Pontifical Delegates Urge Incarnate Word Communities to Acknowledge Founder's Sexual Misconduct

Pontifical delegates overseeing the Institutes of the Incarnate Word (IVE) and the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará (SSVM) have urged members to acknowledge Church tribunals’ findings that their founder, Father Carlos Miguel Buela, committed a serious canonical offense and to distinguish the institutes’ charism from his personal conduct.
 

A letter in Spanish written by the delegates to members of the IVE was obtained from a canonical lawyer familiar with the case.
 

IVE is a religious institute founded in Argentina by Fr. Buela in 1984. It is the male branch of the overarching Religious Family of the Incarnate Word, while the other two branches founded by Fr. Buela are a female religious community, the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará (SSVM), and the Secular Third Order. In 2016, Fr. Buela was sentenced by a Vatican tribunal for homosexual conduct with seminarians. The priest was also found responsible for covering up abuse committed by IVE clergy. He was ordered to cease all contact with the IVE and its members, and was sentenced to prayer and penance. 
 

Bishop José Antonio Satué Huerto of the Diocese of Málaga, Spain, and Sr. Clara Echarte Oñate, IF, were designated by the Vatican as delegates to meet with IVE leadership.
 

In a Sept. 23 letter to members of both communities, the delegates said the findings concerning Father Buela, who died in 2023, have been a painful trial for the institutes. Some members, they noted, have struggled to accept the findings because of their personal experiences with the founder and the image of him established within the communities. The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (DIVCSVA) informed members in December 2024 that a special penal tribunal had determined, after hearing Father Buela, his lawyer and numerous witnesses, that he had committed a canonical offense against the Sixth Commandment.
 

The tribunal found that Father Buela "committed the offense referred to in Canon 1395 §2, that is, an offense against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue committed with violence," against five members and former members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. The delegates said they provided additional information about the case because of some members’ difficulty in accepting that the findings had hindered their mission. An appellate tribunal in November 2021 conducted further proceedings, including gathering documents and hearing Father Buela and witnesses presented by his defense. 
 

On March 30, 2023, the appellate tribunal affirmed the original conviction, stating: "It is established that he committed the offense provided for in Canon 1395 §2—namely, an offense against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue committed with violence, in the cases of A, B, C, D, and E; therefore, the judgment of conviction by the court in the first instance must be affirmed regarding the offense committed." The tribunal reached moral certainty regarding Father Buela’s culpability, the delegates said, but could not formally publish its judgment because Father Buela died 24 days later, on April 23, 2023. The delegates urged members to accept the Church’s findings and focus particularly on those who suffered harm. They said victims had experienced not only Father Buela’s misconduct but also, in some cases, rejection and marginalization by members of the institutes. "We must ask their forgiveness for the suffering they have endured and offer the accompaniment and support they need in their respective healing processes," the delegates wrote. The situation also requires the two institutes to examine their understanding of their founding charism, according to the letter.
 

The delegates stressed that a religious charism cannot simply be identified with the person of its founder or with all of his words, decisions and practices. Rather, a charism is a gift of the Holy Spirit received by the Church and entrusted to successive generations to preserve and develop. The delegates said acknowledging Father Buela’s misconduct does not require members to reject their legitimate spiritual heritage. Instead, they said, members must distinguish fidelity to the charism from fidelity to the founder personally. "This does not mean disowning one’s origins or denying what was authentically Gospel-based and lived out; rather, it requires not making fidelity to the person of the Founder the criterion for fidelity to the charism," they wrote.
 

They described the process as one of "ecclesial purification and maturation," through which the institutes can preserve what is genuinely part of their charism while distancing themselves from elements of Father Buela’s conduct, teachings or practices that cannot be considered authentic expressions of that charism. The pontifical delegates said they will continue guiding the institutes in caring for victims, discerning their identity and charisms, and determining appropriate criteria for the use of Father Buela’s images and writings. They concluded by entrusting the communities to the Virgin Mary of Luján, asking her to obtain for them "the grace of fortitude, serenity, and fidelity on the path you are called to walk."

Bishop Satué has full governing authority over the IVE. In July, he announced the formation of a five-member council. Several council members have assisted the Vatican in earlier interventions in the IVE. Satué has been critical of resistance by members of the IVE to acknowledge the harm Buela and others caused. In a 2025 letter to members, Satué wrote, “We can only move forward with an attitude of sincere conversion.” However, he praised IVE missionaries and their service in areas afflicted by war and poverty. For example, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli IVE, serves as the only Catholic priest in Gaza. He received phone calls from Pope Francis, a fellow Argentine, during the current war in the terror-stricken enclave. 
 

A canonical lawyer told this reporter that the IVE is not being considered for suppression by the Vatican. However, under Bishop Satué’s guidance, a new IVE website has gone online that offers information about the proceedings involving Buela, as well as a mechanism for submitting complaints directly to the delegate.