Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ROME: The Society of Jesus commonly referred to as Jesuits has said that allegations of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse against a prominent Catholic member were highly credible and restrictions on him had further been tightened and he will be expelled.
Jesuits, an order of Roman Catholic religion, said on its website it would start an “internal procedure” against Priest Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, 69, a well-known religious artist after about 25 citizens, primarily former nuns, accused him of various forms of abuse, either when he was a spiritual director of the community of nuns in his native Slovenia about 30 years ago or after he moved to Rome to pursue his career as an artist.
Rupnik has not spoken publicly in the allegations, which have rattled the sect, of which the pope is a member. His superior, Father Johan Verschueren, said that Rupnik had declined to meet Jesuits investigators.
Priest are Highly Credible
In the update posted online, Verschueren said that the number of citizens who had made similar accusations indicated they were “very highly” credible, particularly since some of the accusers didn’t know each other. He said the abuses appeared to have occurred from the mid-1980s until 2018.
Repeated attempts by Reuters to reach Rupnik through his school for religious art in Itlay remained unsuccessful, and he did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.
Rupnik specializes in mosaics and came to prominence when the late Pope John Paul II commissioned him to redesign a chapel in the Vatican between 1996-1999. He has since designed chapels around the globe.
Few women victims have given accounts to Italian media saying Rupnik used his position as their spiritual director to coerce them to have sex with him.
One former nun said he used psychological control to force her into sexual acts and deployed “cruel psychological, emotional and spiritual aggression” to “destroy” her, mainly after she refused to have three-way sex.
Verschueren’s Italian-language statement used female and male pronouns to describe Rupnik’s accusers. La Repubblica newspaper quoted him as saying two men were allegedly abused by the priest, though he didn’t specify the type of abuse.
After allegations against Rupnik were first reported, the Jesuits said he had been restricted in 2019 from hearing confessions and leading spiritual retreats. After new accusations, Rupnik was banned from carrying out any public artistic activity, Verschueren said, adding that he could eventually be expelled from the order.
