Vatican Confirms Argentine Priest Carlos Miguel Buela Guilty of Sexual Abuse and Violence

The Vatican has confirmed that Argentine priest Carlos Miguel Buela, who founded two religious orders, committed crimes of sexual abuse and violence against several individuals, according to one report. Buela founded the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) and the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará (SSVM). A second report says he died in Genoa, Italy, in 2023, and the first report likewise gives 2023 as the year of his death. Both institutes had been placed under the authority of the Holy See.

According to the second report, Buela had been accused of sexual abuse by nearly 20 seminarians since the 2000s. It says the Holy See acknowledged the allegations in December 2016 and determined Buela’s responsibility for certain acts. The protection of people who cannot defend themselves is at the center of this case, a principle reflected in the duty to speak for the vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The second report states that the Special Criminal Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal established moral certainty regarding Buela’s responsibility. It says the courts found he was responsible for acts constituting a crime against the sixth warrant, committed with violence against multiple persons, under canon 1395 of the Code of Canon Law. The first report does not mention these courts and describes the Vatican’s determination in broader terms. These accounts are not identical, and this article reports each as its source states it.

On September 14, the superiors of both institutions gathered in Rome, according to a statement by the two delegates issued on a Tuesday. The first report says Simona Brambilla, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, was present, and that the meeting was the venue for the official communication of the Vatican’s conclusion. The second report says the final conclusions were communicated by Pontifical Delegates to the provincial superiors of both institutes in Rome on that date.

The second report also says the official document confirming guilt was signed by Brambilla, along with Pontifical Delegates José Antonio Satué Huerto and Clara Echarte. The first report identifies Echarte as a delegate of the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matará and Satué Huerto as a delegate of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. The first report also says a general Argentine archbishop close to the pope has admitted errors in the handling of the case.

The first report states that the Vatican is still finalizing its findings on the case. This statement differs from the description of the matter as confirmed in the same report and in the second report, and the discrepancy has not been resolved by the sources provided.