ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Society of Jesus has expelled a celebrity artist accused of sexually abusing over 25 religious sisters after the Jesuit continued to violate the restrictions placed on him by his superiors.
Church of St. Peter and Paul, Mostar, with Rupnik’s frescos
A statement from the Jesuits, published Thursday, revealed Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik was dismissed from the Society of Jesus by decree on June 9 “due to stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.”
Rupnik, a predator priest who had been confined to the boundaries of Rome, traveled in June to oversee art projects in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina despite the ban imposed on him, his superior confirmed.
Superior Confirms Violations
The Jesuit superior general’s general counselor and delegate for the interprovincial houses and works of the Society of Jesus in Rome, Fr. Johan Verschueren, told Church Militant that reports in the Italian daily Domani regarding Rupnik’s disobedience are correct.
“According to the information received in my office, I can confirm the story,” Fr. Verschueren noted. The Jesuit superior also told a Spanish media outlet that the visits outside Rome are “a serious transgression of the restrictive measures imposed on Fr. Rupnik.”
The Jesuit statement noted that the superiors had “considered the degree of credibility” of allegations about the sexual abuse of nuns “to be very high.”
“So we forced Fr. Marko Rupnik to change communities and accept a new mission in which we offered him one last chance as a Jesuit to come to terms with his past and to give a clear signal to the many injured people who testified against him in order to enter a path of truth,” the statement noted.
“In the face of Marko Rupnik’s repeated refusal to obey this mandate, unfortunately, we have only one solution left: dismissal from the Society of Jesus,” the statement stressed.
Franciscans Host Predator
The Franciscans hosted Rupnik, a close friend of Pope Francis, in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first week of June to oversee the artwork in the historic Church of the Friars Minor of St. Peter and Paul, Mostar.
Rupnik’s Aletti Center, a studio in Rome co-founded by the mosaic artist, proudly displays the extensive artwork already completed in the church. There are three cycles in the vault, featuring scenes from the lives of Abraham, Joseph and Moses.
The artwork, which began in 2018, has recently been completed. The Franciscan parish bulletin of June 4, 2023, informs the faithful that the restoration in the Church of St. Peter and Paul “has been performed but not fully paid.”
“We welcome all those who can and want to help” pay for the restoration, the bulletin adds, giving the IBAN number of the Franciscan Monastery of St. Peter and Paul in Mostar. An impressive new restoration has also begun in the nearby church of Rodoč, Domani reports.
Bishop’s Blessing
The bishop of Hvar-Brač-Vis in Croatia, Ranko Vidović, also helped enable Rupnik to visit his diocese in early June. Vidović commissioned the Jesuit abuser to design his crozier after being ordained bishop of Hvar in May 2021. The shepherd’s staff was a gift from the city of Solin.
A source told Domani that Msgr. Stanko Jerčić, vicar general of Hvar, opposed the bishop when he commissioned Rupnik to decorate the chapel of the Bishop’s Palace, a popular tourist destination, since the Jesuit was under investigation for clerical sex abuse.
Jerčić also reportedly wrote a letter of protest to the bishop and the apostolic nuncio in Zagreb, Abp. Giorgio Lingua, according to Domani. While Lingua has denied receiving the letter, Jerčić is refusing to talk to journalists.
Exterior of the Franciscan Minor church in Mostar
Rupnik has personally supervised fresco work on the Basilica of the Holy Family in Solin, Croatia, as seen in drone footage shot by the Aletti Center.
Jesuit Restrictions
In January, Verschueren asked the serial abuser not to leave central Italy in order to be available “for some ongoing preliminary investigations.” In February, Fr. Verschueren announced new restrictions on Rupnik after 15 new victims came forward to testify against the mosaic artist, Church Militant reported.
In a statement, Fr. Verschueren said that Rupnik was given an opportunity to defend himself to the investigation team set up by the Jesuits but did not respond to the directive of his superiors.
“As a precautionary measure,” the Society of Jesus “has tightened the restrictive rules” against Rupnik by forbidding him “under obedience from any public artistic exercise, especially in religious structures (such as churches, institutions, oratories and chapels, retreat houses or spirituality),” the statement noted.
“These restrictions are added to those already in force (prohibition of any public ministerial and sacramental activity, prohibition of public communication, prohibition of leaving the Lazio Region),” it added.
But in March, Rupnik flagrantly disobeyed his superior’s orders by concelebrating Mass in the historic Basilica of St. Praxedes, Rome, along with senior Jesuits associated with the Pontifical Gregorian University, Church Militant reported.
Jesuits Fr. Milan Žust and Fr. Andrej Brozovic joined the Eucharistic celebration. Argentinian Jesuit Fr. Matias Yunes delivered the homily, and Dr. Alberta Maria Putti (a professor of dogmatic theology at the Gregorian) conducted the choir.
The leadership team, staff and students of the Centro Aletti, including Director Maria Campatelli, Michelina Tenace (a professor of theology at the Gregorian), and artists Eva Osterman and Maria Stella Secchiaroli, were present at the service.
Pope Francis and Rupnik concelebrate Mass at Aletti Center
Sanctions Fail
In a February interview with ACI Prensa, Verschueren admitted that the sanctions inflicted so far on the Slovenian Jesuit had not worked since the weakness of the restrictions lay in “the interpretation by the local superior.”
“Hence, the last public appearances of Fr. Rupnik were in accordance with the measures. The local superior allowed it,” Verschueren confessed. “We are aware of this issue, and we are honestly upset about it.”
“It is obvious that we have to correct the weakness of these measures, as they were taken in the previous decree; we’re working on it,” he added.
Disciplinary measures may include imposing “limited or total ministerial restrictions” on the abuser or “forcing him to move to a specific place for a specified or indefinite period of time,” the delegate announced.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith imposed Rupnik’s excommunication as retribution for sacramentally absolving a sexual accomplice, and there are still questions about whether Pope Francis personally intervened to lift it.
Despite demands for Rupnik’s artworks to be expunged from cathedrals and churches, Francis used a Rupnik icon of Mary to send papal greetings in a brief video message on June 2 to the XVI Marian Congress in Aparecida, Brazil, Church Militant reported.
Sources familiar with the interior of the current papal residence said that the Rupnik mosaic is in one of the rooms in Casa Santa Marta. Rupnik is responsible for creating and installing the mosaics that now cover the facades of the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida.
Victims of clerical sex abuse have refused to meet for prayer in the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Kraków because Rupnik’s mosaics adorn the interior of the main chapel.
“After consultation with the hosts of the Sanctuary, we decided to move the adoration from the church with mosaics down to the chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” the organizers of the prayer meeting statement said.
“We feel even more mobilized to show solidarity and pray for people hurt by Fr. Marko Rupnik.”
Rupnik has 30 days to appeal the expulsion order, according to the Jesuit statement. He remains a priest in Holy Orders. Thus far, there have been no procedures towards his laicization.
Bishop Ranko Vidović and the Franciscans of Mostar did not respond to Church Militant’s request for comment as of press time.