False Mysticism, Spiritual Abuse, and the News

“Vatican to consider classifying ‘spiritual abuse’ as a new Catholic crime” was in my Google News feed this morning.

“Vatican to consider classifying ‘spiritual abuse’ as new Catholic crime“
Joshua McElwee, Reuters (November 26, 2024)

“Pope Francis has asked the Vatican to study whether the Catholic Church should classify ‘spiritual abuse’ as a new crime in order to address cases where priests use purported mystical experiences as a pretext for harming others.

“A statement from the Vatican’s doctrinal office announcing the move did not name any specific cases of such abuse, but the Vatican has had to deal with several in recent years….”

After giving the Reuters article a quick read, I did what I usually do when this sort of thing happens: check out what the Church says it said.

Turns out, there’s a bit of a history there, starting with these items:

• The Holy See (Vatican.va)
  • The Roman Curia
    • Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
      • “‘Foglio’ for the Audience with the Holy Father: ‘False Mysticism and Spiritual Abuse’” (November 22, 2024)
      • “Norms for proceeding in the Discernment of alleged Supernatural Phenomena” (Presentation: Listening to the Spirit Who Works in the Faithful People of God) (May 17, 2024)
  • Pius XII (260th Pope of the Catholic Church) (March 2, 1939 – October 9, 1958)
    • “Haurietis Aquas“, on devotion to the Sacred Heart (May 15, 1956)
    • “Mystici Corporis Christi“, on the Mystical Body of Christ (June 29, 1943)
  • Pius XI (259th Pope of the Catholic Church) (February 6, 1922 – February 10, 1939)
  • “Mens Nostra“, on the promotion of the Spiritual Exercises (20 December 20, 1929)

A little more checking showed me that the phrase “false mysticism” has showed up before this year. The earliest one I found was in Pope Pius XI’s “Mens Nostra”, written in 1929.

Bear in mind that I didn’t spend much time looking: that’s just what was near the top in my search results. And I was only looking for documents in my native language, English.

Updating and Clarifying the Rules: Again

This month’s “‘Foglio’ for the…” is fairly short, but includes this bit of background:

“…However, in the new Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, the DDF specified 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’ (Art. 16). This consideration allows the situation described here to be evaluated as an aggravating circumstance if it occurs together with delicts….”
(“‘Foglio’ for the Audience with the Holy Father: ‘False Mysticism and Spiritual Abuse’” (November 22, 2024))

As near as I can figure, what Reuters called a proposed “new Catholic crime” is more like a clarification of terms that we’ve been already been using.

Along with a strong recommendation that folks in the Dicastery for Legislative Texts study that part of our rules, and come up with specific ways they can be updated.

If this sounds like I’m not shocked, horrified, revolted, and ready to stop being a Catholic: that’s because I’m not.

First, I became a Catholic because I finally realized who’s got the authority our Lord gave Peter; and second — well, that’s pretty much it.

Besides, I know a little about our history.

We’ve been around for two millennia now.

Folks — clergy included — have misbehaved before. That doesn’t make it right: but it does take the edge off the blind panic I might feel, when I learn that another individual who should have known better acted badly.

And I’m well aware that we’ve been changing and clarifying the rules since day one. Good grief, some of that’s in the New Testament’s letters.

I’m just glad that, possibly because there’s so much post-election hysteria grabbing headlines, this “spiritual abuse” thing isn’t center stage at the moment.

Mentioning a Mystical Mistake

This month’s “Foglio” also mentions — and quotes — what Pope Pius XII said about another recurring problem we have.

This one isn’t so much about abuse, spiritual or otherwise, as it is about the squeamish notion that ‘spiritual’ folks shouldn’t — no, I’ll let Pope Pius XII say it:

“…It is wrong, therefore, to assert that the contemplation of the physical Heart of Jesus prevents an approach to a close love of God and holds back the soul on the way to the attainment of the highest virtues. This false mystical doctrine the Church emphatically rejects as, speaking through Our predecessor of happy memory, Innocent XI….”
(“Haurietis Aquas“, on devotion to the Sacred Heart, Pope Pius XII (May 15, 1956))

Trying to believe that God made a horrible mistake when He created the physical world isn’t a problem with me.

No great virtue, that. I like being a spiritual/physical hybrid.

And anyway, there’s the matter of trying to believe that God makes any sort of mistake. The workaround for that is insisting that there are two gods: a good guy god and a bad guy god, which has been done: and that’s a whole mess of topics I won’t dive into today.

More-or-less-related posts:

• “‘Dilexit nos’: New Encyclical From Pope Francis”
  (October 24, 2024)
• “Principles, Priorities, Politics: and Being Catholic”
  (September 21, 2024)
• “Truth, Beauty, and the Evening News”
  (June 15, 2024)
• “Pope Francis and an Open Catholic Church”
  (August 12, 2023)
• “Jesus, Human on His Mother’s Side: the Incarnation”
  (December 25, 2021)