38 ICSA
Council, is underway to identify
who was politically responsible for
reaccrediting the Forteto community in
the years following the first judgment
against it, but also to determine the
responsibility of the magistrates who
entrusted more than 55 children to the
group. The investigation will try also
to determine the responsibilities of
the health and social sector, which did
not provide adequate control, either
over the community or over the care of
minors who had been removed from
their families and placed under the care
of the Forteto community. After the first
level of judgment, Fiesoli and the rest
of the convicted will return to the Court
of Appeal for the second stage of the
proceeding.
Doctor Expelled by the College
of Physicians of Cagliari. Gabriella
Mereu, a doctor who claims she can
cure tumors and lesions with verbal
therapy and Bach flowers, was expelled
by the College of Physicians of Cagliari.
After the doctor’s claims that paralysis
does not exist and that words can cure
diseases such as cancer or calculations,
the College of Physicians of Cagliari
opened infringement proceedings
against her, which ended with
her expulsion from the practice of
medicine.
The Montecchio Cult Trial. Mauro
Cioni is an ex-priest who for 20 years
has led the Montecchio community. As
of April 2015, he was on trial with his
follower, Carlo Carli, for enslavement
and rape of female followers.
Onde Delta (Delta waves) is the name
of a group that was seeking to improve
people’s lives by reactivating the use
of particular brain waves, called Delta
waves. The founder of the group, Lucia
Dettori, and her partner, together
with another six individuals who
had organizational roles, had been
promoting training courses throughout
Italy and even in Brazil. Many people
were even persuaded to discontinue
the use of prescribed drugs for serious
diseases. The founder and her partner
arrived to diagnose psychological
blocks and provide sexual counseling
and treatments with extramarital
sex and group sex. The cult has been
dismantled by police in Nuoro. Eight
people who were reported on the loose
were wanted for conspiracy for abusive
exercise of the profession of physician,
psychologist, and psychotherapist.
Report From Poland and
Slovakia
Piotr T. Nowakowski
The international Catholic Web page
aleteia recently opened a special
section on Sects and New Religions
on its Spanish-language page. The
section is coordinated by RIES (Red
Iberoamericana de Estudio de Sectas) and
offers weekly updates at aleteia.org/es/
nueva-religiosidad-y-sectas
Report From Spain and
Latin America
Luis Santamaría
Translated by John Paul Lennon
General Information
Between June 2011 and May 2015,
1,504 new religious groups have
registered in Chile, which works out
to about one new group per day.
Most of the churches are Pentecostal
Evangelical in a country that is
traditionally Catholic. “Six people may
constitute a public religious entity if
they can so demonstrate before the
Justice Department,” explains Humberto
Lagos, director of the National Office
for Religious Affairs (ONAR, in Spanish).
According to the spokesperson for
the Chilean Bishops’ Conference, ”the
distinction between a church and a
sect is crucial” because the State has
the duty to make sure a family does not
declare itself a religious entity to make
money or deceive the public.”
The Iberian-American Network for
Research on Sects (RIES) has published
two books on the phenomenon of
sects. The first book, which appeared
in June, is called Sectas y manipulación
mental. Un enfoque desde la Psicología
(Sects and Mental Manipulation: A
Psychological Focus, published by
Vita Brevis) and authored by Uruguay
psychologist Álvaro Farías. The second
book was published in August and is
called Esoterismo, sectas, Nueva Era.
50 preguntas y respuestas (Esoterica,
New Age, 50 Questions, published by
Perpetuo Socorro) 10 members of RIES
contributed to the book, coordinated
by Luis Santamaría.
Groups of Christian Origin
On August 17, 2015, the Brazilian police
dismantled a sect accused of subjecting
its members to conditions similar to
slavery the sect had accumulated a
fortune of some $28.6 million from
donations and was active in three
different states under the name of The
Jesus Evangelical Community, Truth
Marks.
In the Mexican town of Monclova,
Coahuila State, a mother belonging
to the Jehovah’s Witnesses would not
allow her 10-month-old son to be
given a blood transfusion, which he
needed to survive a traffic accident
from September 25, 2015. The court
order facilitating the transfusion did
not arrive in time because of a lack
of coordination between the public
institutions involved.
Six hundred members of the Cuerpo
Místico de Cristo [Mystical Body of
Christ] sect, particularly young couples
with children, had been camping
since June 2015 in huts near Mechapa,
Nicaragua, awaiting the Divine Rapture
of Christ’s Second Coming. Public
authorities became concerned about
the condition of the children and
also the illegal buildings. The police
intervened, arresting the leaders and
accusing them of various crimes.
