- The official doubt that reshuffles the cards in the Rabat affair
- A nuance that erases nothing
- The presumption of innocence as an evangelical requirement
- What canon law says and what Rome doesn't say
- The retrospective shadow of a man who refused power
- What the Church Learns from Uncertainty
- Lectio divina
- ✝ Biblical references
The official doubt that reshuffles the cards in the Rabat affair
It took only a few carefully chosen words from a vicar general for the affair shaking the Rabat diocese to take on a new dimension. It is no longer simply the story of a cardinal accused by five women of inappropriate behavior; it is now the story of an institution that, from within, dares to admit its ignorance. Marc Helfer, Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero's closest collaborator in Morocco, confided a weighty statement to AFP: "We do not know if the reported events actually constitute sexual assault." This declaration exonerates no one, nor does it condemn anyone. It introduces, at the heart of a scandal already widely documented by the international press, an official institutional doubt about the legal classification of the events—a doubt that, far from being an evasion, may well be the truest expression of what the Church owes to truth and justice when they are not yet established.
A nuance that erases nothing
The vicar general did not deny the existence of testimonies. According to information obtained by AFP, at least five adult women accuse the Archbishop of Rabat of physical behavior they perceived as inappropriate, including hugs deemed particularly insistent and prolonged, and, in one case documented by a written letter addressed to the Apostolic Nunciature, an attempt at physical closeness that could be considered an attempt at forced kissing, from which the victim says she escaped with difficulty. Marc Helfer does not dispute the substance of these testimonies; he questions their legal classification. This is not a semantic detail. In canon law as in civil law, the difference between an awkward gesture, culturally inappropriate closeness, and a clear case of sexual assault entails radically different consequences for both the victim and the accused.
15A single witness shall not be admitted against a man to ascertain a crime or a sin, whatever the sin committed. It shall be established on the testimony of two witnesses or on the testimony of three witnesses.
This linguistic caution recalls a requirement that Scripture itself establishes as a condition for all human judgment. Deuteronomy, in its legislation concerning witnesses, requires that no one be condemned on the word of a single person: «One witness shall not be admissible against a person for any crime or sin; a matter shall be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses» (Deut. 19:15). This requirement, thousands of years old, is not an obstacle to truth but rather its very condition. It protects both the potential victim, whose testimony must be heard and thoroughly investigated, and the accused, whose presumption of innocence cannot be sacrificed to the demands of the media. Marc Helfer, by insisting that "we are not covering for anyone" while recalling that "the presumption of innocence must be preserved until the facts are established by the competent authorities", stands precisely on this biblical razor's edge: neither denial nor preemptive condemnation.
The presumption of innocence as an evangelical requirement
5Therefore do not judge anything before the appointed time, until the Lord comes: he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the hearts, and then each will receive from God the praise that is due them.
One might think that the presumption of innocence is a purely legal concept, foreign to spiritual sensibility. This is a misinterpretation. Saint Paul, writing to the Corinthians about the hasty judgments some were making about his own ministry, formulates a principle of striking relevance today: «Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart» (1 Corinthians 4:5). This saying does not call for moral indifference to the alleged suffering of victims; it calls for disciplined judgment, for a refusal to decide what only a rigorous investigation can establish. This is precisely the position that the Diocese of Rabat occupies today, perhaps quite unintentionally: suspending its verdict without suspending its vigilance.
This tension is difficult to maintain, especially in a climate where the Catholic Church bears the weight of decades of proven cover-ups regarding abuse. Public mistrust is legitimate, forged by cases where institutional caution has served to protect perpetrators rather than establish the truth. It is precisely for this reason that Marc Helfer's statement must be read carefully: it is not a classic case of self-interest, since the cardinal himself was suspended from his public duties as early as July 7, even before any investigation was concluded, and he personally acknowledged being accused of "inappropriate behavior toward adult women." López Romero himself told AFP that he had committed "neither assault, nor violence, nor sexual harassment," while affirming his full cooperation with the investigation opened by his ecclesiastical superiors. The Vicar General is therefore not defending de facto impunity — the withdrawal is a done deal — he is defending a principle: that the criminal qualification of the facts remain distinct from their mere media mention.
10Have you heard anything bad? May he die with you. Don't worry, he won't kill you.
Ben Sira's book, in its practical wisdom, warns against the frivolity of gossip and the haste of judgment: "If you hear a rumor, let it die with you; do not be afraid, it will not destroy you" (Sirach 19:10). This passage, less frequently cited than other wisdom sayings, illuminates the persistent temptation to transform an accusation into a certainty before the investigation has had time to run its course. The point is not to silence victims—their voices must be gathered, protected, and heard to the very end—but to resist the logic of the media tribunal, which recognizes neither statute of limitations, nor burden of proof, nor degree of severity.
