CV NEWS FEED // The National Catholic Register (NCR)’s editors have issued a sharp rebuke of Vatican communications chief Dr. Paolo Ruffini’s “tone-deaf” response to reporters’ questions about his continued promotion of Fr. Marko Rupnik’s art.
The Prefect for the Dicastery for Communications recently delivered a speech at the Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta on Friday, June 21. Ruffini’s conference was sponsored by EWTN, the parent company of the National Catholic Register.
After Ruffini opened up the floor for questioning, reporters from America Magazine and OSV News pressured him to explain why the Dicastery continues to promote the disgraced former Jesuit’s sacred art on its website.
In a June 25 editorial, the editors at NCR state that all of Ruffini’s answers “fell flat.”
Ruffini answered the reporters’ questions from several angles, stating that the Dicastery had not used any new pieces by Fr. Rupnik, pointing out that the famous Italian painter Caravaggio had killed a man, and challenging whether removing Fr. Rupnik’s art would draw the Church closer to his victims.
“This is not the way to be close to the victims,” Ruffini told reporters, adding: “Do you think that if I pull away a photo of art from my website, our website, I would be more close to victims? Do you think so? Really, do you think so?”
When OSV’s reporter answered emphatically that she did, in fact, believe so, Ruffini shot back: “Well I think you’re wrong. I think you are wrong. I really think you are wrong.”
“In all due respect to Ruffini, who is a veteran journalist and communications expert, we disagree with his view of the situation,” NCR’s editors wrote in response, adding:
The dicastery’s conspicuous use of Father Rupnik’s art, whatever the motivations inside the Vatican, appears to the outside world as shockingly tone-deaf and indefensible in light of the Church’s long struggle with the sexual-abuse crisis, including the abuse of adults.
The editors pointed out that featuring other artists instead, “communicates nothing whatsoever about Father Rupnik’s guilt or innocence,” while continuing to promote Fr. Rupnik’s art over others sends a message.
“This begs another pointed question,” the editors concluded: “Can the Vatican get anything right when it comes to Father Marko Rupnik?”
