«Pontifical delegates for the Institute of the Incarnate Word and for the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará convened the Superiors and Provincial Superiors of both Institutes to participate in a meeting that took place in Rome on 14 September 2026. Some leaders of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life were also present. During the meeting it was made known that both the Special Criminal Court of first degree and that of Appeal, established by the competent authority of the Church, have reached moral certainty regarding the responsibility of Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela, Founder of the two Institutes, for facts attributable to a crime against the sixth commandment, committed with violence against several people, pursuant to can. 1395 § 2″.
This is what is stated in a communication signed by the prefect of the dicastery for consecrated life, Sister Simona Brambilla and by the two pontifical delegates who have been conducting investigations into the order since 2025, released by the Holy See Press Office, regarding the founder of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, Father Buela who died in Genoa in 2023 while a canonical trial was underway against him.
The precedents
The priest, among other things, was convicted by the Vatican court in 2010 for abusing seminarians and in 2017 he was transferred from Argentina to Genoa.
The meaning of communication
«This clarification – we read – intends to contribute to the re-establishment of the truth, as an act of justice towards the people who have suffered damage due to the behavior of the priest Carlos Miguel Buela, as well as to the necessary information of the members of both Institutes and to the path of re-reading the charism and of reviewing, renewing and purifying the spirituality, formation and apostolate specific to each Institute, distinguishing between the gift of the Spirit granted for the edification of the Church and the limits or personal conduct of the Founder».