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
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
