ST PAUL, Minn. — A lengthy Vatican investigation into misconduct allegations against Archbishop John Nienstedt, the former leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, concluded that he took “imprudent” actions but did not violate church law, the archdiocese announced Friday.
However, the archdiocese also said Nienstedt remains barred from public ministry following the investigation.
Nienstedt released a statement on Friday in response to the announcement, saying, in part, "I have asked the Holy See, through my canonical advocate, to clarify the imprudent actions I allegedly committed while in Minnesota." In his statement, he also apologized "for any pain experienced by anyone because of the allegations against me."
Nienstedt was one of the first U.S. bishops known to have been forced from office for botching sex abuse investigations. He stepped down in 2015 after Minnesota prosecutors charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from harm by a pedophile priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. Nienstedt was later accused of his own inappropriate sexual behavior involving adult males and minors.
His successor, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, in 2016 forwarded allegations to the Vatican that Nienstedt invited two minors to a hotel room in 2005 during a youth rally in Germany to change out of wet clothes, and that he then proceeded to undress in front of them and invited them to do the same. Nienstedt was the bishop of New Ulm, Minnesota, at the time.
Nienstedt consistently denied all misconduct allegations leveled against him, insisting that he has remained celibate, and said that he welcomed the investigation. But Hebda in 2018 barred Nienstedt from celebrating Mass and other public ministry in the St. Paul-based archdiocese until the allegations were resolved.
On Friday, Hebda said in a statement that he was recently informed that the investigation was complete — the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is responsible for enforcing sexual morality, concluded that available evidence doesn't support violations of church law, so any such allegations against him were "unfounded."
"After reviewing all of the information gathered, the Dicasteries for Bishops and for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded that the available evidence did not support a finding that Archbishop Nienstedt had committed any canonical delict (crime)," Hebda wrote.
However, Hebda said, “it was communicated to me that several instances of ‘imprudent’ actions were brought to light,” and while none were deemed to warrant “any further investigation or penal sanctions,” Pope Francis decided that three administrative actions against Nienstedt were justified.
As a result, Nienstedt can't exercise any public ministry in the Province of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, which covers Minnesota and the Dakotas. He can't live in the province. And he can't exercise any ministry elsewhere without the approval of the local bishop — and only after the Vatican has been notified.
Hebda did not say what Nienstedt's “imprudent” actions were. The spokesman said he couldn't provide details, and Vatican press officials did not immediately respond to emails seeking elaboration.
The archbishop’s statement also did not say why it took the Vatican so long to conclude its investigation. But Hebda said a church law that Francis issued in 2019 saying that sexual abuse and and coverup allegations against bishops and priests should be reported and investigated “created a path forward for a resolution of the Archbishop Nienstedt matter.”
St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who has been involved in multiple lawsuits against the Vatican, released a statement Friday, calling for the evidence surrounding Nienstedt's "imprudent" actions be made public.
Frank Meuers, the Minnesota director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), also questioned the term "imprudent."
"It's a blanket that covers everything. What's imprudent, exactly?" Meuers said. "They investigate themselves, and then they apply it to their own laws, and they declare, 'no harm, no foul.' And it infuriates people."
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