Doctrine dicastery overturns Vatican ruling in priest laicization case

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s doctrine office has mandated the laicization of an Argentine priest accused of sexually abusing minors, overturning a surprise ruling from the Vatican Secretariat of State that imposed limitations on the priest’s activities.

In an Oct. 8 communiqué published via the news service of the Argentine bishops’ conference, Archbishop John Kennedy, head of the disciplinary section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the information regarding the restrictions placed on a priest specified by the Secretariat of State were “voided” and confirmed previous rulings for his laicization.

The case involves former Argentine priest Ariel Alberto Príncipi, who was accused in 2021 of sexually abusing minors while performing “healing prayers” associated with a Catholic charismatic movement. In June 2023, a local interdiocesan court found Príncipi guilty of sexually abusing minors and ruled for his removal from the priesthood. This decision was upheld on appeal by the interdiocesan court of Buenos Aires in April 2024.

Yet in a Sept. 23 message, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute secretary for general affairs at the Vatican Secretariat of State, informed the local bishop that the ruling had been suspended as part of an “extraordinary procedure” following new evidence submitted by Argentine bishops and laypeople in June and July 2024.

Archbishop Peña, considered to hold the third-highest ranking position in the Vatican, wrote that new restrictions were imposed on Príncipi Sept. 20 which prohibited him from contact with minors and exercising pastoral ministry but still permitted him to celebrate Mass privately.

Just two weeks later, Bishop Adolfo Uriona of Villa de la Concepción del Río Cuarto, which was Príncipi’s diocese, said he had received a communiqué from Archbishop Kennedy, which “confirmed the sentence of expulsion from the clerical state for Mr. Príncipi.” The interdiocesan court’s 2023 decision “should be considered valid in all its parts and, consequently, the case has been closed,” the message said.

The dicastery’s message clarified that the “extraordinary process conducted outside the scope of the Dicastery, the conclusions of which were communicated on September 23 of this year, has been voided.”

“The Secretariat of State has communicated that the cause is once again subject to the ordinary process in this Dicastery, according to the norms foreseen by Church Law,” the dicastery wrote in its message.

Matters related to abuse and the disciplining of clergy are not among the responsibilities assigned to the Secretariat of State under the 2022 apostolic constitution “Praedicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”), which was issued by Pope Francis.