O'Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM), urged Vatican offices to exercise pastoral prudence and avoid displaying Rupnik's art, which could imply exoneration or indifference to the suffering of abuse victims.

O'Malley's proactive stance contrasts with recent comments from Paolo Ruffini, head of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication.

Ruffini defended his office's use of Rupnik's artwork, stating "Removing, deleting, destroying art has not ever been a good choice". He stressed the importance of not prejudging Rupnik, as the investigation by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is ongoing.

Rupnik, renowned for his large-scale mosaics adorning over 200 Catholic sites worldwide including the Vatican's Redemptoris Mater Chapel, faces accusations from at least 30 adult women.

Despite the severity of the allegations, Ruffini maintained that using existing images of Rupnik's work does not undermine the Church's commitment to supporting victims.

Abuse doesn't know age

The controversy arose during Ruffini's address at the Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta where he suggested that removing Rupnik's art would not signify greater solidarity with victims.

He also said that "we're not talking about minors" and noted that, as Christians, "we are asked not to judge".

Ruffini's remarks sparked backlash, with critics arguing that the Church should demonstrate sensitivity by discontinuing the display of Rupnik's art until the investigation concludes.

One observer took issue with Ruffini's apparent dismissal of the allegations since they involve adults rather than minors, saying "Abuse doesn't know age".

In contrast, O'Malley's letter to Vatican departments highlighted the need to avoid sending a message that suggests the Holy See is indifferent to the psychological distress of abuse victims.

"Pope Francis has urged us to be sensitive to and walk in solidarity with those harmed by all forms of abuse" O'Malley wrote, and "to bear this in mind when choosing images to accompany the publication of messages, articles and reflections through the various communication channels available to us."

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

Crux Now

CathNews New Zealand

But alleged victims of the disgraced former Jesuit and many faithful are not in a celebratory mood.

During a heated debate on what should be done with Fr Rupnik's mosaics across the globe, OSV News asked whether the art can be separated from the alleged acts of abuse by the Slovenian priest-artist and what should be done with his mosaics decorating iconic churches across the globe.

In December 2022, Rome's Jesuit headquarters, following media reports concerning alleged abuse by Fr Rupnik, admitted the preliminary investigation found allegations credible as early as 2019. In 2020, he was excommunicated for "absolution of an accomplice," referring to when a priest has sex with someone and then absolves the person in confession.

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The new cases mark the latest development in the case of Rupnik, a Jesuit accused of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women over a period of decades.

As reported by the Italian news agency Ansa, the testimonies of five alleged victims were presented at the Vatican dicastery by Italian lawyer Laura Sgrò on April 3.

The complainants include two women who shared their testimony at a press conference in February, while the other three are heretofore unknown cases.

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In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, Verschueren, delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus, assured that in March the Jesuits "exhaustively" informed the bishop of Koper, Jurij Bizjak, about the cases and complaints of abuse against Rupnik.

The Jesuit official revealed that the Slovenian bishop "informed us on his own initiative that he would offer incardination to MIR [Marko Ivan Rupnik] if we would give him the indult to leave the Society of Jesus." However, the priest was not released but expelled from the Jesuits on June 15.

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Actually, once the members of the October 4-29 gathering have voted on a final document (Saturday evening) and then celebrated the concluding Mass in St. Peter's Basilica (Sunday morning), they will not have ended the Synod assembly on synodality.

They will only have ended the first session of that assembly. Pope Francis, the Synod's president, has scheduled a second session for 11 months from now - in October 2024.

What happens in the liminal space between now and then is anybody's guess.

That's because there are numerous issues and events - both in the Church and in the world - that will pose serious challenges to advancing the momentum of the synodal "conversations in the Spirit" that many participants said they so positively experienced.

The Marko Rupnik saga

Let's start with the issue that is no longer the elephant in the room, as it was just a few days ago.

Obviously we're talking about the likely role the pope played in the way the Vatican and the Diocese of Rome dismissed the testimonies of more than 20 women who accused the famous ex-Jesuit mosaic artist, Marko Rupnik, of sexually abusing them.

The Jesuits believed the women, however. And they slapped tight restrictions on Rupnik's work, ministry, and travel.

When the celebrity priest-artist brazenly flouted them, his religious superiors kicked him out of the order.

Demands for full transparency in how Rupnik abuse cases were handled at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) were always ignored.

And not a single Vatican official, including anyone at the Holy See Press Office, has ever addressed the issue - until last week when it was revealed that Rupnik was recently incardinated in the Diocese of Koper (Slovenia) as a priest in good standing.

Under intense media pressure, and with emerging signs on social media that many Catholics - including some the pope's most loyal supporters - were scandalised and angered by this new development in the ongoing Rupnik saga, the Vatican said Francis had instructed the DDF to re-open the Slovenian priest's abuse case.

