Vatican confirms abuse by founder of the Institute of the Incarnate Word

The Holy See has confirmed that Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela, founder of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, committed abuse, following the conclusion of a canonical trial. The statement, dated September 24, 2026, is signed by Simona Brambilla, prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life. It is also signed by the papal delegates appointed by Leo XIV, Bishop José Antonio Satué and Sister Clara Echarte, a member of the Daughters of Jesus.

Both the special penal tribunal of first instance and the appeals tribunal reached moral certainty that Buela was responsible for an offense against the sixth commandment, committed "with violence against several people." The gravity of the case led the pope to intervene in the institute, which has more than 3,000 religious in 45 countries and includes the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matará and the Third Order Secular.

Background to the Vatican intervention

Founded in Argentina in 1984, the institute was first placed under Holy See intervention in 1995, after accusations of sexual abuse against its founder and other irregularities in its governance and community life. Since 2019 the Spanish cardinal Santos Abril has served as commissioner. The institute's expansion has been suspended, and there have been repeated complaints about a lack of internal cooperation in dealing with the situation.

The movement had venerated Buela almost as a saint, including after his death in 2023 at age 82. Although the accusations were documented, large sectors of the congregations rejected them and attributed them to a campaign to discredit the founder.

Communicating the ruling

On September 14, Brambilla, Echarte and Satué met in Rome with the provincials of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and of the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matará to inform them of the ruling. The statement says the clarification seeks to restore the truth as an act of justice toward those who suffered the priest's conduct. It also requires the institute's leaders to pass the information to all members of both congregations, because the lack of transparency has made it difficult for religious and laypeople linked to the group to obtain sensitive information.

The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the papal delegates have asked the movement to undertake a "path of rereading the charism and of revision, renewal and purification of the spirituality, the formation and the apostolate" proper to each institute. They are also encouraged to distinguish between the gift of the Spirit granted for the building up of the Church and the founder's personal limitations and actions. The measures taken by Satué and Echarte are intended to avoid the dissolution of the institute, a fate other congregations have met in similar circumstances.

Governance of the institute

The limited cooperation within the institute has led Satué to bring in a team of aides from outside the congregation to fill six of the eight executive posts.