Details from Crux:
Despite being expelled in July from his Jesuit order over charges of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse, famed Slovenian artist Father Marko Rupnik’s base of operations in Rome has drawn a clean bill of health from the pope’s diocese, which praised his Centro Aletti for fostering “a healthy community life free of particular critical issues.”
A Sept. 18 note from the Diocese of Rome also said its review had identified “gravely anomalous procedures” behind a May 2020 decree of excommunication against Rupnik from the Vatican’s doctrinal office, raising what the statement called “well-founded doubts” about the decision.
That 2020 excommunication, which was lifted after 15 days under what remain murky circumstances, concerned using the confessional to absolve a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity, considered a serious crime under Church law.
Beyond that specific charge, several women have accused Rupnik of various forms of abuse stretching over 30 years. Following an internal investigation, the Jesuit order announced in June that they found the claims to be “very highly credible.”
Despite his exit from the order, Rupnik remains a priest in good standing, although it’s unclear which diocese, if any, has agreed to receive him, and it’s also unknown if he’s currently facing a procedure that could lead to his removal from the priesthood.
The new laudatory statement from the Diocese of Rome came after a Sept. 15 audience with Pope Francis and Maria Campatelli, an Italian lay theologian who is a key figure at the Centro Aletti and who has defended Rupnik against abuse charges.
In June, Campatelli complained of a “a media campaign based on defamatory and unproven accusations” against Rupnik, suggesting he and the Centro Aletti had been victims of a form of “lynching.”
