The Archdiocese of Madrid has decreed the suppression of the Public Association of the Faithful Daughters of Merciful Love, putting an end to one of the most serious ecclesial crises to arise in Spain in recent years. The decision comes after a year of commissariat, a canonical visitation, and an investigation that led the Tribunal of the Rota in Spain to recommend its disappearance and to refer part of the proceedings to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith due to the possible existence of matters within its competence.
The decree, signed in accordance with canon 320 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, concludes that the continuity of the association was unviable despite the measures adopted by the archdiocese to attempt to redirect the situation.
One year to try to save the association
Before decreeing the suppression, the Archbishop of Madrid chose to grant the association one last opportunity.
After receiving the first complaints and ordering a canonical visitation, Cardinal José Cobo decreed on July 28, 2025, the commissariat of the Daughters of Merciful Love, replacing their government and implementing various measures of accompaniment, support, and reform with the aim of correcting the serious deficiencies detected and ensuring their continuity within the communion of the Church.
That attempt failed.
After twelve months, the archdiocese has found that the necessary conditions did not exist to keep the association alive and has finally carried out the recommendation made by the Tribunal of the Rota in Spain.
The complaints that precipitated the intervention
The canonical procedure began after the presentation of various complaints of special gravity directed against the superior of the association, María Milagrosa Pérez Caballero, known as «Marimí».
During the investigation, new complaints emerged regarding the internal functioning of the group, which led the Tribunal of the Rota in Spain to recommend its suppression in May 2025 and to refer to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith those facts that, indicatively, could constitute matters within its competence.
Although the archdiocese’s communiqué does not detail the content of those accusations, in recent months numerous former members and relatives have publicly described an environment marked by abuses of conscience, spiritual manipulation, isolation from families, and practices that had little to do with a healthy Christian life.
The complaints reported by various media also speak of alleged sexual abuses attributed to the superior, supposed exorcisms, extravagant penances, dynamics of psychological control, and promises as delusional as assuring some young people that they would become priests despite there being no real possibility of it.
From ecclesial recognition to disappearance
The Daughters of Merciful Love originated from the work promoted in 1983 by Father Antonio Mansilla and were erected as a Public Association of the Faithful by the Archdiocese of Madrid in 2007 by decree of Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela.
For years they projected the image of a community especially focused on Eucharistic adoration and the spirituality of mercy. However, behind that appearance, behaviors increasingly distant from an authentic ecclesial life and a structure of government excessively personalized around their superior began to emerge.
The outcome has been the canonical disappearance of the association.
The communities in Seville also disappear
The suppression legally affects the association erected in Madrid, but its effects also extend to the communities that depended on it in other dioceses.
According to Religión Confidencial, the more than twenty sisters currently remaining in Carmona (Seville) likewise cease to be part of the Daughters of Merciful Love upon the extinction of the only Public Association of the Faithful canonically recognized.
The doctrinal investigation remains open
The suppression of the association does not put an end to all proceedings.
The investigation referred by the Tribunal of the Rota to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith continues its course and must determine whether the facts attributed to the former superior and other persons involved require further measures in the canonical penal sphere.
For its part, the Archdiocese of Madrid has wished to emphasize that those who belonged to the Daughters of Merciful Love continue to be fully part of the Church and has reiterated its willingness to offer them pastoral accompaniment, welcome, and assistance to favor their integration into the ordinary life of parishes and ecclesial communities.
At a time when the Church insists on the need to purify forms of consecrated and associative life, the disappearance of the Daughters of Merciful Love marks the end of a project that ultimately drifted toward dynamics incompatible with ecclesial communion and whose gravity has compelled the Church’s authority to adopt the most drastic measure provided for by Canon Law.