From The Guardian (9 september 2025)
Toronto film festival: a new film follows women who claim to have been abused by a former Jesuit priest
A complicated stain on Pope Francis’s legacy is further explored in Nuns vs the Vatican, a sensitive and unsettling documentary following women whose sexual abuse allegations were long ignored by the Catholic church, and the broader system that protects and enables predators within.
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The diocese of La Rochelle (in the department of Charente-Maritime, France) gave in to media pressure and finally issued an official statement about Father Anthony del Castillo, more than a month after our publication!
On the other hand, to have an official publication of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, we will have to wait, and wait, and wait…
The text of the press release below:
Today, August 20, 2025, the website “Catholic Response” published a statement implicating a priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, Father Anthony Del Castillo, for suspicion of abuse of power that led to sexual relations with a potentially vulnerable 18-year-old girl.
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One of the most frequent strategies of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) is to appropriate the achievements of its members and, at the same time, dissociate itself from their failures. When a priest or religious does a positive work, the Institute boasts of it as if it were irrefutable proof of the goodness of his charism and his system of formation. On the other hand, when scandals or serious falls appear, the official discourse insists that they are personal weaknesses, individual sins, without any connection to the institution.
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A few weeks ago we reported on the scandal involving Father Antony del Castillo, a priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), who had relations with a young woman of just 18 years of age in the framework of a summer oratory organized by the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matará (SSVM) in Jonzac.
At that time, the Institute reacted by urgently transferring the priest to Peru, in what seemed to be a disciplinary and preventive measure. However, reality shows another side.
Antony del Castillo himself recently posted on his Instagram account a video recorded from Peru, showing himself relaxed, speaking in French, without alluding at all to the scandal that motivated him to be evacuated from France. The publication has caused outrage among those who know the case, as it shows that there is no real sanction or recognition of the seriousness of the facts.
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Father Dwight Longenecker has been a fundamentalist Protestant pastor, an evangelical of the charismatic type, an Episcopalian, an Anglican clergyman and for many years he has been a Catholic priest, chaplain at a Catholic university and a firm defender of the Catholic magisterium.
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Recently, a serious case involving Father Antony del Castillo, a priest belonging to the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), has come to light. According to various sources, Castillo’s father would have had sexual relations with an 18-year-old girl, in circumstances that point to a possible exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
The sexual relations would have occurred in the context of the summer oratory, organized by the congregation of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará in Jonzac (Diocese of La Rochelle, in France), where the reported events took place.
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In recent weeks, two European dioceses have informed the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) that it will not be able to continue its pastoral presence in the future: Turin, in Italy, and Granada, in Spain. Although the priests of the Institute are currently still in their respective destinations, the expulsion notices have already been delivered and the news has been made public in both cases.
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Article based on a comment left by a reader.
In 1987 St. John Paul II visited the city of Mendoza (Argentina). And there the people of the Incarnate Word went. The city of Mendoza is located about 3 hours from San Rafael, the founding place of the Institute of the Incarnate Word.
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In the circles of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), it has emerged that a statue of St. John Paul II dressed in the chasuble of the institute itself has been manufactured and is destined to be installed soon in its church in Manresa, Spain.
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The abuses of power, conscience and spirituality represent a deep wound in the Church not only for the people who suffer them, but also for the communities and institutions in which they take place. These are complex dynamics that are intertwined with trust, the role of authority and human vulnerability; they often happen in areas where relationships should be a space for growth and protection. Understanding these phenomena means going beyond appearances, grasping the systemic roots that make them possible and the devastating consequences they produce in the lives of the victims, both personally and spiritually.
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