It is a new scandal which embarrasses the Catholic Church and goes back to the Vatican. A Slovenian Jesuit priest, Marko Rupnik, theologian and mosaic artist is accused of numerous sexual assaults. His influence is great in Rome, both in the Jesuit order and in the Vatican.
With our correspondent in Rome, Eric Senanque
Known throughout the world for his mosaics which adorn several large sanctuaries but also the private chapel of the popes inside the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, Marko Rupnik is now at the heart of all scandals.
In early December, the Italian press revealed that the 68-year-old Slovenian Jesuit priest is accused of sexual assault and spiritual abuse of at least nine nuns. One of his victims claims to have denounced the monk to the leaders of the Jesuit order, without him ever being sanctioned.
The case has rebounded in Rome in recent days, when the Superior General of the Jesuits, Arturo Sosa, conceded to the press that sanctions had indeed been taken, from 2019. Sanctions which led to an excommunication in 2020.
New scandal for the Church
In addition to the Jesuits, it is also the Vatican which is splashed by this scandal. Marko Rupnik’s excommunication was, in fact, lifted after only one month by a decree.
The questions remain numerous: is Pope Francis, himself a Jesuit, at the origin of this decree? Or did the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which judges the most serious cases of sexual assault, also headed by a Jesuit, the Spanish Cardinal Luis Ladaria, work?
Questions that cast a shadow over the Church’s ability to punish sexual predators. For their part, the Jesuits have launched an appeal for other potential victims of Marko Rupnik.
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