Rupnik, CC BY-SA 4.0
CV NEWS FEED // The Jesuit superior general expelled Fr. Marko Rupnik from the order on June 9 following credible accusations of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse.
Fr. Rupnik is famous for his mosaics adorning major churches and chapels worldwide. In December 2022, the Jesuits publicly confirmed that Rupnik was operating under ministry restrictions due to abuse allegations. The Jesuits also confirmed that Rupnik had been excommunicated for a short time in 2020 because he absolved a woman with whom he had had sex.
In 2021, several nuns from a convent in Slovenia came forward with complaints, accusing Rupnik of abusing them while he was their spiritual director in the 1980s and 90s. However, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time) disregarded the accusations since the canonical statute of limitations had expired.
The Jesuits then requested anyone who had been abused by Rupnik to contact their review board.
Fr. Johan Verschueren, Rupnik’s immediate superior in Rome, announced in February 2023 that the Jesuits had begun an internal investigation after receiving more accusations of abusive acts committed between the 1980s and 2018.
Following his excommunication, the Jesuits had already banned Rupnik from hearing confessions, giving spiritual direction, leading retreats, leaving Rome without permission from his superior, publishing articles or books, or engaging in public ministry. After the investigation began, they tightened his restrictions, including his ability to continue with his artistic work.
Rupnik refused to abide by the restrictions placed on him, however.
Fr. Arturo Sosa, the Jesuit superior general, signed a decree expelling Rupnik from the order on June 9. Rupnik received the decree on June 14, and Verschueren verified his expulsion on June 15.
“This was done in accordance with canon law, due to his stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience,” Verschueren said.
In his June 15 statement, Vereschueren said:
We forced Father Marko Rupnik to change communities and accept a new mission in which we offered him one last chance as a Jesuit to come to terms with his past and to give a clear sign to the many aggrieved people who were testifying against him that he had entered a path of truth. Faced with Marko Rupnik’s repeated refusal to obey this mandate, we were unfortunately left with only one solution: dismissal from the Society of Jesus.
While it does not remove his identity as a priest, Rupnik’s expulsion prevents him from performing any priestly duties unless a bishop personally permits it. Rupnik has 30 days to file an appeal.
