The Vatican Court has acquitted Fr. Hermann Geissler from sexual allegations made against him, after conducting a trial. He is a former Vatican official and member of the religious community Familia spiritualis Opus (FSO).
It comes after he had originally been accused in 2014 by a woman, from the same community, of sexual harassment during confession years beforehand.
The preliminary investigation had been conducted by the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
In a Vatican statement released in January 2019, Fr. Hermann Geissler had submitted his resignation from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in order to lessen the scandal.
However, in the statement, the priest also maintained his innocence saying “the accusation made against him is untrue” and that “the canonical process already initiated continue.”