The malignant narcissist and the use of blogs and social media to cause damage to the Church and her faithful servants

THE MALIGNANT NARCISSIST AND THE USE OF BLOGS AND SOCIAL MEDIA TO CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE CHURCH AND ITS FAITHFUL SERVANTS

Certain formulas typical of improvident clericalism, such as "ignore it", «don't stoop to his level», "let him talk", "in a month they will have forgotten about it" ... they produced no results and what should have been nipped in the bud was left to grow. Outcome: the silence, instead of a condemnation to oblivion it has bestowed the most effective of legitimisations.

- Church news -

Author
Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo

The malignant narcissist is a person suffering from a serious disorder that makes him particularly harmful, as it is endowed with a personality which, if inserted into certain contexts, becomes an active principle of decay, capable of transforming human relationships into instruments of domination and destruction. It is the most degenerative form of narcissism, but above all more dangerous.

The famous Italian criminologist and psychologist Roberta Bruzzone has explored this complex figure in the scientific field, until it itself becomes the object of disturbing actions and polemical expositions, also accompanied by the presentation of complaints against him to the Order of Psychologists (cf.. who), all as happened previously for the psychologist Amedeo Cencini, priest of the Canossian Congregation, in turn the subject of similar initiatives deemed totally groundless by the competent disciplinary body (cf.. who).

In that configuration a particularly relevant dimension emerges: the systematic use of language as a tool of aggression and control. The malignant narcissist does more than just make judgments, but it builds repeated interventions, through writings and public positions, characterized by a polemical tone, delegitimizing and offensive. Verbal aggression is not occasional, but reiterated; it's not a reaction, but a method inserted within an aggressive-destructive personality combined with an implicit belief: believes he enjoys the unilateral right to offend. Just a few examples among many: he can afford to call the national President of the Journalists' Association a "rude longshoreman" and an "arrogant bastard" (cf.. item who), can accuse the vicegerent archbishop of the Diocese of Rome of being a "failure in life, an incompetent and an ignorant" (cf.. who), he can write dozens of articles to insolent a cardinal to the point of accusing him of being a "liar" who "abuses consciences" (cf.. who), can be called a "village hag", of the "illiterate" and the "licker" to the director of the Vatican Media (cf.. who). However, the moment he is the object of criticism or denial - without anyone hurling the insults he usually hurls at others -, here it activates an opposite and mirror reaction: he perceives himself as a victim and declares and presents himself as such, he interprets the refutation as aggression and claims for himself a protection that he himself systematically denies to others. Reality is thus reorganized according to a scheme in which the subject, despite being the agent of the attack, represents himself as the recipient of an injustice, or discrimination. From here a reactive dynamic begins which can progressively take on increasingly invasive and violent forms.

With the construction of reiterated narratives, the repetition of accusations, insinuations and distorted readings of the facts, the malignant narcissist creates a climate of suspicion over time around the identified targets. He even uses judicial instruments, not to protect a right, but as means of pressure to try to hit and wear down the other with actions of disturbance and intimidation. For this purpose, he is able to identify and involve professionals who, far from being alpha males, due to weakness and lack of critical clarity they end up supporting its dynamics, giving rise to legal actions without real consistency, bending the exercise of the profession to a function of indirect aggression through reckless complaints and summonses which do not even pass the preliminary stages of judicial scrutiny, but they still produce wear and tear, waste of resources and continuous pressure. In this way, even law is transformed into an instrument of violence. The malignant narcissist does not need to win: he just needs to activate the mechanism. For him, disturbing is already hitting and hitting is already a form of self-affirmation for him (cf.. who).

The destruction of the other thus it occurs mainly through erosion. We don't necessarily see a direct attack, but to a progressive emptying of authority: allusions, combinations, insinuations, malicious readings of the facts end up creating a negative perception that precedes and replaces the judgment on reality. Added to this is the absence of limits, given by the fact that you are not faced with occasional deviations, but to a configuration in which the lie, manipulation, delegitimization and destruction of other people's reputations become ordinary tools. In this perspective, sexuality also loses its human and relational meaning by being reduced to a means. It is no longer a disordered expression of fragility, but a tool used consciously to obtain consensus, exert influence, create bonds of dependence or consolidate acquired positions. The relationship with the body and with others is thus deformed in a functional sense: there is no more meeting, but I use; there is no longer a relationship, but I check.

In this reduction of sexuality to an instrument a further step appears. Where the possibility of an authentic relationship is lost, the need for affirmation and domination does not disappear. The other, already deprived of his personal consistency, it is no longer just used, but progressively subjugated. The relationship, emptied from the inside, leaves room for a dynamic in which control replaces meeting. It is in this context that the sadistic component also emerges. The malignant narcissist not only feels no remorse for the harm done, but comes to derive a form of pleasure in seeing the other humiliated, isolated, destroyed. The suffering of others no longer represents a limit, but it becomes confirmation of one's dominion. This is also why it is difficult to fight the malignant narcissist, because whoever does it is internally endowed with scruples, of an ethical sense, but above all of limits. With the malignant narcissist the fight is unequal and very difficult, because for his part he is devoid of scruples and ethical sense, but above all it knows no limits.

