We reproduce here the article by IDEAL de Granada, published on February 5, 2025. The authors are Pilar García-Trevijano and M. Victoria Cobo.
GRENADE. The Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) is a religious order of Argentine origin, ultra-Catholic and critical of the current leadership of the Church that landed in Granada in 2010. The previous archbishop, Francisco Javier Martínez, authorized them to manage the parish of Santo Ángel Custodio del Zaidín and the adjoining parish house at a time when there is a lack of vocations to keep the temples open. His activity in the province had gone unnoticed by those outside the temple until a few months ago. Some parishioners have denounced the order and one of its priests to the Archbishopric for alleged abuses of power, improper handling of money, manipulation or the practice of esoteric rites and exorcisms without permission.
The provincial vicar superior of the IVE in Spain, José Vicchi, confirms to IDEAL that the order transferred the priest H. L., who was parochial vicar of Zaidín, in the summer. The order states that they are aware that there is an open investigation by the Archbishopric, but refuses to make further assessments. The congregation, surrounded by controversy since its origin, has been characterized by its disobedience and is currently intervened by the Vatican.
The faithful who frequented the parish of Zaidín consider that the IVE “does not represent Catholic values and functions as a sect”. The devotees, disenchanted and disillusioned with the performance of their parish, began to unite to bring to light some of the alleged irregularities, which led to the action of the Archbishopric. IDEAL held a meeting with three of the complainants and they gave their testimony, although they prefer to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. They claim that they are pressured by members of the community, “spurred on by the IVE and its religious.”
After the complaints and denunciations of the parishioners, this media has contacted the Archbishopric, both with the institution and with those responsible for the investigation, which falls on the chancellor, the vicar general and chaplain, who have refused to declare or give their version of the facts.
“The Archbishopric has nothing to say about it,” the institution has formally told IDEAL. However, they have not denied the accusations against the IVE. In the same way, this media has asked if the parochial vicar is still linked to the archdiocese and the reasons why he would have been removed from the community without having received a response. In the same vein, the Episcopal Conference refers to the Archbishopric. IDEAL has also contacted the parish priest of the Santo Ángel Custodio del Zaidín (J.L.L), who answers to the IVE, and has refused to comment on the matter. This media has tried to know the version of the priest denounced without result.
The parochial vicar, who was practically a charismatic leader for the faithful, left in July. According to the version of the complainants, it was then that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, an ecclesiastical tribunal, made the decision to remove the priest.
The believers of the parish did not receive an accurate explanation then, it was simply warned that man had to change his destiny. The former vicar would have been forbidden to have contact with lay people and administer the sacraments, at least until the facts are clarified. Otherwise, he will risk being excommunicated and reduced to the lay state.
The people of the congregation, both its clerics and the nuns, the servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matará, allegedly used their authority and the respect that the pious had for him to influence and manipulate them psychologically, especially the most vulnerable people, in order to obtain donations. The priest would have practiced exorcisms and prayers of liberation without having permission from the Archbishopric. On these points, the Archbishopric has refused to pronounce itself.
Conviction for abuse
The parishioners want to thank the Archbishopric for its action and the investigation they are carrying out to clarify the situation. “We believe that these people do not respect the Church or Catholic values. We trust that everything will be resolved for the good of the entire community of this parish of Zaidín, which is badly influenced and that the order will lose its power in Granada,” they conclude. For now, the complaint has only been made through the ecclesiastical route. Sources from the National Police tell IDEAL that they have not registered complaints about the IVE.
The scandals of the order transcend the borders of Granada. In Spain he accumulates various accusations and, in fact, the Vatican has recently intervened in the congregation. It is not the first time. In 2016 and 2019 Rome also had to intervene in the order. In 2021, its founder, Carlos Buela, was convicted by the Special Ecclesiastical Criminal Court for sexually abusing seminarians, “a crime against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue, committed with violence” “against five members and former members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word,” according to the dicastery’s order.
On December 8, the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, a tribunal that is responsible for ordering religious congregations that are part of the Catholic Church, again took the decision to control the congregation. The decree, in the possession of this newspaper, points out that for “many years the Apostolic See has been following with great attention the delicate situation of the IVE,” in matters of “formation, religious discipline, apostolate and government.” This department of the Holy See has detected “a great weakness in the formation process” that the religious receive from the organization and “that must be identified as one of the factors that has determined the high number of dropouts from the Institute, which since its inception has lost about 40% of its members.”
He also highlighted a scant attention to the constitution of communities, “often made up of only two members, or of isolated priests with a pastoral task, to the detriment of fraternal life in common”, which constitutes one of the essential elements of religious life. In Granada, for example, the order is made up of two priests and several nuns exclusively.
On the other hand, the dicastery, fed up with the disobedience of the congregation, “considers necessary an ecclesial conversion” on the part of the entire body of the IVE, which “entails the real and concrete availability and willingness to listen to and accept the directives of the Church, overcoming a behavior of absolute resistance to any change.”
In fact, he argues that the IVE presents its founder “as a priest unjustly persecuted by the Holy See, and the victims are considered false and insincere.” “The two Institutes organize pilgrimages to his tomb and his writings have been republished and disseminated,” the Vatican argues in the letter in the possession of this media. For all these reasons, Rome has appointed pontifical delegates to give an account of the organization’s activity and “promote effective change.” In the same way, it forbids them for a period of three years to accept new candidates and to admit new religious to the novitiate. The delegates are José Antonio Satué, bishop of Teruel, together with another priest and two nuns.
Origin and scandals of a controversial order
It was founded in March 1984, but it was not until 2004 that Rome canonically erected it as a religious institute of diocesan right. It is currently widespread in 44 different countries. The IVE began in the city of San Rafael in Argentina as a small group of priests and seminarians started by Father Carlos Buela, ordained in 1971. The Argentine bishops were concerned about the bias of that group and Rome expelled them from their formation centers [NOTE FROM THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE BLOG: this data is not true. We are not aware that this has happened.] But they finally got the backing of an Italian bishop who helped them grow. Of strict morals, he accumulates numerous complaints from his faithful.
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