TIFF 2025 Review: Nuns vs. The Vatican – “the impact of its story is significant.”

Courtesy of TIFF

Trigger warning – the following review mentions sexual abuse.  Please read with care.

“Don’t show my face or my relatives will kill me.”

A stark confession of fear from one of the subjects of Lorena Luciano’s documentary Nuns vs. The Vatican.  The film from the Emmy-winning director and executive producer, Mariska Hargitay, proves to be a deep dive into the ecclesiastical patriarchy that has helped cover up sexual abuse against nuns for decades.  While it certainly does not stylistically break new ground, the impact of its story is significant.  

The Catholic Church is no stranger to scandal, nor to sexual abuse allegations.  While most of the attention was placed on horrific acts involving altar boys, any accusations from women in the church were ignored or actively removed from record.  Yet, abuse of nuns is not uncommon.  A recent survey of nuns suggested that up to 1/3 of women have suffered some form of abuse.  

The documentary interviews several people, including journalists who have been working on this story, Barbara Dorris (who heads a survivors network of those abused by priests) and academics.  But our main subject here is Gloria, a former nun in the Loyola community of Slovenia.  She now lives with her dogs in a home outside of Rome, but at the time of her indoctrination to the community, she was studying medicine with the aim of becoming a missionary.  Instead, she was introduced to a priest who was also an artist.  He groomed her, saying he needed a model for his work, that faith required them to “reconnect with the body.”  Things escalated from there. 

It can be incredibly hard for a nun to come forward with their allegation of abuse.  It’s not just that they are physically abused, but also spiritually.  These women have devoted themselves to their faith, and their abuse sometimes causes them to question everything.  As Dorris notes, being Catholic is more than just religion.  It’s a whole community, and if you leave, you’re often left with nothing – no friends, no guidance.  It can absolutely shatter victims and their families as well.  

Yet Gloria speaks up, and she reunites with some of the Loyola community who have similar accounts of priest Marko Rupnik.  What follows in Nuns vs. The Vatican, is an angering view of how the church deals with these abusers.  For in the church, sexual violence is not a crime, it’s a sin.  These abusers are not charged civilly.  Instead, the ecclesiastical process is largely secret and has no women in its midst to direct policy.  So, many of these violators are sent to ‘treatment centres’ that appear to be little more than adult day camps for disgraceful priests who make crafts and go on camping trips.  

Any woman who comes forward with allegations of abuse is incredibly brave.  Gloria and her former sisters are just that.  Their letters get burned, their characters maligned, their mental health suffers as Rupnik continues to make his art and climb the ranks of the Catholic Church.  In fact it’s not until very recently that any sort of action is taken to remove him from the order.  He’s one example of a man in power taking advantage of that dynamic, and a whole lot of other men who decide to cover up his crimes.  So while Nuns vs. The Vatican is here to divulge an important systemic issue within the Catholic Church, it’s not so far off what typically happens outside those walls either.  

Nuns vs. The Vatican had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, September 6, 2025.  For more information head to tiff.net