What canon law says and what Rome doesn't say
The process initiated by the Vatican remains, to this day, shrouded in almost complete secrecy: no public timetable has been set for the conclusion of the preliminary investigation opened following the accusations. This lack of communication, which might seem frustrating to a public eager for immediate clarity, actually corresponds to standard canonical procedure. The preliminary investigation, governed by the norms of the motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi promulgated by Pope Francis in 2019 and subsequently strengthened, provides for a discreet inquiry conducted under the authority of the competent dicastery, before any decision to refer the case to a formal canonical trial or to close it. Rome's silence is therefore not a complacent silence, but a procedural one—which in no way precludes, of course, the possibility that malfunctions may have marred the application of these same norms in other cases in the past.
It is important to remember that López Romero, 74, Metropolitan Archbishop of Rabat since 2017 and Cardinal since 2019, exercises his ministry in a unique pastoral context: that of a minority Church within a Muslim-majority country, where the Catholic community is primarily composed of sub-Saharan students and expatriates. This context does not excuse anything, but it sheds light on the added difficulty of an ecclesiastical investigation conducted far from the usual legal and media structures of Europe. The Apostolic Nunciature in Rabat, which has received at least one written letter documenting the alleged facts, plays a discreet intermediary role between the Moroccan community and the Roman authorities.
1My brothers, not so many of you should become teachers, knowing that we will be judged more strictly.
The Apostle James, in his epistle, warns with particular severity those who hold positions of teaching or authority: «My brothers and sisters, not all of you should become teachers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly» (James 3:1). This verse, applied to the cardinal's office, reminds us that ecclesiastical authority is not a protective privilege but an aggravated responsibility. If the facts were to be established, the gravity of the transgression would be multiplied by the very position held by the perpetrator. It is precisely because this responsibility is immense that rigorous investigation—and not hasty investigation—must take precedence.
The retrospective shadow of a man who refused power
There is, in this affair, a dimension that the legal proceedings alone cannot exhaust: that of a public biography turning back on itself. A few weeks before the opening of the May 2025 conclave that was to elect Pope Leo XIV, Cristóbal López Romero voluntarily withdrew from the list of cardinals considered papabili, confiding to the Italian daily Il Messaggero a now-famous phrase: «I have absolutely no ambition. I could never imagine myself in that role.» He added, in a jest that amused the international press at the time: «If I see any danger of being elected at the conclave, I will flee and you will find me in Sicily.»
You might like...
«"I will flee to Sicily": humility revisited
11For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
This self-deprecating humor, hailed at the time as a rare act of humility in a cardinalatial college where ambitions are seldom concealed with such nonchalance, deserves to be re-examined in light of current events. The man who preemptively refused the highest office, citing his complete lack of personal ambition, now finds himself targeted by accusations that precisely concern the exercise of poorly controlled authority over people in situations of dependency or vulnerability. France 24 summarized this trajectory in a striking headline: "Archbishop of Rabat, once considered a potential candidate for the papacy, accused of sexual abuse."«
The Gospel according to Saint Luke contains a saying that seems tailor-made to illuminate this reversal: «For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted» (Lk 14:11). This saying, spoken by Christ in the context of a meal where people were vying for the places of honor, does not announce a mechanical punishment of pride nor an automatic reward for displayed humility; it reveals a deeper spiritual law, that of a constant reversal of human postures before God. The humility proclaimed in 2025 by López Romero—his explicit refusal of power, his imagined flight to Sicily—clearly has not been sufficient, if the facts are to be confirmed, to guarantee exemplary conduct in the more discreet, daily exercise of pastoral authority on the ground. One can refuse the supreme and symbolic power of the throne of Peter while failing, in the ordinary course of a pastoral relationship, to exercise the self-vigilance that every form of authority, even the most modest, demands.
5She does nothing improper, she does not seek her own advantage, she is not easily angered, she does not consider harm.,
This paradox is not unique to this case; it runs throughout the spiritual history of Christianity. The Desert Fathers, and especially John Cassian in his Institutes, insisted that outward renunciation of honors is never enough to guarantee purity of heart: it is in the most everyday gestures, those most hidden from public view, that true asceticism is practiced. A cardinal can publicly refuse the papal tiara and yet, in the privacy of an office or a pastoral meeting, fail in a disembodied charity that never seeks its own interest—to borrow Paul's expression from the hymn to charity (1 Cor 13:5).
The reversal of a public image
The magnitude of this image reversal must be grasped. In April and May 2025, López Romero appeared in the international press as the most likeable and unexpected figure in the electoral college: a 74-year-old Spanish Salesian, a long-time missionary in Latin America before moving to Morocco, known for his commitment to interreligious dialogue with Islam and for his constant support of sub-Saharan migrants in transit to Europe. The Italian media classified him among the "outsiders" of the conclave, those cardinals whose names circulated without appearing on the official lists of favorites, but whom some bookmakers considered possible surprises.
This image of Franciscan closeness—in the sense of Pope Francis, whose sensitivity to the world's "peripheries" he shared—made such serious accusations seem all the more improbable to the public. It is precisely this dissonance between the constructed public image and the alleged private facts that gives the affair its particular symbolic weight. It reminds us, once again, that displayed institutional sanctity never automatically protects against personal fragility, and that the Church has paid dearly, in recent decades, for the opposite illusion.