Asian Groups
In August 2015, Uruguay experts Álvaro
Farías and Miguel Pastorino publicly
denounced activities taking place at
the Republic of Uruguay University,
38 ICSA TODAYTODAY
Correspondents
,
Reports
Council, is underway to identify
who was politically responsible for
reaccrediting the Forteto community in
the years following the first judgment
against it, but also to determine the
responsibility of the magistrates who
entrusted more than 55 children to the
group. The investigation will try also
to determine the responsibilities of
the health and social sector, which did
not provide adequate control, either
over the community or over the care of
minors who had been removed from
their families and placed under the care
of the Forteto community. After the first
level of judgment, Fiesoli and the rest
of the convicted will return to the Court
of Appeal for the second stage of the
proceeding.
Doctor Expelled by the College
of Physicians of Cagliari. Gabriella
Mereu, a doctor who claims she can
cure tumors and lesions with verbal
therapy and Bach flowers, was expelled
by the College of Physicians of Cagliari.
After the doctor’s claims that paralysis
does not exist and that words can cure
diseases such as cancer or calculations,
the College of Physicians of Cagliari
opened infringement proceedings
against her, which ended with
her expulsion from the practice of
medicine.
The Montecchio Cult Trial. Mauro
Cioni is an ex-priest who for 20 years
has led the Montecchio community. As
of April 2015, he was on trial with his
follower, Carlo Carli, for enslavement
and rape of female followers.
Onde Delta (Delta waves) is the name
of a group that was seeking to improve
people’s lives by reactivating the use
of particular brain waves, called Delta
waves. The founder of the group, Lucia
Dettori, and her partner, together
with another six individuals who
had organizational roles, had been
promoting training courses throughout
Italy and even in Brazil. Many people
were even persuaded to discontinue
the use of prescribed drugs for serious
diseases. The founder and her partner
arrived to diagnose psychological
blocks and provide sexual counseling
and treatments with extramarital
sex and group sex. The cult has been
dismantled by police in Nuoro. Eight
people who were reported on the loose
were wanted for conspiracy for abusive
exercise of the profession of physician,
psychologist, and psychotherapist.
Report From Poland and
Slovakia
Piotr T. Nowakowski
The international Catholic Web page
aleteia recently opened a special
section on Sects and New Religions
on its Spanish-language page. The
section is coordinated by RIES (Red
Iberoamericana de Estudio de Sectas) and
offers weekly updates at aleteia.org/es/
nueva-religiosidad-y-sectas
Report From Spain and
Latin America
Luis Santamaría
Translated by John Paul Lennon
General Information
Between June 2011 and May 2015,
1,504 new religious groups have
registered in Chile, which works out
to about one new group per day.
Most of the churches are Pentecostal
Evangelical in a country that is
traditionally Catholic. “Six people may
constitute a public religious entity if
they can so demonstrate before the
Justice Department,” explains Humberto
Lagos, director of the National Office
for Religious Affairs (ONAR, in Spanish).
According to the spokesperson for
the Chilean Bishops’ Conference, ”the
distinction between a church and a
sect is crucial” because the State has
the duty to make sure a family does not
declare itself a religious entity to make
money or deceive the public.”
The Iberian-American Network for
Research on Sects (RIES) has published
two books on the phenomenon of
sects. The first book, which appeared
in June, is called Sectas y manipulación
mental. Un enfoque desde la Psicología
(Sects and Mental Manipulation: A
Psychological Focus, published by
Vita Brevis) and authored by Uruguay
psychologist Álvaro Farías. The second
book was published in August and is
called Esoterismo, sectas, Nueva Era.
50 preguntas y respuestas (Esoterica,
New Age, 50 Questions, published by
Perpetuo Socorro) 10 members of RIES
contributed to the book, coordinated
by Luis Santamaría.
Groups of Christian Origin
On August 17, 2015, the Brazilian police
dismantled a sect accused of subjecting
its members to conditions similar to
slavery the sect had accumulated a
fortune of some $28.6 million from
donations and was active in three
different states under the name of The
Jesus Evangelical Community, Truth
Marks.
In the Mexican town of Monclova,
Coahuila State, a mother belonging
to the Jehovah’s Witnesses would not
allow her 10-month-old son to be
given a blood transfusion, which he
needed to survive a traffic accident
from September 25, 2015. The court
order facilitating the transfusion did
not arrive in time because of a lack
of coordination between the public
institutions involved.
Six hundred members of the Cuerpo
Místico de Cristo [Mystical Body of
Christ] sect, particularly young couples
with children, had been camping
since June 2015 in huts near Mechapa,
Nicaragua, awaiting the Divine Rapture
of Christ’s Second Coming. Public
authorities became concerned about
the condition of the children and
also the illegal buildings. The police
intervened, arresting the leaders and
accusing them of various crimes.
Asian Groups
In August 2015, Uruguay experts Álvaro
Farías and Miguel Pastorino publicly
denounced activities taking place at
the Republic of Uruguay University,
38 ICSA TODAYTODAY
Correspondents
,
Reports
