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Pope Francis held a private meeting on Friday with theologian Maria Campatelli, a supporter of Fr Marko Rupnik, who was dismissed from the Jesuit order in June for disobedience to superiors.
Campatelli, 61, has led the Aletti Center, an art and theology school in Rome founded by Rupnik, since 2020.
The Vatican confirmed the meeting between Pope Francis and Campatelli but provided no further details.
In June, Campatelli published a letter defending Rupnik against what she called “defamatory and unproven accusations” and accused the Jesuits of withholding documents that could present a different truth.
Fr Rupnik faced allegations of spiritual, psychologic and sexual abuse as well as abuse of conscience spanning more than three decades.
Fr Johan Verschueren, Rupnik’s former superior, stated in an open letter that Rupnik was officially no longer a Jesuit after the 30-day window for appeal closed.
Unproven accusations
Campatelli defended Rupnik on June 17, alleging that he lost trust in his superiors due to their involvement in a “media campaign based on defamatory and unproven accusations.”
Campatelli, in her letter posted on the Aletti Centre website, disclosed that Rupnik had requested to leave the Jesuits in January due to a loss of trust in his superiors and their perceived involvement in the media campaign.
She claimed the Jesuits had withheld information from the media, including documents that could present a different truth.
Campatelli further stated that Rupnik was asked to transfer to a Jesuit community in northern Italy in March, describing the request as “purely instrumental” and used to provoke disobedience.
In February, the Jesuits initiated an internal investigation into accusations against Rupnik over the period 1985 to 2018.
Restrictions were imposed on Rupnik’s ministry based on the investigators’ recommendations.
Media reports have suggested that Fr Marko Rupnik defied these restrictions, including directives to stay in central Italy and abstain from public artistic activities.
Additionally, in 2019, Rupnik faced a brief excommunication for absolving in confession an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment.
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