Jesuits offer ‘reparation’ to Rupnik victims awaiting Vatican verdict

The Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes said mosaics by Marko Rupnik on the doors of the Rosary Basilica would be covered by aluminium sheets.

The Society of Jesus offered “reparation” to around 20 women who claim they were abused sexually, psychologically and spiritually by the former Jesuit Marko Rupnik.

Fr Johan Verschueren SJ, the major superior of the Jesuits’ international houses in Rome, wrote private letters to each woman asking “to know what they would need now, and how we can meet that need”.

Rupnik allegedly abused the women over a 30-year-period. The allegations, which Rupnik denies, are the subject of a Vatican inquiry.

Excerpts from Verschuren’s letters were released by Laura Sgrò, a lawyer representing some of the alleged victims. He said the Jesuits were “uneasy” about Rupnik: although he was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 2023 for “disobedience”, he remains a priest.

Sgrò quoted Verschuren saying the Jesuits were aware that “the various kinds of violence suffered at the time are compounded by the pain caused by the lack of listening and justice for many years”.

Verschuren, as delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome, was Rupnik’s superior when the Slovenian artist was based at the Aletti Centre. Verschuren told the Associated Press that the letters were an “extended hand” to the alleged victims, offering reparation on an individual, anonymous, case-by-case basis.

“Any path to reparation will totally depend on the person invited. The concreteness of that will follow later,” he said.

Sgrò thanked Verschuren and the Jesuits for making a “clear, strong and concrete gesture” of reparation. She urged the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith (DDF), which is responsible for the inquiry into the allegations, to prosecute Rupnik and “restore dignity to the victims”. The DDF’s prefect Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández recently said it was struggling to find external judges for the trail.

Rupnik was famous for his mosaics which now adorn Catholic shrines across the world, including at Lourdes. On 31 March, the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes Jean-Marc Micas announced that the side-doors of the shrine’s Rosary Basilica – which are decorated by Rupnik’s mosaics – had been covered by aluminium boards and the main doors would also be covered soon after, before the start of the pilgrimage season.

Bishop Micas said the decision would ease access to the basilica for “those who currently feel unable to cross its threshold” due to the mosaics.

Last July, Micas said Rupnik’s art would “remain” in Lourdes the time being but would eventually be removed. He described the decision to cover the doors as a “symbolic step”.

In 2022, the Jesuits admitted that Rupnik had been briefly excommunicated two years earlier for absolving a woman during the Sacrament of Confession of having sex with him – a serious abuse under canon law. The Vatican lifted the excommunication two weeks later.

Initially, the Vatican refused to prosecute historic abuse claims against Rupnik because the women were not minors at the time of the abuse, meaning they were still subject to the statute of limitations. Pope Francis subsequently waived this to enable the Vatican to open a canonical trial against Rupnik.

Verschuren said in his letter that the Jesuits had “confidence that a process of healing and inner reconciliation is possible, provided that there is also a path of truth and recognition on our part”.

More Rupnik abuse complaints submitted to DDF

Lourdes decides to keep Rupnik mosaics for time-being

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