Abuse, voodoo, forced vocations: The abuses of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE). Protected by Cardinal McCarrick.

The recent Jonzac affair is not an isolated case for the Institute of the Incarnate Word, a community founded in 1984 in Argentina (and 1988 for the Sisters Servants of the Virgin of Matara – SSVM, the women's branch). The community, whose dissolution the Argentine bishops have been calling for since the early 1990s due to its widespread abuses, is breaking records for disaffection and is being blamed—both the IVE and its women's branch—for numerous abuses in various parts of the world.

Certainly, the IVE is present in various hotspots around the world—the priest Pope Francis called every evening in Gaza is one of them—but the courage of some IVE members in their apostolates cannot obscure the many problems accumulated by this new community. At the forefront is the flight of vocations. According to a 2023 count by Cardinal Santos Abril, "275 religious (mainly priests) left the IVE, 125 were reduced to the lay state, 52 changed dioceses, 5 processes were initiated by the Doctrine of the Faith, 11 were expelled, and there were nearly 50 exclaustrations."

Granada: Voodoo, sexual abuse, and embezzlement

A tragic case of sexual relations between the IVE priest serving at the Saint Angelo García parish in Granada, the Argentinian Hector Andres Luna, and his parishioners has brought to light much more dubious practices, notably linked to voodoo, absolutions of accomplices—a very serious canonical sin that incurs excommunication for the priest who performs it—and embezzlement.

La Libertad Digital, which mentioned another article in the local press, reported: "Voodoo dolls near the tabernacle, feathers on the ground, and 'exorcisms' at Mass." "They stalk people, exert pressure, manipulate, and sow discord," one of them claimed. "This man (the priest) was obsessed with the devil, darkness, and satanic practices," another added. One of the most striking episodes described allegedly took place during Mass. Parishioners who testified to the Granada newspaper believe that "he was set up, that it was a hoax." According to their accounts, a man was the victim of an attack, and they attempted to provide first aid, but the priest described the situation as demonic possession and "put on a show." His parishioners also claim that he "exchanged sexual photos in front of the Blessed Sacrament."

The man, who allegedly "converted in a nightclub," then joined the IVE in 1987 before being ordained in 1994. He was subsequently sent to Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador before being transferred to Granada in 2012, reportedly returned to Argentina after the scandal. The archdiocese, which had to announce the opening of a canonical investigation, decided to end the IVE's presence following the abuses revealed by parishioners.

The IVE remains present in Spain in Huesca, Santiago de Compostela, Córdoba, San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Ibiza, and Logroño, as well as in Catalonia in Vic.

Forced vocations in Catalonia and Eastern Europe

In Catalonia, the local press is publishing testimonies from former nuns (SSVMs) and relatives who explain that some vocations were forced; the congregation is present in the bishoprics of Vic and Girona. In Manresa, Catalonia, priest Gustavo Lombardo of the IVE is accused of assaulting a relative of a nun who had abruptly left her family in the United States to come to Catalonia.

Following numerous problems in vocation discernment, Rome decided to "close for a period of three years the SSVM novitiate in Segni, near Rome, where young women prepare to become nuns. Among the arguments cited by the Holy See are the congregation's lack of rigor in detecting vocations" and the SSVM's idolatry of the founder of the Institute of the Incarnate Word.

This is Carlos Buela, sidelined in 2010 after adult abuse and forbidden to interfere in the government of the IVE - something he continued to do with the complicity of his superiors until his death, in flagrant contradiction with the instructions and the superiors appointed by Rome, sidelined and kept in the dark almost systematically by the "shadow government" of the congregation. On its website, the Institute of the Incarnate Word makes no mention of the abuse it committed against seminarians, the existence of which has been recognized by the Church, nor of its exclusion since 2010.

Nuns stationed in Catalonia have also been prevented from leaving, and even from accessing their medical treatment—a trend observed in other new communities, including in France: "I asked to leave the congregation and they told me no, that I had already said yes to God and that it would be a great infidelity." She spent most of those years in the Diocese of Vic, being treated for depression. She claims that she "was never allowed to see a doctor of her own free will and was forced to visit those imposed on her by her superiors. She maintains that she was never able to see her medical reports and that she also did not know which pills were prescribed and administered to her."

The former nun claims to have participated in the forced recruitment of new members, particularly through spiritual retreats and school lectures: "They were looking for numbers, regardless of whether their vocation was genuine."

Still on the subject of nuns, some are put out on the streets after decades of exploitation, and it appears from the testimony of a former Argentinian nun serving in Spain that the IVE does not contribute to their social security contributions—another abuse common to other new communities. Testimonies of mistreatment have also been given by retreatants in Belgium.

The IVE is also present in Eastern European countries—six communities in Ukraine as of 2022, in Russia (three parishes, in Kazan, Khabarovsk, and Omsk), in Tajikistan (one mission since 2004), and in Uzbekistan (two priests in Samarkand). Their reputation in the small Russian Catholic community is rather shady, with at least three known cases of forced vocations, including "a couple who were separated while engaged. They made the boy one of their priests, and the girl a nun, before sending them to geographically distant communities. Obviously, neither stayed," relates one of their former parishioners who now lives in Western Europe.

