Pope Francis has ordered the Vatican to reopen the case of a well known priest-artist accused of sexually, psychologically and spiritually abusing grownup ladies
ByNICOLE WINFIELD Related Press
October 27, 2023, 7:27 AM
FILE – Pope Francis speaks throughout his weekly basic viewers in St. Peter’s Sq. at The Vatican, on Oct. 18, 2023. A well-known priest-artist who was thrown out of the Jesuits after being accused of sexual, non secular and psychological abuse of girls has been accepted right into a diocese in his native Slovenia. The Jesuits mentioned Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023 that they had offered the diocese of Koper, Slovenia an “in depth letter” outlining the allegations towards the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik and see that he had been convicted and excommunicated for committing one of the severe crimes within the Catholic Church. (AP Photograph/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
The Related Press
ROME — Pope Francis has ordered the Vatican to reopen the case of a well known priest-artist accused of sexually, psychologically and spiritually abusing grownup ladies, and eliminated the statute of limitations on their claims, the Vatican mentioned Friday.
The announcement marked a serious turnaround for the Holy See and adopted an outcry amongst victims and their advocates over the dealing with of the case of the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik, a former Jesuit whose mosaics grace church buildings and basilicas all over the world.
A Vatican assertion mentioned Francis’ abuse prevention fee had flagged “severe issues” in the best way his case was dealt with initially, significantly within the “lack of outreach to victims.” That terminology in itself was important as a result of church authorities had beforehand refused to even think about ladies with claims towards Rupnik as “victims.”
Francis requested the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Religion, which handles abuse-related crimes in keeping with church legislation, “to assessment the case and determined to raise the statute of limitations to permit a course of to happen,” the assertion mentioned.
Rupnik, a Slovene priest, was declared excommunicated by the Vatican in Might 2020 for one of the severe crimes within the Catholic Church’s authorized code: utilizing the confessional to absolve a lady with whom he had engaged in sexual exercise.
The Jesuit order kicked him out this summer time after a number of grownup ladies accused him of sexual, psychological and non secular abuses relationship again 30 years. After conducting their very own investigation, the Jesuits mentioned they discovered the ladies’s claims to be “very extremely credible.” However they mentioned the Vatican’s canonical norms in drive on the time of the alleged abuse precluded harsher punishment for {old} {cases} involving the abuse of adults.
The scandal has been a headache for the Vatican and Francis himself resulting from suspicions that Rupnik acquired favorable therapy from the Holy See since Francis is a Jesuit and different Jesuits head the intercourse crimes workplace that investigated the priest and declined to prosecute him for the abuse claims.
