Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 14
floating through our legal system, which can be applied to any fact implying dependence of
one human being on another, without there being any certain parameter for ascertaining
the intensity of such influence.‖10
These words clearly show that the abolition of the crime of plagio was not due to the idea
that the psychological conditioning (of various kinds and intensity) does not exist, an issue
for specialists and certainly not for the Constitutional Court, but to the fact that this crime,
as it was established, permitted ambiguities and arbitrary interpretations. The then
President of the Constitutional Court, Dr Leonetto Amadei, attended the Conference and
presided over its first day. Defending the decision, he stated: ―The Constitutional Court has
decided that, in order to protect that ultimate good which is personal freedom, the
incriminating law must establish the criminal deed with definite contours, so the judge can
express his judgment on the basis of a correspondence between the deed and the law…This
law, as described, was rightly held by the Court to be imprecise and indefinite, so much so
that it was not possible to attribute to it an objective, coherent and rational content, with
the consequence that its concrete application would be arbitrary.‖11
Now, the problem arises of how to protect from a penal point of view the integrity of the
psychological person from certain forms of aggressive conduct. This means that it is
necessary to define a crime with features of definition and comprehensibility not only for
judges, but for citizens as well. In the Italian penal code the crime of circonvenzione
d’incapace (approximately, ―abuse of incompetent persons‖) still exists. Unlike plagio, this is
held to be a crime against property through fraud, just like swindles and so on. This crime
calls for ―various and diverse manners of forcing oneself upon another person's will and
obtaining his consent in order to make a person perform an act which involves a harmful
juridical effect for himself or for others.‖12
So, in Italy a gap has been opened in protection of the personality against abusive
dynamics, a gap that should be filled. The fact that the crime plagio was abolished does not
in any way cancel the issues surrounding such a crime or the processes of psychological
conditioning, which certainly take place beyond any reasonable doubt in many fields of
interpersonal relations, including the particular kind of psychological relationship between a
follower and his charismatic leader.
The Catholic Church Examines NRMs
The phenomenon of joining New Religious Movements (NRMs) and various other cults has
been subject for some years now to investigations by Church authorities, who have issued
some interesting and meaningful pastoral documents. I will make reference to two
particular documents: The Phenomenon of Cults or New Religious Movements: A Pastoral
Challenge and the pastoral memorandum, The Church’s Pastoral Commitment in Facing New
Religious Movements and Cults. The latter document is particularly balanced and complete,
and it will be a sort of ―guideline‖ to us. It illustrates the position of the whole Italian
Episcopal Conference and not that of a single Bishop.
In the challenge launched by these movements, the Church has seen a manifestation of the
―sign of the times,‖ which is knocking at the door of the whole church community. The need
for religiosity, which per se cannot but please the faithful and their ministers, is to be
carefully analyzed so that some pseudo-religious group or charismatic leader does not take
advantage of it for morally and humanly unacceptable purposes.
An aspect that must not be underestimated in the process of affiliation with a cult group is
the fact that the recruiting mechanisms are not always transparent. In fact, there are
groups that attract people by using healing techniques involving ―miracles,‖ by offering free
foreign language courses or biblical studies at home, by running exhibitions and conferences
on peace and human rights, by offering ecological and healthy lifestyles, and by offering

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 15
training courses aimed at helping to find a job, etc. In these cases, the people approaching
these groups are totally unaware of the real purposes the groups pursue. The interim report
also illustrates some recruiting techniques:
Some recruiting and training techniques and some indoctrination procedures
used by many sects and cults, are often very sophisticated and are at the
base of their success. In most cases cults, by means of these techniques,
lure individuals who, in the first place are unaware of the fact that such an
approach is often a trick and, in the second place, are unaware of the nature
of the plot aimed at converting them and of the training methods (social and
psychological manipulation) they will undergo. Cults impose their particular
way of thinking, of feeling and behaving, unlike the Church‘s approach which
implies aware and responsible consent.‖13
The Pastoral memorandum being examined includes also psychological movements when
discussing the complex issue of the reasons leading to affiliation with cults: ―At times
disciples of a cult are bound by forms of emotional and psychological coercion, control, and
vigilance, up to the point at which their personal freedom is limited. These are cases in
which success is imposed and guarded.‖ Without generalizing (each group has
characteristics different from those of another group and not all groups use these mental
control techniques), it is advisable to emphasize that the pastoral approach envisages that
these guidelines be followed up by an analysis of the group being dealt with and of the
person involved. The person‘s own characteristics greatly influence his or her eventual
conditioning by the group and its leader. Even though it is true that any environment
conditions an individual to some extent, it is also true that conditioning assumes specific
characteristics in NRMs. Some experts have defined it as ―thought reform,‖ ―mind control,‖
or ―brainwashing.‖14
These issues were already discussed in the Interim Report, where “recruiting and training
techniques and indoctrination procedures‖ are discussed. After affirming that young people
and the elderly are ―easy prey‖ to these techniques and methods, which are often a
combination of affection and disappointment, it lists a number of elements such as love-
bombing, flattery, distribution of money, ―… need of unconditioned abandonment into the
arms of the founder and leader isolation: the control of the rational process of thought, the
elimination of any external information or influence…which could break the
influence…canceling of those met during their past life…conscience alteration methods
leading to knowledge disturbance…closed logical systems…keeping recruits always busy …
great concentration on the leader‖15 and so on.
In the light of this dismal situation, the pastoral memorandum in the part calling believers
to assume a balanced approach towards NRMs, ―Beyond Irenics and Sectarianism,‖ states:
There are sound reasons to affirm that cults and new religious movements
are generally closed to dialogue and concentrate on announcing their
message by means of propaganda exerting psychological pressure. They
tend to take control of their interlocutor until uncritical and total acceptance
is obtained and in some cases moral subjugation is reached.16
These ―methods‖ are to be contrasted with the respectful methods used to obtain the
convinced and responsible acceptance of the believer, who does not renounce his
intelligence and critical powers in embracing a faith, whichever it may be, and who has the
right and the duty to pose all the questions he may have and ―to justify his faith‖ before
nonbelievers. According to the Catholic Bishops, ―the phenomenon needs to be faced with
the spirit of faithfulness to the truth and with Christian charity: this is the main effort to be
made and our pastoral considerations pursue this end.‖17