Post-Conciliar new religious movement alleged to be behaving like a sect

'The Family of Mary', a "sulphurous" community under guardianship

Like several other new communities, 'The Family of Mary' was placed under guardianship by the Vatican in June 2022, on suspicion of psychological and spiritual abuse. It was a surprisingly discreet move for a community with "sulphurous" emanations, whose ramifications extend as far as Switzerland and the Vatican itself.

Gebhard Paul Maria Sigl is said to have Padre Pio's mittens, which he is in the habit of imposing on the faithful. He also claims to suffer from invisible stigmata and to be able to read people's hearts. These are just some of the revelations made by former members of the Family of Mary about the former spiritual director of the Catholic community. The adjectives 'megalomaniac', 'tyrannical', 'narcissistic' and 'power-hungry' are also used by these witnesses to describe the Austrian's personality.

The Austrian is officially no longer head of the Family of Mary following a decree issued by the Vatican on 1 June 2022, ordering his dismissal and the placing under guardianship of the community and its priestly arm, the "Work of Jesus the Sovereign Priest". Rome officially justified its action on the grounds of "confusion between the internal and external spheres", "blind and unconditional worship of the founder", "mental manipulation" and "mystification of the spiritual narrative".

"The fact is that the Family of Mary was not established on sound foundations, far from it".

The decision to place the community, which today has more than 60 priests, 30 seminarians and "lay brothers", and 200 consecrated laywomen, under guardianship and is present in eleven countries, including France and Switzerland, was taken following an apostolic visit in 2021 by Mgr Francesco Cacucci, Bishop Emeritus of Bari. Pending a decision by the Vatican, the Family of Mary has been entrusted to a "commissioner" in the person of Monsignor Daniele Libanori, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome. The women's branch has been placed under the responsibility of Sister Katarina Kristofova, former Superior General of the Sisters of the Divine Redeemer.

Rome's late involvement

Until now, the case has received little media attention and has been handled discreetly by the Church authorities. The situation of the Family of Mary is reminiscent of that of other Catholic communities that have been "brought to order" by the Vatican in recent years, following the discovery of serious aberrations within them.

The Family of Mary is certainly a rather small and little-known community compared to others. But its case raises a number of questions. One of them is the particularly late nature of the Vatican's alert, when worrying signs had already been emerging for many years about the community, which took its present form in the early 1990s. The seriousness of the aberrations that are now surfacing makes these questions even more pressing.

A "sectarianised" community

The fact is that the Family of Mary was not established on sound foundations, far from it. Its main founders have a lot of baggage. Repeatedly in the Vatican's crosshairs, the community has managed to survive by various "stratagems", in particular by changing its location, form and name.

"No indication of sexual abuse has yet emerged in the context of The Family of Mary".

The circumstances surrounding The Family of Mary might not have come to light without the insight of journalists who spotted suspicious grey areas. The case was extensively investigated by the Italian Catholic media Adista and journalist Ludovica Eugenio. The latter collected a large number of testimonies and documents on the community and its founders. The result was a series of scrupulously documented articles. The picture that emerges is that of a deeply 'sectarianised' community, locked into a cult of personality, the subjugation and instrumentalisation of individuals, and megalomaniacal delusions. Contacted by cath.ch, Ludovica Eugenio points out that while spiritual and psychological abuse seems to be well established, no indication of sexual abuse has yet emerged in the context of the Family of Mary.

Marian apparitions, anti-communism and the P2 Lodge

Sexual abuse does, however, appear as a backdrop to the history of the community, in the case of one of its founders: Joseph Seidnitzer. The Austrian priest is one of the three tutelary figures of the Family of Mary, along with the Slovak bishop Pavol Hnilica and the Austrian Gebhard Paul Maria Sigl.

