A PADRE PIO TYPE CALLED FATHER GINO WOULD BE A SAINT TODAY ONLY HE GOT CAUGHT
Padre Pio had things set so getting caught out would have been unlikely. He wore mittens. The wounds were easy to make for they were shallow. People ignored red flags. For example, he claimed to have remarkable ability to control pain and yet screamed in the doctor's surgery if the examination of the "wounds" was taking place. There was the stench of perfume and people just took his word for it that he was not spraying it.
Unlike many other saints or near-saints, this man was caught out. If luck had been on his side as it was for many spiritualist frauds, he would never have been found out.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has handed down a stiff
sentence against Fr. Gino Burresi. The transgressions? The same ones charged
against Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the powerful Legionaries of Christ
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, July 28, 2005 – On July 19, the Catholic newspaper "Avvenire" published
the following note from the general secretariat of the Italian bishops'
conference (CEI):
... the CEI has made it known that Fr. Gino Burresi, founder the Servants of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, must leave the ministry and retire to private life.
Among the reasons for the action taken, the decree from the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith cites abuses in confession and spiritual direction. But
Vatican sources have confirmed that to these reasons must be added the
accusations of sexual abuse made against Fr. Burresi by some men who were his
followers and seminarians during the 1970's and '80's.
The Vatican decree has not been made public. But the American weekly "National
Catholic Reporter" obtained a copy of it, and their correspondent John L. Allen
gave a report of it in his newsletter "The Word from Rome" on July 22.
The decree against Fr. Burresi is the first to have been issued by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during the pontificate of Benedict
XVI. And it is the first to bear the signature of its new prefect, former San
Francisco archbishop William J. Levada (see photo). It was personally approved
by the pope on May 27, when he received in an audience the secretary of the
dicastery, archbishop Angelo Amato. The pope's approval "in forma specifica"
does not admit appeal.
As a decree issued against the founder of a religious order on the basis of
accusations going back decades for sexual abuse carried out against his
followers, the decree against Fr. Burresi recalls an analogous case, but one of
much greater significance. It, too, is being examined by the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith: the case of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of
the Legionaries of Christ.
And it is not out of the question that the severity adopted against Fr. Burresi
is the prelude to similarly rigorous actions against Fr. Maciel.
* * *
Fr. Burresi, who is now 73 years old, was until 1992 a member of the Oblates of
the Virgin Mary, an order founded in 1816 by Italian priest Bruno Lanteri. A man
with a great devotion to the revelations of Fatima, Burresi became a priest at a
relatively advanced age, in 1983, but even before this he had gained great fame
as a mystic and spiritual director, as well as for the stigmata and visions.
In a small way, his popularity resembled that of Fr. Pio of Pietrelcina. And not
really in too small a way: hundreds of persons from Italy and beyond came to him
every day seeking comfort, including high-ranking prelates, politicians, and
ambassadors. From the faraway Philippines, then-president Corazon Aquino sent
one of her messengers to have a rosary blessed by this man in the odor of
sanctity.
His headquarters were in the countryside below Tivoli, just outside of Rome, in
the area of San Vittorino, where there stands today a Marian shrine in the form
of a cone made of glass and cement. It was built with the contributions from
devotees. "Brother Gino," as everyone called him, initially received his
visitors in a small structure made of wood and sheetmetal, but the congregation
of the Oblates replaced this with an international seminary. Because Fr. Burresi
was also a great magnet for vocations to the religious life.
This was until May of 1988, when first two and then five more of his young
followers put an end to the enchantment. They told the superiors of the
congregation that on a number of occasions the priest had lured them to his room
and abused them sexually. When they were set down in writing, their accounts
were a mixture of fascination and self-blame. For example:
"Fr. Gino was kissing me, and at the same time he was saying wonderful, holy
things: 'Let yourself be touched by God. Loving is not a sin.' I was confused
and paralyzed. I knew that he was a stigmatist, someone who had direct contact
with the Virgin Mary. So I felt that I was wrong, that he could not be like I
thought he was, because if he had been that way God would not have chosen him as
his minister on earth. I said to myself: Look at how evil and rotten I am, I see
malice even in the affectionate embraces of a saint."
