An Interview with Alessia Gullo

by  Gordon Nary

Gordon: Where were you born? 

Alessia: I was born in Florence, Italy. But very soon I moved with my family to Rome

Gordon: When did you attend Sapienza University of Rome and, what degree did you earn, what was the most interesting course that you took, and why was it so interesting? 

Alessia: I attended the Faculty of Law between 1990 and 1995 and I loved all the historical exams: History of Roman Law. History of Italian Law, Medieval Law and History of Canon Law, but in the end I chose a thesis in “Modern” Canon Law. However, the history exams were very important for my education: it is essential to understand the development of law.

Gordon: When did you attend Pontifical Salesian University what degree did you earn, what was your favorite course, and why was it your favorite?

Alessia: After graduating in Law from the State University La Sapienza, in 1994 I enrolled in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Salesian University where I first obtained a license and then a doctorate in 1999.

When I attended the Salesian University I loved matrimonial law, especially for the "closeness" to the pain of so many people and the hope of being able to help them have a new emotional life blessed by the Lord. But already with my doctoral thesis I approached the world of canonical administrative law, which now, together with canonical criminal law, has become the object of much of my work activity.

Gordon: When did you attend Studio Rotale and why diploma did you earn?

Alessia: I attended the Studio Rotale between 1997 and 2000 in order to be able to represent clients also at the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the Tribunal of the Vicariate of Rome and in ecclesiastical tribunals throughout the world. In fact, only Rota lawyers have the possibility of practicing at all ecclesiastical tribunals. The Studio Rotale also added further specialization, especially in practice and jurisprudence, to that which I had received at the Faculty of Canon Law.

Gordon: Tell us about you volunteering work.

Alessia: I started volunteering when I was a girl, helping foreign children or children in “family homes” with their homework. Now I help at the Caritas center in my parish and above all I do many cases of free legal aid for people who cannot afford the costs of canonical cases (matrimonial or criminal). But I always say that it is not me who helps them, it is they who show me the best face of the Church.

Gordon: You currently as a Canon Lawyer at the Holy See. What are you primary responsibilities?

Alessia: In 2009 I was appointed as an advocate of the Roman Curia, that is, a lawyer who has the right to represent the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in administrative and criminal cases. In 2013, Pope Francis also appointed me as an advocate of the Holy See, that is, a lawyer who defends the interests of the Church. This is particularly important, for example, in my stable consultancy activity in Dioceses and Religious Institutes, in which I help the Ecclesiastical Authority to issue decrees, carry out investigations, maintain contacts with the Vatican, etc. Today, Dioceses and Religious Institutes need canonical legal consultants who help in the governance (administrative matters) and in the prevention and condemnation of crimes.

Gordon: What is the Canon Law of the Vatican?

Alessia: In reality it is improper to speak of Canon Law of the Vatican. It is more correct to speak of Canon Law of the Holy See. Canon Law is in fact the law that concerns the Catholic faithful throughout the world.

Gordon: How did Pope Francis change Canon Law Surrounding Sex Abuse Cases?

Alessia: First, a clarification. Canon law has always condemned those who commit sexual abuse. Already in 1917 the Code severely condemned priests who had sinned with minor under 16, or with adultery, rape, bestiality, sodomy, prostitution, incest and in 1983, the Code issued by Saint John Paul II established that "... a cleric who persists with scandal in another external sin against the sixth commandment of Decalogue is to be punished by a suspension. If he persists in the delict after a warning, other penalties can gradually be added, including dismissal from the clerical state" (can. 1395 § 1) and "A cleric who in another way has committed an offense against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, if the delict was committed by force or threats or publicly or with a minor under the age of sixteen years, is to be punished with just penalties, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state if the case so warrants" (can. 1395 § 2).

When, at the beginning of the 2000s, numerous cases of sexual abuse of minors emerged in the United States and then in Ireland, Card. Ratzinger, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, worked hard to prosecute the guilty and when he later became Pope he issued important norms for the protection of minors and for prosecuting abusers. The first versions of the Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, which is still the law that defines the abuse of minors as a delictum gravius, that is, more serious than other crimes, were issued by Pope Benedict XVI. It was Pope Benedict who also established that reports of cases of abuse of minors must necessarily arrive in Rome, precisely to prevent some cases from being hidden by local authorities.

Pope Francis continued in the line of his predecessors and three innovations are due to him in particular. The first novelty is the Motu Proprio As a loving mother  issued in 2016, which establishes that Bishops and Superiors of Religious Institutes can be removed if they have been negligent, for example in the face of reports of child abuse.

The second novelty is the new canon 1398, issued in 2021, which, taking up the can. 1395 of the Code, establishes that the crime concerns all children under the age of 18 and those who have a limited use of reason (§ 1 n. 1), adds the cases of child pornography (§ 1 and 2) and expands the audience of possible culprits: now in fact it is not only the clerics, but also the religious and the laity who have a function or an office in the Church (§ 2).

The third novelty is the abolition of papal secrecy in cases of child abuse.

Gordon: Please provide an overview of the Bernard Francis Law Cases

Alessia: I am sorry, but I never talk about specific cases. As a lawyer I am bound by confidentiality and professional secrecy.

However, I can say – generically – that the Catholic Church in recent decades has worked hard to protect minors and severely judge abusers. Today, almost all dioceses and religious institutes have cutting-edge safeguarding programs and the bishops inflict very severe penalties on those who have abused minors and also on those who have “covered up” them. Reports of inappropriate behaviours are evaluated with great attention. In fact, I would say that the criminal law in this regard is one of the most severe in the world. Let us not forget, in fact, that canon law considers all minors under the age of 18 as victims (while in many nations only those committed with minors of 14 or 16 are considered abuses) and all those who have an imperfect use of reason (while many nations speak of a total lack of use of reason). Not only that. The reference to the sixth commandment of the Decalogue allows us to condemn not only abusers who have performed complete sexual acts, but also those who are guilty of groping, kissing, sexually explicit speech, masturbation ... in addition to child pornography. It is therefore a much more "modern" legislation than that of many States.

There is certainly still a lot to do, but we are on the right track.

Gordon: Do Italian Laws apply to the Vatican?

Alessia: No. The Vatican has its own particular law: Vatican law.

Gordon: Thank you for an exceptional interview.