At this stage, the cardinal remains a cardinal elector by right, as no procedure for the removal of his cardinalatial title has been initiated. This situation, which may seem surprising, corresponds to the normal functioning of canon law: a withdrawal from public pastoral functions, whether decided voluntarily or imposed out of prudence, does not constitute a formal canonical sanction, which can only be imposed after a proper trial. The retention of the cardinalatial title during the investigation is therefore not a scandalous privilege, but the strict application of the principle already mentioned: no sanction without a proper trial.
What the Church Learns from Uncertainty
This case, in its current state—neither closed nor resolved, suspended between damning testimonies and firm denials, between alleged seriousness and institutional caution—offers the Catholic Church an opportunity to test whether it has truly learned from past crises. The most immediate temptation, faced with a cardinal once considered a potential papal candidate now accused by five women, would be to succumb either to indignation that condemns before the investigation, or to a self-serving solidarity that protects before the truth is revealed. Marc Helfer's statement, however imperfect and cautious, attempts to avoid both of these pitfalls.
2Listen, listen to my words, so that I may at least have this consolation from you.
The Book of Job, in its meditation on human suffering and incomprehension in the face of events that surpass our capacity for immediate judgment, contains this saying of Job to his friends who claimed to understand his misfortune before even listening to him: «Listen to my words, give ear to what I am about to say» (Job 21:2). This requirement of listening prior to judgment—whether it be listening to the alleged victims with the seriousness they deserve, or listening to the accused within the strict framework of the presumption of innocence—remains the only path that honors both justice and charity.
The history of the Church has shown, on far too many occasions, the devastating effects of complicit silence. It must now demonstrate that it also knows how to practice a different kind of silence: the silence of rigorous waiting, which conceals nothing but refuses to pass judgment on what is not yet established. This is a difficult exercise, almost impossible to make understood in a world where media immediacy demands instant verdicts. But it is perhaps precisely this difficulty that provides French-speaking Catholics, who are following this affair with concern, with an opportunity for broader reflection on how they themselves judge, each day, the people and situations around them, often with a haste that Scripture itself condemns.
Lectio divina
«Therefore do not judge anything before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden.» 1 Corinthians 4:5
How many times have you already passed judgment before even hearing a single word? There's this rush within you to conclude, to categorize, to close the book on an entire life in a single sentence. What would remain of your judgment if you waited for the light rather than creating it yourself? What darkness within you would you rather fill with certainty than leave it empty, waiting?
Lord, you who see what is hidden in darkness, teach me patience in judgment. I bear so many hasty verdicts, so many sentences pronounced before dawn. Give me your eyes that await the light before naming things. May my heart remain suspended, not through cowardice, but through respect for what I do not yet know. Make my silence a watchfulness, not an escape.
A lamp, still unlit, placed in the darkness, patiently awaits the dawn.
📁 Special Report
Leo XIV1111 articles
Leo XIV, the first American pope, facing AI and digital technology: profile, social legacy of Leo XIII and challenges…
Access the folder →✝ Biblical references
7 passages · 6 books
If I do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)
Unity of the Church, ethical problems and a hymn to charity for the Corinthian community.
→ Explore the Codex 1 Corinthians
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Moses' final speech: a reminder of the Law and an exhortation to faithfulness before entering Canaan.
→ Explore the Codex Deuteronomy
Faith without works is dead. (James 2:26)
Practical Christian wisdom: active faith, language, the poor, prayer and anointing of the sick.
→ Explore the Jacques Codex
I know that my Redeemer lives. (Job 19:25)
The mystery of the suffering of the righteous and the dialogue with God at the heart of the ordeal.
→ Explore the Codex Job
The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. (Luke 19:10)
The Gospel of Mercy: Jesus close to the poor, women and sinners.
→ Explore the Codex Luc- Anyone who does not renounce all that they have cannot be my disciple (Lk 14:25-33)
- Go out into the highways and paths, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled (Luke 14:15-24)
- Don't invite your friends; invite the poor and the crippled (Luke 14:12-14)
- If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well, will you not immediately pull him out, even on the Sabbath day? (Luke 14:1-6)
All wisdom comes from the Lord. (Sirach 1:1)
A vast collection of moral, social and religious wisdom for everyday life.
→ Explore the Sirach Codex🌍 4 countries involved
Still largely marked by its Catholic heritage, Spain today has a majority of baptized people, even though religious practice is declining sharply. According to an ancient tradition, Christianity arrived there as early as the 1st century…
Discover Spain →
The cradle of Western Catholicism and the seat of the papacy, Italy remains one of the world's major Catholic countries today, despite declining religious practice. The faith there dates back to the 1st century with the preaching of the apostles Pius XII…
Discover Italy →
In Morocco, Catholics represent approximately 0.1% of the population, in a kingdom with a very large Muslim majority. The Christian origins of North Africa date back to the early centuries, with figures like Tertullian.
Discover Morocco →
In the Vatican, the population is almost entirely Catholic, since this microstate exists in direct service to the universal Church. The Christian presence there dates back to the 1st century with the martyrdom and burial of Saint Peter…
Discover Vatican City →
