Episode 2: Moral Injury, Spiritual Damage, and Abuse in Catholic Contexts

In this episode, PCTP Research Fellow Dr Carolina Montero Orphanopoulos - faculty member at Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez in Santiago, Chile - discusses her project re-conceptualising the spiritual damage and moral injury caused by Catholic clergy abuse. Drawing on an adapted Systematic Literature Review of existing bibliography and comparative analysis of ten victim autobiographies through the lens of Betrayal Trauma Theory, Carolina explores the unique traumatic ruptures from this abuse - stemming from the symbolic and religious authority of perpetrators - and distinguishes them from harms in non-ecclesial contexts. She examines psychological and spiritual manifestations, such as shifts in God representations and relational trust, and their implications for victims' healing.