Naturally, it did not acknowledge that the pope decided to do so because of the above-mentioned pressure and outrage. It does not matter.

It's regretful to have to say this, but we are long past expecting any real transparency in this pontificate - at least across the board and on a consistent basis.

You are probably asking what all this has to do with the Synod assembly and the next 11 months before its second session.

At least three issues seem to be at play here:

• the lack of transparency in the Church, especially from its leaders;
• the commitment of the Church, and especially the pope, to continue making the clergy sex abuse crisis a top priority;
• and how women are treated by an all-male clergy and hierarchy.

Priests sexually assaulting minors and vulnerable adults

The members of the Synod assembly could not even acknowledge in their "Letter to the People of God" that hundreds, certainly tens of thousands and perhaps even millions of people - minors and vulnerable adults - have been sexually abused by Catholic priests over the past 70 or so years alone.

The best they could muster in their anodyne text was to mention "victims of abuse committed by members of the ecclesial body".

Seriously? This was not a tough one. And it is extremely worrying that they could not even agree that the issue at hand is about priests sexually assaulting vulnerable people.

As for transparency, there was little of that from this first session of the Synod assembly.

Those of us who were not given access to the closed-door gatherings inside the Paul VI Hall - all but about 400 of the Catholic Church's reportedly 1.3 billion members - have no real idea how the discussions were even conducted.

Yes, the "method" was explained to us, but we were not able to witness even a few moments of it actually taking place.

The only things shared with the public were the occasional spiritual reflections, witness talks, theological mini-lectures and general introductions by the assembly's rapporteur.

It was very difficult to get the "feel" or sense of what was really going on in the discussions. We had to rely on participants who shared their "experiences" at press briefings.

And then there's the issue of women and the Church - what type of responsibility and ministry they are allowed to exercise and how they are treated by the male clerics.

This, in the minds of many serious Catholics, is the most crucial issue in the Church today, right up there with the clergy sex abuse crisis.

And, of course, the hierarchy's response to the Rupnik allegations (not believing or meeting with the women he allegedly abused and then putting him back in ministry after the Jesuits dismissed him) hits both issues!

The pope also did his part deflect attention away from the women's issue and focus it, instead, on the way the Church treats gays and lesbians, one of the other hot topics going into the October 4-29 assembly.

It did this by holding much-publicised private meetings with James Martin SJ and Jeannine Gramick SL, two icons of Catholic outreach to the LGBTQ+ community. Fine people, both of them.

And, yes, Jeannine is a woman, but the pope met her and two male officials of her organisation, "New Ways Ministry". It wasn't about her gender.

Trickle down synodality?

How all the above will affect the next 11 months, which Timothy Radcliffe OP - one of the assembly's spiritual directors - has likened to a gestation period or a pregnancy, is hard to say.

The final document is supposed to highlight themes that will require further and more in-depth reflection and discussion, as well as - one supposes - issues that are not on the table.

And where will such discussions take place? In universities, parishes, diocesan chanceries?

The two-session model of this Synod assembly - which actually began in October 2021 with a series of consultations that were held (theoretically) with all the members of the Church at the local, national and regional levels - has, at times, been likened to the process that unfolded during the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

Preparations got under in various places around the world, beginning in early 1960.

Then the first session was held in autumn 1962 at the Vatican.

Between that and the next three sessions there were those liminal periods when the Council Fathers returned to their dioceses or religious communities and the theologian returned to their universities, academies or research centers.

It has been recognised that this helped bring the Council to the local level and engage Catholics in the work and spirit of Vatican II as it was unfolding.

The Synod fathers and mothers and all the other participants at this year's assembly will also return home for the next 11 months before returning in October 2024 for Round II of the "Synod on synodality", as the two-pronged assembly is often called.

But they will not be able to bring their experience from Synod assembly or engage local Catholics with it in the same way that those who participated in the Council were able to do.

For one thing, it's numerically impossible.

In theory, all the bishops of the world were at Vatican II. Most of them said they were transformed by their experience at the Council and they enthusiastically brought its vision and decisions back home to their priests and people.

Only a tiny percentage of the world's bishops are part of the Synod assembly.

Therefore, the vast majority of the world's dioceses have no direct personal connection to what happened in the Paul VI Hall this past month.

And because of the pope's insistence on a virtual media blackout, they have not had much other connection, either.

You may have heard the old saying "Will it play in Peoria?" It's often used in the United States to ask whether a product, idea or person will appeal to the mainstream, as it is reflected in so many places like this small, typically average city in Illinois.

We might ask the same question regarding the work of the Synod assembly.