After they assessed the accusations, the superiors of the Oblates took immediate
action. On June 6, 1988, they put Fr. Burresi on a flight to Vienna, and
transferred him to the monastery of Loretto in Austria. The next day the
superior general of the order, Julio Cura of Argentina, sent the dossier of the
accusation to the prefect of the Vatican congregation for religious, who at the
time was cardinal Jérôme Hamer.
But the secretary of that congregation at the time was Vincenzo Fagiolo, a
future cardinal, who sympathized with the accused. "He came to me often for
confession," Fr. Burresi quickly revealed. He, in the meantime, had already left
behind the borders of Austria and had come back into Italy, to Montignoso di
Gambassi Terme, in the diocese of Volterra in the region of Tuscany. He resides
there to this day.
The fact is that the Vatican put under investigation both Fr. Burresi and the
superiors of the Oblates, appointing as inspector Marcel Gendrot, a member of
the Company of Mary. After an investigation lasting two months, Gendrot
concluded in favor of Fr. Burresi's return to San Vittorino, and wrote a note
reprimanding the superiors of the order.
The superiors then appealed to pope John Paul II. Their appeal, dated November
22, 1988, fills three pages. It lists the accusations: consummated homosexual
acts with numerous young men, kidnapping for sexual purposes, violation of the
seal of the sacrament of confession. It rebukes the inspector, Gendrot, for
covering up the investigation. It asks the pope to take the responsibility for
the case away from Hamer and Fagiolo, and to give it instead to the prefect of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at that time, Joseph Ratzinger,
or to a special commission.
The reply came on the following January 3: appeal denied. And not just that. Fr.
Cura and the other superiors of the Oblates were dismissed from their positions
of authority. Gendrot was promoted from inspector to commissioner for the order.
The case remained in the hands of Hamer and Fagiolo. The only concession made
was a supplementary investigation entrusted to three cardinals who have since
died: Giuseppe Caprio, Opilio Rossi, and Luigi Dadaglio. They listened to only
one of the seven initial accusing witnesses (in the end there were eleven of
these). One year later, in February of 1990, they concluded by permitting Fr.
Burresi to stay where he was, in Montignoso, and to continue his work there,
with the sole stipulation that he could no longer work with young men pursuing
vocations.
But Fr. Burresi took initiative on his own. In 1992 he left the Oblates and
founded a new congregation, the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with
branches for both men and women. Today the order counts 150 members.
Five years later, however, in 1997, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith opened another investigation on him. The case was concluded on May 10,
2002, with a decree signed by Ratzinger and by the secretary of the dicastery at
the time, Tarcisio Bertone, who today is the cardinal archbishop of Genoa.
The sentence takes into consideration the fact that the accusations were made
past the statute of limitations, so it neither condemns nor punishes Fr. Burresi.
But the 20-page report accompanying the decree – which is also in the possession
of the "National Catholic Reporter" – contains passages worth citing. It was
signed by the four prelates charged with carrying out the investigation, headed
by Velasio De Paolis, who today is a bishop and the secretary of the Supreme
Tribunal of the Apostolic Segnatura.
The report lists the accusations against the priest: violation of the seal of
the confession, the illegitimate use against the penitent of confidential
information revealed during confession, defamation, violation of the right to
privacy, incitement to disobedience against superiors, false mysticism, and
claims of apparitions, visions, and supernatural messages.
It admits that the statute of limitations has passed on the matters contained in
the accusations. But it nonetheless asks the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith to provide for administrative sanctions against Fr. Burresi. For this
reason:
"It should not be forgotten that during this process some [of Fr. Burresi’s
followers] said that the accused ‘would come out of it triumphant, more esteemed
than ever, and thus without any shadow, indeed more glorious than before’. [They
said] ‘that the secretariat of state defends Fr. Gino, thus victory is assured.’
If no new limitation is applied to his ministerial liberty simply due to the
fact that the proven offenses have been prescribed [by the statute of
limitations], probably the sentence of this court will be used as an instrument
of propaganda in favor of the accused. He will be able to continue to do harm to
those psychologically weak persons who place themselves under his spiritual
direction."