The Vatican has set up a commission to study whether so-called “false mysticism” can be a crime. Until now, there is no penal provision on the subject in Canon Law.
There is concern that this problem has been the precursor to spiritual and even sexual abuse. For this reason, the dicasteries of the Doctrine of the Faith and of Legislative Texts will work together to study whether this crime can be classified.
Furthermore, there is an additional problem: that so-called “false mysticism” has been loaded with too many different meanings throughout history, making it necessary to clarify them.
CARD. VÍCTOR MANUEL FERNÁNDEZ
Prefect, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
The expression "false mysticism" has been used so much and in so many different senses - in some senses a theologian said one thing, and then, in another sense, a theologian said another thing; then canonists give it one meaning, others expand on it and say something different. But for us, because of the confusion, it is an expression that should not be used…. We must explain clearly what the crime is.
The approval for this commission was given by Pope Francis, who is not the first to address false mysticism. Some of his predecessors did so as well, with Pope Innocent XI and Pope Pius XII as examples.
CA
TR: GS
