Vatican City, May 17, 2019 / 14:30 pm
The Vatican announced Friday that a former Curial official accused of sexual solicitation in the confessional was found not guilty after a penal process at the Church's highest canonical court. Previous reports had indicated that the allegations were investigated by the Vatican, but had not indicated that the matter was resolved by a formal judicial process.
Fr. Hermann Geissler, 53, is a member of Familia spiritualis Opus (FSO), informally known as "Das Werk." The priest served as an official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1993 until Jan. 29.
Geissler stepped down from his position after a former member of "Das Werk," Doris Wagner, claimed last year in a lengthy piece in the German newspaper DIE ZIET that she had been sexually harassed in the confessional by a member of the religious community she then belonged to, identified in the article as "Hermann G."
Geissler has maintained his innocence since the allegations first . The solicitation of a sin against the sixth commandment within the context of confession is considered in the Church law to be a "grave delict," or offense, for which a priest can be dismissed from the clerical state.