Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
jesuit father marko rupnik speaks in front of a microphoneA screen grab shows Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, an artist and theologian, giving a Lenten meditation from the Clementine Hall at the Vatican in this March 6, 2020, file photo. (CNS photo)

ROME (CNS)—Slovenian Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, whose mosaics decorate chapels in the Vatican, all over Europe, in the United States and Australia, has been barred from hearing confessions or offering spiritual direction after what the Jesuits described as complaints about his ministry.

Italian news outlets reported the complaints were accusations of spiritually and sexually abusing adult members of a religious order of women in Slovenia.

At the beginning of October, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “closed the case” because the statute of limitations had expired, said a note from the Jesuit headquarters dated Dec. 2.

Slovenian Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, whose mosaics decorate chapels in the Vatican, all over Europe, in the United States and Australia, has been barred from hearing confessions.

The restrictions on Father Rupnik’s ministry “remain in effect as administrative measures even after the response of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,” said the statement published by the Jesuit superior’s delegate for “the interprovincial houses and works of the Society of Jesus in Rome.”

The Jesuits also have barred Father Rupnik from accompanying people in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and have said he must have the permission of his superior before “exercising public activities.”

Father Rupnik lives and works at the Centro Aletti, an international community of artists and theologians, both women and men, in Rome.

The Jesuits’ statement did not provide details about the allegations beyond saying they regarded “his way of exercising his ministry” and that “no minors were involved.”

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith received a complaint about Father Rupnik in 2021, the statement said, and asked the Jesuits to conduct a preliminary investigation, which they entrusted to a religious from another order. “Various people were invited to give evidence” and a report was submitted to the Vatican.

Multiple Italian news outlets reported that the accusations involved allegations of “psychological and sexual abuse” against women belonging to the “Skupnosti Loyola” or Loyola Community, a new religious community in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in the early 1990s when Father Rupnik served as a spiritual adviser.

The latest from america

The conclave that begins next Wednesday to elect a successor for Pope Francis is the first in 46 ½ years for which the Vatican hasn’t ordered a set of cassocks from the two best-known papal tailors.
Papabile: How do conclave watchers come up with their lists of the next pope—and should we trust them?
Inside the VaticanMay 01, 2025
The people of God see the bishop of Rome as a teacher, but they also unquestionably see him as a father.
J.D. Long GarcíaMay 01, 2025
Since the death of Pope Francis, lists of his possible successors have proliferated on social media and in newspapers. Should you trust them?
Colleen DulleMay 01, 2025