Rupnik Case: Two former religious women share heartbreaking testimony

Despite this, there remains a silver lining for hope: “I believe that only God, the true one, love, could still transform into life,” what he has described as “a weight on my heart.”

Years after what happened, his feelings are of “despair, panic, helplessness, disappointment, failure, disgust, contempt for what I had become, shame, sadness, fear, anger and much more,” he detailed.

“Fear that the scandal would come to light”

After denouncing Father Rupnik’s misconduct in 1993 to her superior, Ivanka Hosta, she was not allowed to speak with him again. So he made an appointment with whom he considered to be the spiritual father of the former Jesuit.

“When I started to talk to him in confession about everything I had experienced with Rupnik, he stopped me after the first two minutes and told me: ‘No, look, stop. They are your things. I do not want to know anything’. Then, he advised me to write a letter of resignation from the Loyola Community,” he said.

“That was the first time I was able to tell someone what had happened to me” but, far from there being immediate consequences, “he blocked everything completely for fear that the scandal would come to light,” accuses Branciani.

In the fall of 1993, Father Rupnik was removed from the Loyola Community.

The Vatican’s reaction

Hours after the testimonies of the two former nuns became known, the Press Office of the Holy See issued a statement in which it indicated that “the case is currently being examined by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith” and that “in “In recent months, following the order received from the Pope at the end of October, the Dicastery has contacted the institutions involved in the matter in various capacities to receive all the information available about the case.”

The Vatican communications department adds that it is now a matter of “studying the documentation acquired to determine what procedures will be possible and useful to apply,” after having expanded “the radius of the search to realities not previously contacted” and after having received their responses. .

The Rupnik case

Father Marko Rupnik is known worldwide for the numerous artistic works that he has created in different parts of the world, including the logo of the Jubilee of Mercy convened by Pope Francis between 2015 and 2016 and the official image of the 10th World Meeting of Families that took place in Rome in 2022 .

From December 2022 Complaints against Father Rupnik for psychological, physical and sexual abuse have been made public in various media.

According to the Society of Jesus, the first complaints they received against Father Rupnik date back to October 2018, related to the acquittal of an accomplice for a sin against the sixth commandment (“Thou shalt not commit impure acts” or “Thou shalt not commit adultery”).

By May 2020, the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith determined that Father Rupnik was guilty and declared that he had been excommunicated. automatic (immediately) upon committing the canonical crime. The sanction was lifted by the Vatican dicastery itself that same month.

New accusations appeared in June 2021, but in October 2022 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith determined that the cases had prescribed.

After various sanctions, finally in July 2023 lThe Society of Jesus expelled Father Rupnik of the order.

A month later, the Diocese of Koper (Slovenia) incardinated Father Rupnik. His bishop, Bishop Jurij Bizjak, defended his decision, pointing out that since there was no judicial ruling against him, “his innocence” is presumed.

In September 2023, the Vatican reported that Pope Francis the prescription of the Rupnik case was liftedand ordered that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith begin a process, after “serious problems were detected in the way the case was handled.”