Bishop Hnilica is a real character in a novel. Ordained a bishop underground in Communist Czechoslovakia, in 1968 he founded the 'Pro Deo et Fratribus' community, which was to be the 'ancestor' of The Family of Mary. The organisation was largely intended to support the anti-communist opposition. Pro Deo et Fratribus' is said to have acted as an intermediary for the transfer of huge sums of money to Poland and Latin American countries, notably from the Vatican bank (IOR). Mgr Hnilica appears to have been involved for years in all sorts of highly dubious 'schemes'. In particular, he was implicated in the case of the briefcase belonging to banker Roberto Calvi, a member of the P2 Masonic lodge who was found murdered in London in 1982. In 1993, a Roman court of first instance gave him a suspended sentence of three years and six months in prison for handling stolen goods.

"Following the departure of Joseph Seidnitzer, Gebhard Sigl took over the reins of The Family of Mary".

His name is also mentioned in various controversial ecclesiastical movements such as Opus Angelorum and Armata Bianca, which give pride of place to exalted mysticism. In the same vein, the founder of 'Pro Deo et Fratribus' accompanied the Colorado visionary Theresa Lopez on her tours in the early 1990s. The mystic's alleged Marian apparitions raised tens of millions of dollars. A move condemned by Bishop James Stafford of Denver at the time.

Dubious roots

After the collapse of the Communist regimes in the early 1990s, 'Pro Deo et Fratribus' lost its raison d'être. Bishop Hnilica was looking for a new community. Through mutual acquaintances, he met Joseph Seidnitzer and his spiritual son Gebhard Sigl, who had founded the Oeuvre du Saint-Esprit (OSS) in 1972. The three men shared the same type of spirituality, centred on deep Marian devotion.

But Joseph Seidnitzer is a most sulphurous character. He was sentenced to prison three times between the 1950s and 1960s for multiple sexual abuses of teenagers, whom he raped after getting them drunk. In detail, he was sentenced in 1954 to eight months in prison in Styria (southern Austria), in 1958 to one year in prison in Innsbruck, and to a further 14 months in the same city in 1960, after being found guilty of two sexual assaults committed in Interlaken, in the canton of Bern.

"Joseph Seidnitzer is described as having been at the centre of a community system based on psychological tyranny".

By the time the Slovakian met the two Austrians, the OSS was in total disarray. The Vatican, no doubt aware of Father Seidnitzer's convictions, had dismissed him from the OSS, which was disbanded in 1990. The 21 "survivors" of the Work found in Bishop Hnilica an ecclesiastical guarantee to recreate a community "cleansed" of Joseph Seidnitzer's legacy. Under his leadership, Pavol Hnilica re-founded the Family of Mary from the ashes of the OSS. The Institute now consists of two branches: the Association 'Pro Deo et Fratribus' - Family of Mary and the Work of Jesus the Sovereign Priest (Opus J.S.S.), which function organically in the apostolic works entrusted to them, explains the community's website.

Following the departure of Joseph Seidnitzer, Gebhard Sigl took the helm of the new community, which managed to establish its legitimacy and gain recognition from Rome in 1995. Joseph Seidnitzer died in 1993. Pavol Hnilica remained close to the new community until his death in 2006.

 A "new community"?

According to Adista, Paul Maria Sigl was well aware of Joseph Seidnitzer's criminal past. Nevertheless, he remained faithful to him right to the end, adopting his "evangelisation" methods and "spirituality" in every respect. The Italian press agency reveals that the duo were engaged in a number of mystical-millennialist ramblings. According to some witnesses, Joseph Seidnitzer saw himself as the Pope of the new times, who would restore the Church. In particular, he prophesied that the end of time would come on 1 January 1975, when Pope Paul VI would have to step down.

Generally speaking, Joseph Seidnitzer is described by former followers as having been at the centre of a community system based on psychological tyranny. How, then, could we expect the 'new' community under Gebhard Sigl's aegis to change radically? On the contrary, the testimonies gathered by Adista and the findings of the Apostolic Visit suggest that the 'spiritual' heritage of Joseph Seidnitzer and Pavol Hnilica has been fully restored to the Family of Mary. 

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