Rupnik Case: Lourdes Sanctuary could remove mosaics and Vatican defends keeping the art

The determination on the possible removal of the mosaics of Father Marko Rupnik, a priest and artist accused since 2018 of abusing more than 20 women in the congregation he co-founded, from the Basilica of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes (France) could come in the following days.

It was the Sanctuary’s communications director, David Torchala, who stated in statements to the media OSV News that “the decision will be announced soon.”

The resolution will be the result of months of reflection by the commission created in 2023 by the Bishop of Lourdes, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas, who reported that the mosaics of the former Jesuit could be removed due to the suffering of the victims who come to the Sanctuary in search of consolation.

For more than a year, Bishop Micas has met with victims of abuse, listened to specialists in sacred art and consulted with the experts from all over France who make up the commission.

“We had talked about spring. It has taken a while, but the decision will be announced soon,” said David Torchala, referring to the intention of Bishop Micas to communicate the decision last April.

Likewise, the spokesperson for the Sanctuary that receives millions of pilgrims each year, lamented that the situation “is terrible” because they have received “letters from the victims of Father Rupnik who suffered and continue to suffer because of him.”

He also stressed that “people who suffer are at the heart” of this place “of comfort and healing.”

According to the bishop of Lourdes a CNA —EWTN News English agency— in February of this year, it is a “very, very difficult decision to make.” “But I have to do it,” she pointed out.

Vatican Authority: “Anticipating a decision is not good”

For his part, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, Paolo Ruffini, defended the use of the art of the priest accused of abuse and who is currently being investigated by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the official Vatican media. .

He did so during a conference in Atlanta (United States) that brought together experts in Catholic communication on June 21.

Responding to journalists’ questions about the use of Rupnik’s artwork in Vatican News, Ruffini noted that there is no official verdict yet and that “anticipating a decision is something that, in our opinion, is not good.”

In addition, he explained that they have used the images they already had in the past, without adding any new ones. “Removing, erasing, destroying art has never been a good choice,” she asserted.

For Ruffini, removing Father Rupnik’s art “is not a Christian response,” since as Christians, “we are asked not to judge.”

In response to journalist Colleen Dulle, from the Jesuit magazine America Magazinealso explained that the Jesuit curia in Rome has not removed Fr. Rupnik’s art from its chapel.

In statements to OSV News, expressed that “the closeness of the Church to any victim is evident. But it is also clear that there is a procedure underway. So we have to wait for the procedure. We are not talking about child abuse. “We are talking about a story that we do not know.”

The case of Father Rupnik

In a statement released On October 27, 2023, it was reported that Pope Francis had decided to lift the statute of limitations on the case of Father Marko Rupnik, accused of having committed serious abuses against women for decades, to allow a trial to take place.

According to the message, “in September, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors informed the Pope that there were serious problems in the way the case of priest Marko Rupnik was handled and the lack of closeness to the victims.”

Consequently, the Holy Father asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case, and decided to lift the prescription to allow a trial to take place.

Father Marko Rupnik is accused of spiritual, psychological, sexual and conscience abuse, situations that have occurred for more than three decades.

Likewise, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Arturo Sosa, confirmed that Rupnik had been excommunicated in May 2020 for having confessed to one of his victims, a sentence that he lifted that same month.

After being expelled from the Jesuits in junion of 2023Rupnik was accepted in October of the same year by a diocese in Slovenia to continue exercising his priestly ministry and is currently in Rome awaiting a verdict.