The Vatican has today denied recent media reports that the judges in the canonical trial of the Slovenian Catholic priest and former Jesuit, Father Marko Rupnik, had reached a verdict and had found him not guilty of the abuse of women. “The review of the case is still ongoing,” the Vatican statement said.
The rumor of Father Rupnik’s acquittal originated on the Italian blog Messa in Latino. In a post on X on July 20, The Catholic Herald asked, “Could Father Rupnik be acquitted?” and quoted the blog post as saying, “We have learned from persistent and highly credible sources that the criminal trial currently underway in the Vatican against Father Marko Ivan Rupnik has reportedly concluded with a favorable outcome for him.”
The report went viral and led to a strong public reaction from the lawyer for some of the consecrated women involved in the case who have accused the famous Slovenian priest and artist of spiritually, psychologically and sexually abusing them.
The Associated Press reported that Laura Sgrò, the Italian lawyer representing five of the women, sent a letter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 21 following the reports that Father Rupnik had been absolved in a canonical trial. It said her letter was “a scathing denunciation…of the Vatican’s secretive legal system, in which her clients have no right to know any details of the trial.”
Ms. Sgrò complained that no one from the Vatican had ever responded to her calls or emails seeking information about the case, and that her clients had never even been interviewed.
“How can what is happening be reconciled with the concepts of law, truth, justice, and fairness? With the words that the Holy Father constantly speaks on behalf of the victims of abuse?,” Ms. Sgrò wrote to Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine office.
The Vatican excommunicated Father Rupnik for solicitation of a woman in the confessional in 2020, but he subsequently repented, and the excommunication was lifted. Father Rupnik, then a member of the Society of Jesus, was expelled from the Jesuits in June 2023 “due to stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience,” according to a statement from the Jesuits at the time.
Father Rupnik had been one of the most celebrated contemporary religious artists in the Catholic Church, designing stylized mosaics that decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at Lourdes and the Vatican.
The scandal exploded in late 2022, when Italian blogs first reported claims of misconduct against him by women and nuns dating back to the 1990s that had been consistently dismissed by the Catholic hierarchy. Father Rupnik remains a priest, and his supporters have denied he did anything wrong.
Since most of the abuse took place over 30 years earlier, Pope Francis in 2023 lifted the statute of limitations enabling prosecutors to bring him to trial under canon law. He asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to handle the case, which the Vatican reopened in October 2023 for the psychological, spiritual and sexual abuse of some 20 women victims. Given the complexity of the way the case had been treated hitherto, the D.D.F. ordered a judicial trial and appointed a panel of five independent judges. The case has proceeded under almost total secrecy until the recent media reports that alleged the judges had reached a verdict in Father Rupnik’s favor.
Late last year, Pope Leo XIV confirmed that the trial had opened. While identifying the women who accused Father Rupnik as “victims,” he urged them to be patient.
“Processes for justice take a long time and I know it’s very difficult for the victims to ask that they be patient but the church needs to respect the rights of all people,” Leo said Nov. 4. “The principle of innocent until you’re proven guilty is also true in the church. And hopefully this trial that is just beginning will be able to give some clarity and justice to all those involved.”
In the light of the apparent leaks regarding the verdict, journalists asked the Vatican to confirm or deny the news. In a communique to journalists, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, stated:
With regard to certain reports that have appeared in the media in recent days, I reiterate that the news concerning any decision by the judges presiding over the case of Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik is completely unfounded: the review of the case is still ongoing, and the panel [of judges] is examining documentation provided by the dioceses involved, the Jesuits, the parties concerned, and from the press.
Mr. Bruni emphasized that “during the proceedings, as with any judicial process, no information regarding the ongoing investigation may be shared in any way out of respect for the process itself and to avoid causing harm to all those involved in the matter, as has occurred in recent days. Should the panel determine that it requires further information, it will take the necessary steps on its own initiative to obtain it.”
He added that while the Vatican judicial process is underway, “the Rev. Marko Rupnik remains subject to the laws of the countries where any offenses may have been committed, and the statute of limitations for such offenses is determined by the laws of each country, independent of ecclesiastical authority.”
This means that if the allegations constitute a crime in the place where the acts were committed, Father Rupnik could also be prosecuted in those countries, including Slovenia and Italy, if the statute of limitations has not expired.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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