Abuse of power consists in «the perverse use of the asymmetry of power». According to Church law, abuse of power is committed when power is exercised beyond its limits or when it is not exercised in accordance with its true purpose. Abuse of power is taking advantage of one's authority to extort money from another person or entity in order to fulfill one's own interests. Abuse is an act of violation of trust and power is generally associated with authority, although it is not exclusive.

Labor harassment or “mobbing” is the continuous verbal and mental mistreatment that a worker receives from one or others, who behave cruelly with him, with a view to achieving his annihilation or psychological destruction and his departure from the organization through different procedures”.

Unfortunately, researches concur that women are the ones who suffer most from this type of labor mistreatment.

The causes of this harassment are diverse and include but are not limited to:

1. Differences in criteria and not sharing attitudes and opinions of the group, especially with those members who have power.
2. Being different from the group in some aspect.
3. Characteristics that can be distinguished from someone who is weak and does not have the strength to defend himself against attacks.
4. Someone who denounces the group's bad practices.
5. Jealousy and envy of someone who is distinguished by intelligence or qualities.
6. Psycho-social factors of the organization.

Any action or inaction that causes harm to another person. This can include physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.
It also includes abuse over the internet and/or through mobile technology. There are several types of abuse, including the following:

1. Sexual abuse: Any sexual act or threat of sexual act with violence perpetrated against a minor or adult, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. Examples of sexual abuse include rape, abusive sexual contact, such as unwanted touching, and non-contact sexual abuse, such as sexting and verbal or physical sexual harassment.
2. Physical Abuse: Injury or probable physical injury to a minor or adult, such as hitting, kicking or shaking, with clear knowledge, or reasonable suspicion, that the injury occurred or was deliberately not avoided.
3. Emotional abuse: Harm caused by persistent or severe emotional rejection or mistreatment, such as degrading punishments, threats, intimidation, and lack of attention and affection.
4. Neglect: Occurs when basic needs such as access to food, shelter or medical care are not met, or when exposure to any type of danger is not avoided.

Harassment

Harassment is not necessarily sexual in nature. It can also take the form of other verbal activity, including derogatory commentsthat are not directly directed at the person in question, but occur in situations where that person can hear them.
Other prohibited conduct includes retaliatory action against an employee for discussing or making a complaint of harassment.
Sexual harassment can include any form of verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is unwelcome and is taken with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of an individual, contributing to the creation of an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It may include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature. It is important to mention that sexual harassment crosses age and gender boundaries.

Exploitation

Any abuse or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, unequal power or trust for economic, social or political gain. There are several types of exploitation, including the following:

1. Sexual exploitation: Any abuse or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, a relationship of unequal power or a relationship of trust for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another person.
2. Child labor: The term “child labor” generally refers to any type of economic activity performed by a person under the age of 15.
3. Trafficking: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of minors or vulnerable adults for the purpose of exploitation, such as labor, prostitution or sexual exploitation.
4. Survival sex: Occurs when a minor or vulnerable adult in a situation of poverty or emergency decides or is coerced to engage in sexual acts as a last resort to survive. This is commercial sex in exchange for food, water,medicine, shelter, money and any other basic necessities for integral human survival.

Embezzlement occurs in any act or circumstance in which a person or group of persons uses Caritas economic resources or assets for their own benefit. This can occur through lying, deceit, concealment of information or illicit agreements with recipients or suppliers. Embezzlement can also be understood as the indiscriminate and discretionary useof funds or goods, without any type of process or procedure that guarantees transparency and control by the organization.

Abuse of conscience is the kind of abuse of power that damages the conscience as the seat of freedom of judgment and as the place of encounter with God and with oneself. Abuse of conscience occurs when ecclesial mediation transgresses its limits, in such away as to control and replace it. For example, it is perpetrated when a representative of the Church imposes the will of God on followers who have opened their conscience to him. In fact, when ecclesiastical mediation becomes absolute, it transgresses itslimits and contradicts its purpose and meaning. The leader no longer represents God, but supplants him, and misuses the name of the Lord. Thus, the conscience loses its freedom to judge and the disciple can no longer be alone with God in his conscience. The distinctive feature of this type of abuse is that the conscience of the faithful can no longer fulfill its proper function because the abuser has obstructed or replaced it.

Abuse of conscience, then, consists in the abuse of power that damages or nullifies the conscience as a place of freedom of judgment and of encounter with God. In other types of abuse of power, the victim's conscience remains free to judge and encounter God. A person who is forced to act against his or her conscience does not fail to recognize what is good and what is evil; whereas abuse of conscience undermines the victim's autonomy and capacity for discernment. While abuse of power restricts freedom of action, abuse of conscience obstructs freedom of judgment. A believer who is pressured by a Church representative to act against his conscience suffers abuse of power -which is serious -but maintains his freedom of judgment regarding right and wrong. In contrast, a victim who obeys a Church representative who has supplanted the divine voice believes he is doing God's will when he submits to the will of the abuser. For this reason, the abuser of conscience is not simply instilling fear and guilt, but religious fear and religious guilt in the victim. That is, in the abuse of power, thevictim thinks, «If I disobey, I will be punished by the leader», while the victim of abuse of conscience thinks, «If I disobey, I will be unfaithful to God.»