Pope Francis has ordered the reopening of the controversial case of the renowned Slovenian Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik, accused of committing power, psychological and sexual abuses against several nuns. Rupnik is known for being a successful and charismatic religious artist, author of mosaics that adorn churches around the world, including the Madrid cathedral of La Almudena. Last June he was expelled from the Jesuits, the religious order to which Bergoglio belongs.
The Vatican’s handling of his case had sparked widespread criticism. Rupnik’s victims had denounced that no one had listened to them and had criticized that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of analyzing cases of abuse, had not sanctioned the Jesuit for these crimes, which date back to the 1990s. and would have ruled that they had prescribed.
As reported by the Holy See in a statement on Friday, in September the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors “reported to the Pope serious problems in the management of the case of Father Marko Rupnik and the lack of closeness to the victims.” After receiving this complaint, Pope Francis “asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to examine the case and decided not to prescribe it to allow a trial to be held.”
The statement notes that “the Pope firmly believes that if there is anything the Church should learn from the Synod, it is to listen with attention and compassion to those who suffer, especially those who feel marginalized by the Church.”
The possible opening of a new canonical process could entail, among other things, the expulsion of Rupnik from the priesthood.
The announcement has marked an important turning point in the management of the case. The intervention of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is significant, since the twenty nuns who have denounced Rupnik were adults when the abuses were committed. Even the terminology used in the statement, which speaks of “closeness to the victims,” is relevant, since until now the ecclesiastical authorities had refused to even consider the women who had denounced Rupnik as “victims.”
The reported events date back to the early 1990s and involved alleged psychological and sexual abuse of nuns from the Slovenian Loyola community in Ljubljana, founded by a religious man of whom Rupnik was a friend and spiritual father.
The case broke out about a year ago, but in ecclesiastical circles it was known before. The Jesuits admitted that Rupnik had been sanctioned with some restrictions after an internal investigation.
As explained by the Jesuits, the dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, responsible for canonical processes regarding sexual abuse, “received a complaint in 2021 against Father Marko Ivan Rupnik about his way of exercising his ministry.”
The Society of Jesus was then commissioned to open a preliminary investigation and “after studying the result, the Vatican dicastery found that the events in question should be considered prescribed and therefore closed the case at the beginning of October of this year 2022.”
The Society of Jesus noted at the time that the women’s complaints seemed “very credible.” But he said Vatican canonical norms in effect at the time of the alleged abuse prevented harsher punishments for older cases of adult abuse.
While the investigation lasted, several precautionary measures were taken against Father Rupnik, such as “the prohibition of the exercise of the sacrament of confession, spiritual direction and accompaniment to spiritual exercises.” The Jesuits explained in June, when they announced the religious’s expulsion, that Rupnik had repeatedly broken the restrictions that had been imposed on him.
The case is full of shadows and has been a headache for the Vatican and for Pope Francis himself. Last year it became known that the Doctrine of the Faith had already excommunicated Rupnik in 2020 – the harshest punishment in the Church – for “absolving an accomplice of a sin against the sixth commandment.” That is, the priest had used the confessional in 2018 to absolve a nun with whom he had had sexual relations – he had allegedly abused her – by forcing her to remain silent: one of her most serious canonical crimes. The surprising thing is that shortly after, with an extraordinary act, the excommunication was lifted. It is unknown why this decision was made.
Some media outlets pointed out that the Pope is the only authority that can do so, and also highlighted the suspicions that the cancellation of the excommunication had raised, taking into account that at that time the prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith was the Spanish Luis Ladaria, who He is also a Jesuit. While others pointed out that the sentence could have been challenged by Father Rupnik and later commuted to other types of sanctions.
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