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CV NEWSFEED // Catholic journalist, editor and author Christopher Altieri is asking the question, “So what?” in response to the Vatican’s recent decision to feature the artwork of disgraced Jesuit priest and artist Marko Rupnik, an “inveterate creep and professional pervert,” in its illustration of St Joseph’s feast in its liturgical calendar.
“Well,” Altieri began in his fiery March 19 op-ed, “Marko Ivan Rupnik […] is a disgraced celebrity artist-priest and sometime retreat leader credibly accused of spiritually, psychologically, and sexually abusing more than two dozen victims—most of them women religious—over the course of three decades, much of it spent right in Rome.”
The Vatican has incurred significant scrutiny in recent years over its perceived support of Rupnik despite continually assuring the public of its concern for victims of clergy abuse.
“It makes good sense,” said Altieri, for the Vatican to reconsider publicly supporting Rupnik’s art, “even if you don’t care a whit about the victims—Rupnik or anyone else’s—who are traumatized every time they see Rupnik’s stuff, not to mention the faithful who are scandalized and appalled.”
Despite his history of sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse, Rupnik maintains control over his art studio, Centro Aletti, which is just “a stone’s throw from the Basilica of St Mary Major, where Pope Francis says he’d live if ever he should retire,” Altieri pointed out, adding: “If that seems fitting, well, there you go.”
As Catholic News Agency reported last month, two of Rupnik’s victims recently spoke out against the disgraced priest. One victim, Marjiam Kovač, testified that 20 sisters out of her community were “exploited for abuses of various kinds, of conscience, of power, spiritual, psychic, physical, and often even sexual.”
Rupnik incurred an automatic ex-communication in 2020 for committing the grave canonical crime of absolving victims of his sexual abuse in sacramental confession, AP reported in June 2023. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith absolved Rupnik after he admitted to the offense and “repented.” Rupnik’s order, the Society of Jesus, then barred him as a precaution from hearing confessions and appearing in public. After Rupnik violated these stipulations, the Society of Jesus expelled him “due to stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience,” according to the article.
Pope Francis delivered an impromptu address at the Synod of Bishops in October 2023, which sparked outrage. In the speech, he denounced clericalism as a “whip” and “scourge” against the Church and rebuked traditional Latin Mass priests for visiting the ecclesiastical tailors in Rome and trying on vestments.
The Holy Father’s clericalism comments received backlash as they came approximately 24 hours after news broke that Rupnik would be incardinated into a Slovenian diocese and allowed to freely exercise his priestly ministry. The DDF quickly reversed the decision following the public outcry, opting instead to reopen Rupnik’s case, but the sentiment of Vatican approval for the former Jesuit remains.