ROME (OSV News) -- Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, the first cardinal of Opus Dei, said Jan. 25 that abuse accusations made against him in a Spanish daily El País are "completely false," while acknowledging he was sanctioned by the Vatican in the past and saying that the sanctions were lifted by Pope Francis.

On Jan. 26 Vatican's spokesman Matteo Bruni said, however, that disciplinary sanctions are still in effect and relate to the cardinal's "public activity, place of residence and use of insignia."

"Although on specific occasions some permits were granted to meet requests due to the cardinal's age and family situation, at present this precept appears to be still in effect," Bruni confirmed in his statement to journalists.

The Jan. 25 statement of Cardinal Cipriani was issued immediately after El País published the story, in which the alleged victim claims that the cardinal abused him in 1983 when he was between 16 and 17 years old.

"I have never committed any crime, nor have I sexually abused anyone, neither in 1983, nor before, nor after," Cardinal Cipriani said in his statement.

He noted that, in August 2018, he was informed by the Vatican that a complaint had been made, but didn't receive a copy of the letter sent to the Vatican by the alleged victim.

"Then, without having been heard, without having known more, and without a process being opened, on December 18, 2019, the Apostolic Nuncio verbally informed me that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had imposed a series of penalties on me, limiting my priestly ministry and requiring me to have a stable residence outside of Peru," he said, adding that the Vatican asked him to "remain silent, which I have done until now."

Bruni did not mention in his Jan. 26 statement whether the canonical process had ever been carried out nor whether the cardinal was questioned in the case.

Founded in 1928 by St. Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei (Latin for "Work of God") centers on attaining holiness through ordinary life. In 1982, St. John Paul II designated Opus Dei as a personal prelature, a canonical structure composed of both laity and clergy, and it is the only group in the church with such a distinction.

According to Opus Dei, in 2023, the prelature had an estimated 93,784 members, 2,106 of whom are priests.

In his statement, Cardinal Cipriani said that roughly seven weeks after the nuncio informed him about the sanctions, on Feb. 4, 2020, he met Pope Francis in person "and the Holy Father allowed me to resume my pastoral duties," and administrative roles in the Roman curia.

Meanwhile, the Opus Dei vicar in Peru, Father Ángel Gómez-Hortigüela, admitted the alleged victim came to him in 2018, but he said he did not have the formal means to start an investigation as once a priest becomes a bishop in Opus Dei, the authority over him goes to the Vatican.

"Since I had no legal authority over the case, when a person trusted by the complainant asked me to meet with him, I reacted thinking that this meeting would not be productive," Father Gómez-Hortigüela said in a statement released Jan. 25.

He also regretted that he didn't personally attend to the alleged victim in a more compassionate way, acknowledging that today the church has learned the lesson.

"Today I realize that I could have offered him a personal, human and spiritual welcome, which I know he received from other people in Opus Dei," the prelature's vicar in Peru wrote, acknowledging that protocols within Opus Dei are much stronger today.

While the alleged victim told El País that "the Work was aware of Cipriani's conduct for 35 years and did nothing," assuming some Opus Dei members may have known about the allegations, the vicar said that "today, with everyone in the Church learning, any complaint has a clear itinerary and could not remain in the realm of private conversations, with people who have now died and with others who cannot be identified." Father Gómez-Hortigüela also underlined that "there is no record of any formal process during the years in which, as a priest, Father Juan Luis Cipriani was incardinated in Opus Dei."

Surfacing of allegations against Cardinal Cipriani comes days after the pope suppressed the Sodalitium Christiane Vitae -- the move was confirmed by the pope and Sodalitium, but not by official Vatican documentation sent to Peruvian bishops. Cardinal Cipriani was archbishop of Lima at the time when first accusations against the movement surfaced.

While the victims voiced their frustration that Sodalitium was "protected" by the highest ranking prelates of the church in Peru, including Cardinal Cipriani, it was the cardinal himself who said in an Oct. 21, 2015, televised interview that founder of Sodalitium, Luis Fernando Figari, should "face the accusations against him. We cannot hide it. He has to face the very delicate and serious situation."

Once a powerful Catholic institution that gathered members of the Peruvian elite, Sodalitium saw itself hit by dozens of denouncements of sexual and psychological abuse, physical violence, misappropriation of funds, and other crimes by former members and journalists.

A Vatican inquiry into the organization included a 2023 investigative mission to Peru, formed by Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who is the adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Spanish Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu, also a member of that department.

As a result of the investigation, Figari was expelled from the group in August 2024.

Pope Francis met with José Enrique Escardó, the first member of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae to denounce abuse within the movement 25 years ago, on Jan. 24.

In his Jan. 25 statement, Cardinal Cipriani acknowledged that while he was never officially aware what kind of allegation was made against him, "it is serious that information is being published in an incomplete manner that seems to come from documentation reserved by the Holy See and that I do not even have in my possession."

"Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a cardinal has been falsely accused, with stories full of lurid details," he said, expressing "total rejection and revulsion to the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people," and reiterating his "commitment to the Church's struggle to eradicate this."

"Despite the pain that all this causes me, I do not hold a grudge against the accuser, I pray for him and for all the people who have suffered abuse by the Catholic clergy, but I reiterate my complete innocence," Cardinal Cipriani said.

- - -Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @Guzik_Paulina.