CV NEWS FEED// In the wake of the controversy around Vatican dicasteries’ repeated use of artwork from sex abuser Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, urged Vatican departments to use “pastoral prudence” and refrain from displaying artwork from alleged abuse perpetrators.
The statement, released on June 28, quotes several paragraphs from a letter the Commission sent to all Vatican dicasteries. “Pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense of alleged perpetrators of abuse or indicate indifference to the pain and suffering of so many victims of abuse,” the statement reads.
The Cardinal also stated that, “We must avoid sending a message that the Holy See is oblivious to the psychological distress that so many are suffering.”
The Commission’s official statement specifically mentions that victims of abuse reached out to the commission, expressing “increasing frustration and concern” that the Vatican continues to display art by disgraced ex-Jesuit Fr. Rupnik.
Fr. Rupnik was excommunicated in 2020 after using confession to absolve one of the victims of his abuse, as CatholicVote reported. After Fr. Rupnik repented, he was readmitted.
More allegations surfaced, and the Jesuits placed restrictions on him. They forbade him from performing any public ministry or leaving Rome without his superior’s permission. Fr. Rupnik ignored these restrictions and was expelled from the Jesuits last June.
After his expulsion, Fr. Rupnik’s work was displayed on the Synod website. Then he was admitted into a diocese in his native Slovenia, sparking an outrage that forced Pope Francis to reopen Fr. Rupnik’s investigation in October 2023.
Despite these measures, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications continues to regularly use Fr. Rupnik’s art in its publications.
During the 2024 Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta in mid-June, the Dicastery’s prefect, Dr. Paolo Ruffini, defended the use of the disgraced priest’s artwork. Paulina Guzik, editor of OSV news, directly confronted Dr. Ruffini about the artwork.
As reported by CatholicVote, Dr. Ruffini argued that removing the artwork would not show “closeness to the victims.” He asked Guzik if she thought removing the artwork would really make him “more close to the victims,” and much of the audience responded “yes.”
Ruffini’s response was, “Really? Well, I think you’re wrong. I think you’re wrong.”
On the same day that Cardinal O’Malley issued the statement, the Associated Press reported that five of Fr. Rupnik’s abuse victims have sent a letter to bishops around the world addressing the use of the priest’s art.
Because some of the abuse occurred during the construction of the mosaics themselves, the women in the letter stated that “Notwithstanding the years that have passed, the trauma that each suffered has not been erased, and it lives again in the presence of each of Father Rupnik’s works.”
