue that continues to be relevant in legal proceedings.
On 27 October, Sala Stampa released a statement in which Pope Francis asked “the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case” of Fr. Rupnik and decided to “suspend the statute of limitations to allow a process to be carried out”. The question that arises is whether this revocation of the statute of limitations also applies to a possible process in another Dicastery, such as that for Religious, or whether the Pope should issue a new pronouncement on the matter if the abuses investigated are statute-barred.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