The very place of pleasure, in the malignant narcissist is progressively transferred. That which in the human order finds its fulfillment in eros, in the relationship and in the gift, it is emptied and relocated elsewhere. Where the affective dimension is compromised, he never stops seeking pleasure, but it alters its location and structure. It is no longer the encounter with the other that generates it, but his subjugation; it is no longer reciprocity, but the dominion; it is no longer communion, but destruction. In this sense, sadism is not a secondary addition, but the very place in which pleasure is relocated. The pain inflicted on another is not a side effect, but it becomes a principle of gratification. It is in this way that a radical overturning of the human order is achieved: what should constitute a limit - the harm caused - is internally taken as a criterion of confirmation and as a source of pleasure.

Added to this is a further element, often overlooked: the malignant narcissist, despite being an active subject of destructive dynamics, it can be used by more lucid and unscrupulous subjects, who operate within the same ecclesial bodies, becoming an operational tool for strategies that are suggested to him. Its psychological structure makes it particularly predisposed to being activated through flattery and confirmation dynamics: it is enough to make them believe that they are exercising a decisive role or acting in the name of a superior interest. In tal modo, he lends himself to carrying out attack functions, of disturbance and delegitimization. What makes this dynamic insidious is the dissociation between those who act and those who direct the action in an indirect and often anonymous way, avoiding personal exposure; while the malignant narcissist, having nothing to lose on the ecclesial level, professional and patrimonial, takes on the visible action, becoming the exposed face, your blog and social, of other people's initiatives. What in the language of political science is known as a “useful idiot”: he who supports an ideology without understanding its real aims and ends up causing harm to himself.

The most revealing trait remains the response to criticism. Any attempt to bring the facts back to their truth is experienced as a threat. From here arises a reaction that does not aim at clarification, but to the neutralization of the interlocutor. In that process, truth ceases to be a criterion and becomes variable. What matters is not what is, but what can be imposed as such. And if what he said is denied and proven to be false (cf.. who), his reactions will take the form of furious destructive violence. Because of this, Such personalities who take root in the Church do not represent just an individual problem, but a factor of structural alteration. The most serious damage is not only that caused to individual people, but the one inflicted on ecclesial credibility itself.

The responsibilities of the Ecclesiastical Authorities are serious who have omitted any intervention to protect the image of the Church, of the Holy See and its repeatedly insolent servants. Certain formulas typical of improvident clericalism, such as "ignore it", «don't stoop to his level», "let him talk", "in a month they will have forgotten about it" ... they produced no results and what should have been nipped in the bud was left to grow. Outcome: the silence, instead of a condemnation to oblivion it has bestowed the most effective of legitimisations, because those who act systematically through these channels social it draws strength precisely from the absence of a response which ends up conferring a license of impunity, giving the person the belief that they can act without consequences and raising the level of the offense from time to time.

And let's not overlook the serious damage produced more subtly and dangerously within the clergy. It is in fact in the ordinary fabric of ecclesial life, between canons, sacristy, rainbow aesthetic monasteries and daily conversations, that a simple and devastating belief took shape: if that blogger continues to attack and insolent ecclesiastics, prelates and departments of the Holy See without anyone intervening, then what he says must be true, especially considering how confidently he states in his videos: «we in the Vatican … here in the Vatican … here in the Vatican …». In fact, it should not be forgotten that even among the clergy there are simple and fragile men, Perhaps now more than ever. He therefore would not have the duty, Authority Ecclesiastica, folded in its own omissive silence generated by a sense of superiority, to protect them and protect them from the poison of false and misleading news?

Especially after particularly offensive attacks, the person in question claims that no one has ever reported him and his blog, Why, according to him, spreads incontrovertible truths, blankets — no less! — from evidentiary documents that he is ready to bring out if anyone dares to deny him. This is how silence and clerical inaction are overturned and transformed into elements of legitimation. The whole, thanks to a self-absolutizing clericalism, marked by a sense of sterile superiority and, because of this, profoundly self-defeating. Because, as the facts show, many priests don't read Future but they read that blog of poisonous and poisonous gossip.

Congratulations to the beautiful clerical silence which he ignores and would never stoop to certain levels, by virtue of his presumed superiority which leads him not to see and not to hear; so, to remain silent and not defend, from the false and the violent, the priests and the People of God, who no longer even know the existence of The Osservatore Romano, but on the other hand they know that Lord who confidently states «we are in the Vatican … here in the Vatican … here in the Vatican …».

Congratulations to the beautiful clerical silence!

From the island of Patmos, 31 March 2026

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