Vatican suppresses Argentine order following abuse investigations

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has formally suppressed Miles Christi, an Argentine religious order active in the United States, following years of investigations into abuse and misconduct among its ranks.

The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life ordered the suppression Feb. 19, with Pope Francis approving the decision earlier on Feb. 6, according to a letter signed by Auxiliary Bishop Mauricio Landra of Mercedes-Luján, the papal delegate tasked with overseeing the suppression of Miles Christi.

The letter was made public March 6 by AICA, the news agency of the Argentine bishops' conference.

"Taking into account the delicacy and complexity of the situation, so that everything may be carried out with justice and charity, in order to execute the decision taken by the Holy See, we entrust this time to Mary, mother of the church," it said.

The suppression follows years of scrutiny into the order. In February 2020, Pope Francis expelled from the priesthood Roberto Juan Yannuzzi, the founder of Miles Christi, after he was found guilty of sexual and physical abuse.

When he was archbishop of La Plata, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, now prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, released a statement announcing that the pope had dismissed Yannuzzi from the clerical state after he was found guilty of "crimes against the Sixth Commandment with adults, absolution of the accomplice and abuse of authority."

Canon law classifies sexual abuse under the Sixth Commandment, which says, "You shall not commit adultery." The phrase "absolution of the accomplice" indicates that the priest attempted to grant forgiveness to his victim in the confessional.

Yannuzzi founded Miles Christi in the Archdiocese of La Plata in 1994, with the order dedicated to "the sanctification of the laity, especially young university students," according to its website.

Miles Christi has communities in the Archdiocese of Detroit and in the Diocese of San Diego, from which members of the order travel to preach the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and minister to college students. According to its website, members of Miles Christi have led the spiritual exercises in over 40 locations across the United States.

Concerns about Yannuzzi's conduct were first reported in 2016, when members of the order alerted then-Archbishop Fernández of La Plata about "irregularities, abuses of authority and sexual abuse with adults." Archbishop Fernández subsequently informed the Vatican, triggering a canonical investigation.

The Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life appointed then-Bishop Jorge García Cuerva of Río Gallegos, now the archbishop of Buenos Aires, as the pontifical commissioner for Miles Christi in 2022, effectively giving him the responsibilities of the order's superior general.

The suppression of Miles Christi is the latest in a series of Vatican actions against religious institutions whose founders and-or leading members engaged in or covered up abuse. In January, Pope Francis and the dicastery ordered the suppression of the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, while also appointing delegates to oversee the men's and women's branches of the Argentina-based Family of the Incarnate Word.