Father Johan Verschueren, the Jesuit superior in Rome who is in charge of discipline for Father Marko Rupnik, has acknowledged that it is canonically “illegal” for Rupnik to be the principal owner of a commercial enterprise that sells artwork.
Father Rupnik—the noted church artist who faces multiple charges of sexual abuse—owns 90% of a firm that produced $1.3 million in revenues for 2022. The Code of Canon Law (286) stipulates: “Clerics are prohibited from conducting business or trade personally or through others, for their own advantage or that of others, except with the permission of legitimate ecclesiastical authority.” Father Verschueren says there is no evidence that Father Rupnik secured permission for his corporate ownership.