Lawsuit accuses Father Rosica of sexually abusing a young priest

In a lawsuit filed in March, Rev. Thomas Rosica, national director of the 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto, is accused of sexually harassing a young priest in the run-up to the event.

This resulted in Rosica being stripped of her priestly credentials. A credential is an authorization from an ecclesiastical authority, usually a bishop, that enables a priest to teach, sanctify, or govern for the good of the Church. It is withdrawn pending the outcome of the case.

According to online news outlet The Pillar, which broke the news on August 28, the lawsuit alleges that Rosica developed a mentoring relationship with the plaintiff, a newly ordained Canadian priest, in the 1990s. The priest was pursuing graduate studies at the time, The Pillar reports. The priest was also invited to assist Rosica in preparations for World Youth Day, which attracted thousands of young Catholics to Toronto in the summer of 2002.

Rosica is said to have developed a close relationship with the unnamed young priest, a relationship of “authority and trust,” the lawsuit says. This “allowed Rosica the opportunity to be alone with the plaintiff and to exercise control over him, stalk him, and sexually abuse him.”

Rosica has denied any wrongdoing and asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit so the allegations can be heard in a canon court. He argued that the Ontario court does not have jurisdiction in the dispute and that he and the plaintiff are ordained priests and the alleged assaults occurred while “discharging duties on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church” mean the case should be heard in an ecclesiastical court.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Congregation of Saint Basil, Rosica's order, failed to supervise Rosica. The order knew of similar allegations against Rosica made by young men and “took steps to cover up the conduct.”

The allegations still have to be proven in court.

Rosica's career within the Catholic Church took off after World Youth Day in 2002. In 2003, he founded and directed Salt+Light Television and was appointed a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in 2009. In 2013, he was appointed Vatican spokesman in the run-up to the conclave to elect Pope Francis and served as media consultant to two Synods of Bishops in 2008 and 2018.

However, Rosica ran into trouble in 2019 when he resigned from his position at Salt+Light after repeated allegations of plagiarism in his published works.