On Monday, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published a corresponding discussion draft on its websitewhich Cardinal Prefect Víctor Manuel Fernández presented to Pope Francis in an audience last week.
According to this, the Dicastery for Legislative Texts has set up a working group made up of representatives from both dicasteries and chaired by the Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislation in order to draw up a draft law. The dicasteries have not yet published a timetable.
According to the discussion draft, the term "false mysticism" appears in the rules of procedure of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in which the authority is assigned the task of dealing with "problems and behaviours related to the discipline of the faith, such as cases of pseudo-mysticism, alleged apparitions, visions and messages attributed to a supernatural origin".
This refers to spiritual ideas "that damage the harmony of the Catholic image of God and our relationship with the Lord", Fernández explains in the discussion draft.
"False mysticism" not yet in the church's penal code
However, there is currently no criminal offence in canon law that makes "false mysticism" a punishable offence, although the term is used by some canon lawyers in connection with acts of abuse.
It is therefore currently only possible to take "false mysticism" into account when assessing the seriousness of other offences, but not to punish such behaviour per se.
In his submission, Fernández argues in favour of a criminal law regulation of "spiritual abuse" in order to legally define the broad and ambiguous term "false mysticism".
In recent years, prominent cases and allegations of abuse have repeatedly been made public in which sexualised violence was justified spiritually by the accused. Examples of this are the allegations against the ex-Jesuit Marko Rupnikwhere sexualised violence and abuse of power are said to be part of his creative process in the production of works of art, or the case of the founder of the case of the founder of the spiritual community "Family of Mary".
Former members of the community had accused him of inadmissibly mixing pastoral care and leadership of the organisation he founded.
German bishops have already dealt with spiritual abuse
At the beginning of the year, Cardinal Fernández had already announced that the Church had become more vigilant with regard to this phenomenon.
"Today we are more vigilant than before when it comes to the possibility of mystical or spiritual elements being used to exploit or even abuse people," he told a US church newspaper and announced that his dicastery would look into the matter.
Last year, the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) published a working aid on dealing with clerical abuse published last year.
It states that the prosecution of clerical abuse under church law is only possible to a very limited extent: "This is because clerical abuse as a complex system is not qualified as a criminal offence either in church criminal law (reformed version of 2021) or in the state criminal code."
The working aid lists the abuse of knowledge acquired in confession, abuse of office and breaches of official duty, violation of the confidentiality of confession, violation of good reputation and the coercion of sexual acts as regulations in church criminal law that partially cover clerical abuse.