The Holy See does not “unload” Rupinik. Vatican News, the website of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, continued to ignore the criticism and on the occasion of August 15th it re-proposed the image of a mosaic by Marko Rupnik, the Slovenian artist expelled from the Jesuits more than a year ago due to accusations of sexual abuse by former nuns deemed credible by the religious order.
The case
Although Rupnik is currently under investigation by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith after the derogation from the prescription decided by the Pope on pressure of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the Holy See’s communication insisted on publishing his works of art to celebrate solemnities of the liturgical calendar. The latest case occurred for the Feast of the Assumptionleaving many observers disappointed and perplexed. The choice of the Dicastery, in fact, comes after the letter of Cardinal Sean O’Malleypresident of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a prelate known for his fight against abuse, who invited the heads of Vatican offices to no longer exhibit Rupnik’s works. Nothing doing, the dicastery headed by Paolo Ruffini ignored the American cardinal’s indication.
The appeal of the alleged victims
It wasn’t just O’Malley who asked the Holy See to stop displaying Rupnik’s images. Five alleged victims of the former Jesuit had made an appeal to stop the display, saying that viewing the mosaics was causing them traumasThe obstinacy of the Vatican, already under fire for its handling of the Rupnik case, risks damaging the credibility of the internal fight against abuse of which Cardinal O’Malley has been one of the symbols in recent years.
On the issue of the removal of the mosaics and the halt to the use of images on the site, the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication Paul Ruffini he uttered some much-discussed words a short while ago, saying that about the Slovenian artist “there is a procedure in progress. So we have to wait for the procedure” and then adding that “we are not talking about child abuse.” Finally, Ruffini had addressed the journalists present at a meeting in the USA asking: “Do you think that if I remove a photo of a work of art from our website, I will be closer to the victims?. In front of the “yes” of the audience, the Vatican prefect had said: “I think you’re wrong.” The position of the alleged victims, however, had disavowed this position.
The incident cannot be labelled as an attack by the so-called traditionalists. This is demonstrated by the fact that even the Holy See website has openly taken a stand against the insistent use of images of the former Jesuit Alberto Mellonihistorian of Christianity and leader of the School of Bologna, who wrote on X “On the VaticanNews website there remains a mosaic by Fr. Rupnik on the readings of the Assumption that is not exactly irreplaceable.” Melloni also stated that because of this behavior “the The #TooLittleTooLate party will see evidence of dark connections; those who want to trick the Pope will be happy; the victims will feel more hurt” and on the works he added: “I imagine that no community where one of her victims lives could force her not to ask for its demolition.”
Critics have repeatedly emphasized the fact that Natasa Govekar works at the Dicastery for Communication in the role of director of the theological-pastoral department.
The professional is linked to the Aletti Centre founded by Rupnik and which has strenuously defended from the accusations through the public positions of Maria Campitelli. Govekar also co-authored books with the former Slovenian Jesuit.