Major Abuse in the Catholic Church Acknowledged by Pope Francis but Ignored by the Synod on Synodality

Focolare President Margaret Karram, member of the Synod on Synodality,
explains the role of women in the Church
and discovers 'human' friendship

Former members of Focolare - the largest movement in the Catholic Church - who experienced systemic abuse in that organisation are shocked and saddened that, not only has their Document on this abuse submitted to the Synod on Synodality in 2022, during the consultation with the laity, been sidelined, but members of Focolare are being feted by the Vatican as leading lights in the Catholic Church's quest for synodality.   The Document, complied by OREF - ORganisation Ex-Focolare,* includes first-person testimonies of cult-like abuses such as sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults; thought control; personality cult of the foundress, Chiara Lubich; hidden teachings based on her 'visions'; modern slavery;  arranged marriages; experimental 'cures' for homosexuality; and a system of spiritual control of members which, for almost 80 years, broke two of the most important laws of the Catholic Church designed to protect church members.  

A leading Italian journalist and author, Federico Tulli, who has written extensively on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, found the Document so powerful that he asked OREF if he could publish it in full as a chapter in his recent book, La Chiesa Violenta (The Violent Church), (Ed. Left, 2022)

This form of systemic abuse in Catholic movements has been a major concern of Pope Francis, who sternly admonished the leaders of the Focolare movement at a private audience in the Vatican 6 February 2021 (https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/pope-francis-gently-takes-to-task-another-new-ecclesial-movement/13830), warning them to avoid 'self-referentiality, which is a sin' and 'which always leads to defending the institution to the detriment of individuals, and which can also lead to justifying or covering up forms of abuse. With great sorrow, we have seen and discovered this in recent years.'  He has criticised a number of other Catholic organisations of similar abuses and in some cases the Vatican has sent in an Apostolic Visitor to investgate further.  In the case of Opus Dei, Pope Francis has recently taken several dramatic measures to limit their power.

Apart from signatures on postal delivery of their Document to the Vatican Synod office and acknowledgements of its email delivery, OREF has had no response from the Synod organisers.  Even more distressing, is the fact that Margaret Karram, the current President of Focolare and chosen as a lay member of the Synod, has been given extensive coverage by the official Vatican News service.  'Having the information they do, this tactic of the Synod organisers is heartless, and to the victims appears as deliberate cruelty, an insult,' comments Gordon Urquhart, a former full-time member of Focolare and, the author of The Pope's Armada, (Bantam Books, UK, 1995), to date the only book based on primary sources which investigates Focolare and similar cult-like Catholic movements.  '"Is it because the Focolare movement has powerful protectors in the Vatican, or because many focolarine are employed in Vaican offices, including the press office?" asks Urquhart. 'Unfortunately, the workings of the Vatican are as labyrinthine as ever and, unless you can take advantage of the Italian culture of 'secret contacts', it's impossible to reach the Pope. Although it is clear that some information has filtered through to him, I think he would be astonished if he were to read this Document and would take immediate action.  What's the point of the Synod if it pays attention to some aspects of abuse and ignores others which are equally horrific?' 

A Vatican News article 20 September 2023, New book on synodality presents Church leaders' insights in the wake of Vatican II, includes a section on Margaret Karram's contribution to the book, quoting her views on the role of women in the Church: 'With Pope Francis there has been an acceleration of the female presence in the Church... reiterating that it is “not a question of roles or equality, but of creating spaces in which women can best make their specific contribution, having in Mary the inspiration from which to learn...women know how to love and suffer more than men” '  

'To me, she is reciting the views of Focolare foundress Chiara Lubich,' says Urquhart.  'Lubich was obsessed with gender roles, what she called in her movement 'the distinction', the total separation of men and women, and was appalled by the idea of women priests.  I don't think Margaret Karram's remarks are a true reflection of the kind of acknowledgement that most women would like to see from the Church. And is the role of women in the Church "to suffer"?'

3 October, Vatican News published another long interview with Margaret Karram, this time a whole article, about the pre-Synod retreat in which she had taken part.  Here she appears to be astounded by the importance of 'human friendship', observing that, 'Jesus himself called his disciples friends.  I think that this dimension still has to be totally discovered by the Church.'  'This might be true for her,' says Urquhart, 'as personal friendships are discouraged between internal members of the Focolare movement.  But I hardly think it's the case for most people in the Church. What Karram's comment does show is that Focolare has nothing to offer on the subject of synodality and its members should not be wheeled out by the Vatican as experts.  In reality, the foundress demanded blind obedience from members, stating that, if asked, they should be prepared to 'plant cabbages upside down' - in other words perform nonsensical actions.  On one occasion, she dumped one of her followers on the hard-shoulder of a motorway because she had not asked Lubich for permission to change her hairstyle.  This is hardly synodality.'

Clearly the Synod organisers should have done more research on the people it has chosen as lay members of the Synod - Margaret Karram is hardly representative of the typical Catholic laywoman.  But even more vital than that, following more than twenty years of catastrophic complaints against Church leaders, which have turned the Church upside down and are one of the major triggers of this Synod, it is shocking that they can still ignore the abused. As Gordon Urquhart comments: "It is clear that, in spite of OREF's Document submitted to the Synod, the focolarini hold power in the Church rather than their victims. Or, as Pope Francis rebuked the focolarini a couple of years ago, the organisers of the Synod are, in this case, 'defending  the institution to the detriment of individuals'."

*An international group, founded in 2022 by ex-members of the Focolare movement. 

file:///home/chronos/u-4ba12cf824d45c8f4a717b353f5148204311c47c/MyFiles/Downloads/original%20document%20for%20synod%20en.docx.pdf