Sex, Lies, and Cancelled Excommunications: The case of the Jesuit abuser Rupnik explodes

Vatican journalist and Remnant contributor, Diane Montagna, reports the latest on this case of clerical sex abuse and coverup. Below is the text of a document she translated from the original Italian and posted to Twitter.

Here below we report excerpts from an article by the Vaticanist for the Italian daily, I Messaggero, Franca Giansoldati, which came out a short while ago and which we invite you to read in full.

The article summarizes the various steps of the Rupnik case and, pointing out the gravity of the facts, highlights several serious issues underlying the affair.

And yes, the Jesuit superior general Ft. Sosa should resign for his mishandling of the sad affair and the lies (contradicting himself and the various communiqués) he and the Jesuits told about the Rupnik case (the bolding below is ours).

The script of the Rupnik case seems to echo a similar situation that has happened before.

(Vatican City) - The ugly abuse case of Father Mark Rupnik, the Jesuit artist known internationally for his mosaics that adorn cathedrals, shrines, and even a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, risks having a devastating domino effect and directly implicating Pope Francis. The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father Arturo Sosa, had to publicly acknowledge- making a rueful reversal-that Rupnik had indeed incurred excommunication for the very grave canonical offense of absolving an accomplice, a measure that someone very high up decided to cancel. Pressure is growing in these hours within the Church to have transparency about "Rupnik gate" and to know who was the authority that decided to undertake such a legal step. Everyone knows that the remittance of such a measure is an extraordinary act that, technically, would be up to the Pope alone.

It is only as a result of pressing questions from the Associated Press that the Jesuit superior general, Father Sosa, acknowledged obtorto collo [i.e., dragged by his neck] that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prosecuted Rupnik in 2019 for a separate and earlier case that ended with his conviction and temporary excommunication for one of the most serious crimes contemplated in canon law: the absolution of an accomplice [within the sacrament of Confession]. This was a case of having absolved a woman in confession with whom Rupnik had previously had sexual relations. The case dates back to 2015. Rupnik admitted the circumstances and formally repented, and the Congregation lifted his excommunication. It remains to be clarified whether the Pope had authorized Jesuit Cardinal Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation, to cancel this penalty, or was it an autonomous initiative of the dicastery prefect?

The scandal erupted last week after two Italian blogs, Silere non possum and Messa in Latino began discussing Rupnik's uncomfortable past, and revealing allegations of psychological, sexual, and spiritual abuse of women and religious. At first the Jesuits confirmed that a complaint had been received in 2021, but they said that the Vatican had dismissed the charges, dating back to 1990s Slovenia, because they were beyond the statute of limitations.

However, the Jesuit general the so-called 'Black Pope-made it clear that he had maintained precautionary restrictions on Rupnik prohibiting him from hearing confessions and conducting spiritual retreats. In the December 2 statement, however, Fr Sosa did not mention that there were other charges against Rupnik. Because there was, in fact, not only the investigation that started in 2021 and ended due to the statute of limitations in October 2022; but there was also another earlier investigation for the absolving of an accomplice in confession. A circumstance revealed by the blog Messainlatino.it and ignored in the statement dated Dec. 2.

"I can understand how victims feel betrayed," Father Hans Zollner, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and head of the center for studies on abuse at the Gregorian University in Rome, told Reuters. "For the sake of transparency, we need to know who knew something, what and when, and what happened next. We could have found out the different levels of responsibility, which could have prevented all this," he added, referring to the 2021 complaint. "I ask myself, and I ask my community, the Jesuits: Who could have known? Who knew?

Who sensed that something was wrong and did not go further?"

Meanwhile, the blog Mass in Latin is calling for Father Sosa's head. Shouldn't he resign for lying?

Translation by Diane Montagna

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