The problem is that it can't play in the countless Peorias of the worldwide Church if it's never taken back to the people there.

And how likely is that to happen if their bishops - like the one in the real Peoria - are not part of the Synod assembly?

• Robert Mickens, LCI Editor in Chief, has lived, studied and worked in Rome for 30 years. His famous Letter From Rome, brings his unparalleled experience as senior Vatican correspondent for the London Tablet and founding editor of Global Pulse Magazine.
• First published in La Croix. Republished with permission.

The Vatican has removed the statute of limitations that had previously hindered a church trial based on these allegations.

The case of Rupnik (pictured) has garnered global attention due to the accusations against the once-revered Jesuit.

Rupnik is known for his remarkable mosaic artistry that graces churches and basilicas worldwide.

A Vatican statement disclosed that the Pope's abuse prevention commission identified "serious problems" in the initial handling of the case.  The "lack of outreach to victims" was particularly emphasised.

Pope Francis has directed the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, responsible for addressing abuse-related crimes in church law, to "review the case and decide to lift the statute of limitations to allow a trial to take place."

The Jesuits initiated an internal procedure to investigate sexual abuse accusations against Rupnik dating from 1985 to 2018. The accusations were deemed "highly credible."

But the Jesuits said the Vatican's canonical norms in force at the time of the alleged abuse precluded a canonical trial or harsher punishment.

In the end, the Jesuits expelled Rupnik not because of allegations of abuse but because of his "stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience."

Innocent until proven guilty

Simultaneously, it has been announced that Father Rupnik has been accepted for priestly ministry in the Diocese of Koper, Slovenia.

The diocese confirmed Rupnik's acceptance. It emphasised that it aligns with Article 11.1 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This article asserts the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a public trial.

Currently, Rupnik enjoys all the rights and duties of diocesan priests within the Diocese of Koper. The diocese covers the westernmost side of Slovenia and is home to 266,000 inhabitants.

Rupnik's former Jesuit superior welcomed Friday's Vatican announcement of an impending church trial against the accused priest-artist. The Rev. Johan Verschueren saw it as a "major step" toward justice for both the alleged victims and Rupnik himself.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which had raised concerns about the Rupnik case also applauded the decision, emphasising the importance of justice for abuse victims within the Church.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

National Catholic Reporter

CathNews New Zealand

The women said Pope Francis' recent gestures and an apparent effort to exonerate him publicly showed church pledges of "zero tolerance" were just a "publicity stunt."

In an open letter published on an Italian survivor advocate site, the women lashed out at a declaration from the Vicariate of Rome, which Francis nominally heads as bishop of Rome and recently tightened his grip over.

The Vicariate reported Monday that it had uncovered "seriously anomalous procedures" used in the Vatican investigation into the Rev Marko Ivan Rupnik.

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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.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

The Pillar

CathNews New Zealand

It was a postcard image of a mosaic Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik created.

She couldn't bear to have it up.

Rupnik is a remarkably gifted artist.

His mosaics adorn chapels and buildings from the St John Paul II National Shrine in Washington to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lourdes, France. And until now, our living room wall.

Rupnik stands "accused of spiritual, psychological or sexual abuse by multiple adult women over the course of almost 40 years," according to a report by Paulina Guzik at OSV News.

Many of the cases involved women under his spiritual direction.

Three years ago, he was even briefly excommunicated for granting absolution to a consecrated woman with whom he had sex, though the excommunication was lifted when he confessed and repented.

This week, we learned that Rupnik was expelled from the Society of Jesus on June 9 "due to stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience."

The allegations are so serious that the bishop responsible for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, which includes the basilica, has appointed a reflection group to consider whether the towering mosaics installed on the facade of the lower basilica in 2008 should be removed.

A few months ago, I visited the Lourdes for the first time, and when I saw the mosaics, I groaned out loud.

Rupnik's style is immediately recognizable, and my first thought was that the art would forever be tainted by his crimes.

Certainly, for anyone who was abused by Father Rupnik, but also by people who other priests or religious leaders had abused, the art would never be just art.

What is the proper response when our heroes, our leaders, and our artists, let us down?

Picasso was a misogynistic creep who drove lovers to suicide.

How do we look at his painting "Guernica" now?

Woody Allen abandoned Mia Farrow for her 21-year-old daughter.

How do we look at his film "Manhattan"?

What about Roman Polanski? Jean Vanier? Bill Cosby? Theodore McCarrick? Marcial Maciel? Michael Jackson?

In the age of #Metoo and tell-all bios, we have grown adept at manoeuvring around the moral disasters of famous lives, but it is far less easy when the scandals involve someone we admired, perhaps even revered. Continue reading