ROME – In a decision confirmed by Pope Francis and thus without the possibility of appeal, the Vatican has found an Austrian priest who leads a pontifically recognized association guilty of psychological and spiritual abuse and imposed a series of punishments, including a ten-year ban on ministry.

The verdict regarding Austrian Father Gebhard Paul Maria Sigl, cofounder of the Family of Mary, was reached by a three-judge ecclesiastical tribunal Sept. 18 and approved by Pope Francis Oct. 11. The decision was then formalized by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy, which oversees the clerical branch of the association, and acknowledged by the group in a Nov. 6 statement on their web site.

The ruling is considered important in part because it imposes penalties for forms of abuse which aren’t strictly sexual, and thus broadens the concept of what constitutes “abuse” in a legal sense in Vatican jurisprudence.

Among other things, the 75-year-old Sigl has been barred for ten years from the following activities:

• Living, or even staying overnight, in any house where there are members of the Family of Mary or its clerical branch, the Work of Jesus the High Priest.
• Administering the sacrament of reconciliation, or asking any bishop for facilities to do so.
• Accepting any office in either the association or its clerical group.
• Offering spiritual direction, preaching, or leading retreats and spiritual exercises.
• Having relations with members of the association or the clerical group.
• Celebrating Mass in public.

In addition, Sigl has been directed to live in residence chosen by a papal commissioner for the Family of Mary, who is currently Bishop Daniele Libanori, a Jesuit who serves as the pope’s assessor for consecrated life.

In addition, Sigl also has been banned, in this case without any time limits, from intervening in the financial administration of the Family of Mary or any related civil associations created to manage its assets.

The unusually sweeping penalties are considered a reflection of the gravity of the offenses with which Sigl had been charged. Witnesses, mostly ex-members of the Family of Mary, reported that Sigl had engaged in mental manipulation, emotional blackmail, encouraging a “blind and unconditional cult,” undermining personal consciences, using spurious theological and spiritual claims to boost his own authority and control, and blurring the boundaries between spiritual and administrative roles.

Founded in 1968 under the name Pro Deo et fratribus by Slovakian Bishop Pavol Mária Hnilica, the organization’s original purpose was to support persecuted Christian churches behind the Iron Curtain during the era of the Cold War.

Hnilica himself was not free of controversy; he was implicated in the “Vatican Bank” scandals, convicted by an Italian court in 1993 for allegedly having issued two blank checks in exchange for pilfered documents that supposedly would have proved the Vatican’s innocence. The conviction was overturned by an Italian appeals court.

After the fall of communism, the group took on the new name “Family of Mary” and began promoting devotion to Marian spirituality. Following Hnilica’s death in 2006, control of the association passed to Sigl.

In particular, the association has been active in promoting devotion to an alleged Marian apparition in the Netherlands called “The Lady of All Nations.” The phenomenon was the subject of negative Vatican evaluations in both 1974 and 2020, which were confirmed in a negative declaration in July 2024 from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

According to the Italian news agency Adista, the Family of Mary today has over 60 priests, 30 seminarians and “lay brothers,” 200 “apostolic sisters,” with a presence in much of Europe as well as Latin America and the United States.

In the wake of growing complaints from ex-members, Pope Francis ordered an apostolic visitation into the Family of Mary in 2021 which was led by Archbishop Francesco Cacucci, who retired from leading the Bari archdiocese in 2020.

At the end of the investigation, the association was placed under the supervision of Libanori and Slovakian Sister Katarina Kristofová, and a trial was initiated against Sigl which culminated in the recent verdict.

Sigl’s verdict represents the second disciplinary action taken by the Vatican against the founder of a high-profile ecclesial association in the last four months. In August, Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari was expelled from the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae that he founded in 1971, also over charges of abuse including pyschological and spiritual manipulation.