Rapes of minors in the IVE minor seminary in Argentina?

Another blog specializing in abuses committed at the IVE published in 2021 the testimony of a former student of the IVE minor seminary in Argentina, the Instituto Menor no Verbo Encarnado school in San Rafael, who was taught by a seminarian who has since been ordained a priest, Miguel Angel Paz.

The victim informed his superiors at the IVE seminary, Gabriel Zapata, and the Bishop of San Rafael, the cradle of the IVE and the SSVM nuns, Bishop Taussig, in 2005. Ordained a priest of the IVE, he realized ten years later that no one had taken his canonical complaint into account at the time, in fact, he himself had—which led to his abuser's dismissal—and he, in turn, left the institution in 2017. Here is his detailed account.

In early August 2020, the diocesan seminary of San Rafael in Argentina was closed, causing a serious crisis in the diocese—so serious that Bishop Taussig was physically assaulted by one of his priests and ultimately resigned at the age of 67 in 2022. He has gone down in the history of his diocese for having sowed unrest and divided his flock after launching a crusade against oral communion under the pretext of Covid. But clearly there was a darker past... which perhaps this communion affair was intended to bury.

The Augustinian Carlos Dominguez, a close friend of Pope Francis, was appointed bishop in early 2023 and resigned "for personal reasons" and even without a farewell Mass. It quickly emerged that he was accused of sexual abuse against three adults, and that he too attempted to clear one of the IVE's leaders, Father Zapata, who had been warned of the abuses in 2005.

The IVE protected by former Cardinal McCarrick: Birds of a feather flock together?

Accused of sexual abuse and dismissed from the clerical state in 2019, former Cardinal Mc Carrick, who died in 2025, was a high-ranking patron of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. A Spanish-language website that documents abuses within the IVE compiles various sources that prove that Mc Carrick financially supported the IVE with money from Catholic faithful in Washington, in complete opacity, and benefited for several years from room and board in an IVE house in Chillum, Maryland; Known for taking his favorite seminarians to Atlantic City casinos, he also performed ordinations for the Institute of the Incarnate Word in Argentina, at least in 2004 and 2014—but likely later, as most Argentine bishops refuse to ordain IVE seminarians:

"Former Cardinal McCarrick was one of the IVE's major benefactors in the United States. According to documents revealed by the Washington Post, between 2001 and 2018, McCarrick distributed more than $600,000 from a special archdiocese fund to various individuals and institutions. Some of this money was intended for the IVE and its founder, even though allegations of abuse against both were already circulating" (The Washington Post, 2018).

In 2020, the National Catholic Register confirmed that McCarrick had donated at least $1 million to the IVE over several years, through an opaque transfer scheme. The congregation did not deny this, and the Vatican took no action to demand the return of the funds, despite the fact that the IVE founder had previously been disciplined for abuse of power and sexual misconduct with adult seminarians (National Catholic Register, 2020).

The official Vatican investigation, published in 2020, documented how McCarrick shared a bed with seminarians in nursing homes and beach houses, often without them feeling free to reject the situation (The McCarrick Report, 2020).

The relationship with the IVE in this context becomes even more troubling: for years, McCarrick lived in the IVE's house in Maryland, where he was assisted daily by seminarians and young priests from the institute. As reported by the Catholic News Agency, this residence offered him "comfort, anonymity, and a young staff" who cared for him, including transfers, meals, and personal assistance (CNA, 2018).

In 2004, McCarrick traveled to Argentina to ordain IVE priests, despite growing internal allegations against Carlos Buela. In 2014, he again officiated at a priestly ordination at the institute in Buenos Aires. These ceremonies not only strengthened diplomatic ties between the two men, but also sent a message of mutual legitimization: McCarrick continued to be presented as a father figure, even a "saint," by the IVE, while the IVE benefited from his prestige to expand internationally (AICA, 2014).

The exchange was not merely symbolic: the IVE offered hospitality, visibility, and obedience; McCarrick responded by providing influence, funding, and institutional cover. In this context, it is no coincidence that, for years, the Holy See ignored the allegations against Buela, nor that the 2020 Vatican report on McCarrick omitted any reference to the IVE.

In total, at least $717,000 and the Maryland property (where Cardinal McCarrick was later hosted) were allegedly transferred to the IVE from the Archdiocese of Washington. The Vatican, over the years, has made no attempt to recover these funds or question the presence of Cardinal McCarrick, who was a life insurance policy for the IVE, whose excesses put him in the crosshairs of the Roman authorities, who in 2001 attempted to close the IVE's minor seminaries and major seminary in San Rafael, Argentina.

Like Buela, McCarrick has been accused of sexual assault against seminarians. Can the relationship between Buela and McCarrick, and more broadly between McCarrick and the IVE, be characterized as a criminal conspiracy?

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