Posted on 07/25/2024 9:22:56 AM PDT by ebb tide
Authorities at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal have ruled out removing the mosaics made by discharged priest Father Marko Rupnik, though they have suspended use of his images in promotional materials.
In a statement issued to OSV News and subsequently to LifeSiteNews, a spokeswoman for the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima provided clarity on the future of the large mosaic adorning the Basilica.
“As for the mosaic panel from the Aletti Center, which is in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, its removal is not being considered,” the statement read.
“However, since we became aware of the allegations against Father M.I. Rupnik, we have suspended the use of the image of the work – in its entirety and in its details – in our promotional materials,” continued the spokeswoman.
She added that the shrine officially “rejects outright the acts committed by Father M. I. Rupnik and affirms its solidarity with the victims.”
A 500 meter squared mosaic by Rupnik and his Rome-based studio – the Aletti Center – adorns the Basilica of the Holy Trinity at Fatima. Inaugurated in 2017, the modern church can seat some nine thousand people, according to the Shrine, and is often used to accommodate pilgrimage groups which do not fit into the smaller, more historic Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.
The firm stance by the shrine not to take any action against the Rupnik mosaics comes amid a growing international decision by certain shrines and Catholic bodies to cover up the priest’s images, following the numerous allegations of sexual abuse.
Since the scandal surrounding Rupnik became international in late 2022, renewed attention has been paid to his influence in the global Church and the numerous art projects which he and his Centro Aletti have installed throughout the world at numerous prominent Catholic sites.
Rupnik’s artwork – while staunchly defended by his supporters, including Pope Francis – has been intimately linked to his alleged serial abuse, which is believed to be of multiple forms, but especially sexual.
READ: Alleged victims of Father Rupnik call for ‘truth and justice’ as answers demanded from Vatican
Writing under a pseudonym “Anna” in December 2022, one alleged victim and former member of Rupnik’s community stated:
His sexual obsession was not extemporaneous but deeply connected to his conception of art and his theological thinking. Father Marko at first slowly and gently infiltrated my psychological and spiritual world by appealing to my uncertainties and frailties while using my relationship with God to push me to have sexual experiences with him.
A native of Slovenia, Rupnik is accused of having abused numerous women, and at least one man, in a variety of forms – sexual, spiritual, physical, and psychological. The abuse is reported to have taken place against at least 21 of the 40-strong Loyola Community of religious women, which he co-founded in his native Slovenia. A further 15 alleged victims have come forward since his case became public knowledge in December 2022.
As international outrage has grown over the Rupnik case, the U.S. Knights of Columbus has recently decided to cover over the numerous mosaics which Rupnik has installed in the D.C. John Paul II Shrine.
READ: Knights of Columbus will cover Rupnik mosaics at JPII shrine, national headquarters
Following a decision process lasting over a year, the Knights have now implemented covers over the mosaics at the D.C. Shrine and their New Haven headquarters. They did not rule out having to permanently cover the mosaics completely in the future.
Shortly prior to their announcement, the Bishop of Lourdes stated that a similar year-long decision process had resulted in the Rupnik images at the French Marian shrine simply not being illuminated during the evening rosary processions. The long-term future of the mosaics, he stated, might result in their removal.
After international outcry over continued Vatican promotion of the disgraced priest despite the numerous allegations of abuse, Pope Francis announced in October that Rupnik was subject to an investigation by the Holy See for said abuse. The credibility of the well-documented allegations of Rupnik’s serial abuse is deemed to be “very high” by his former superiors, and the Vatican’s investigation into the case is said to be at a “fairly advanced stage.”
I never called for his art to be destroyed, just to be removed from catholic churches and shrines.
For all I care you, you and mairdie can than post them on the sides of your houses, or barns, or highway billboards, etc.
A country club Repukelican loves feudalism and the bondage of serfs. What a surprise.
Don't care to know you. Have as good a day as you can manage.
Yet, you jumped into this thread claiming Rupnik produced "something of beauty that should not be removed" in your post #3.
Unless you spend a lot of time and money a mosaic cannot be removed, moved and put back up without extensive damage.
During the era of slavery in the United States, the education of enslaved African Americans, except for religious instruction, was discouraged, and eventually made illegal in most of the Southern states. After 1831, the prohibition was extended in some states to free blacks as well. Even if educating Blacks was legal, they still had little access to education, in the North as well as the South.
In demand by whom? By "We the Faithful", or by the ecclesiastical equivalent of the "Deep State". From my perspective as an actual Catholic, watching the deliberate destruction of Catholic faith and practice over the last 50-60 years, I think it was the latter. I have observed an interesting, strong correlation between bad art, bad music, bad liturgy, and bad behavior. The kind of bad behavior that results in scandals, and trials, and payouts of millions of dollars to the victims of perverts, and the bankruptcy of whole dioceses. I find it all to be symptomatic of "Spirits of wickedness in high places".
Buh bye Censorship Karen.
Let Rupnik do it, at his expense, for his penance. Didn't he create all this "art" in his studio in the first place?
Is that image supposed to be Wedding at Cana + foreshadowing Calvary? Is Jesus hugging his Mom? is Cana supposed to signify a “to Jesus through Mary” message? Why does the nail through Jesus’ hand on the cross look like a rock instead of a nailhead? Is it supposed to be bread?
I’m not a fan of mid-century art that tries to look like medieval icons or —often used as clip-art in our parish bulletin or music flyer— crude woodblock prints. I think it’s crap.
That's a question impossible to answer. Certainly Vatican II and that "reformist" spirit changed SO MANY things within the church, and I can't say for the better, either. Certainly post-modernism now infects all human institutions - and the Church is not immune. Look what post-modernism has done to secular art, architecture, film, etc...
With particular regard to Rupnik's work, I suspect these same humans within the Church probably got swept up in "the crowd" and "fashion" and "if so-and-so has a Rupnik mosaic, well it must be good, and I want one too!"
in my unstudied opinion, it would be acceptable decorative art in a hall or library at our local Catholic vocational college (presuming the artist was not discovered to be a scoundrel)
Does it rise to the level of sacred art that should adorn the Vatican or Lourdes? I certainly see your point and more consideration should have gone into it.
I am not familiar with his work. If the work itself is not blasphemous I see no reason to remove it.
Reasoned and sensible discussion. A pleasure to read.
There's a great painting in one of the museums of Rome by a Caravaggisti of Peter and Paul meeting while being led to their executions. It never happened of course, but the painting & what it represents are beautiful. This strikes me as an echo of that.
In this one thread you have inferred or outright described other Catholics, who have disagreed you, as:
idiots or liars
virtue-signally thug
crypto-leftist clown
cat lady Karen
country club Republecican
censorship Karen
leader of intolerant cowards
All about a pervert's "art" in Catholic churches and shrines.
You have serious maturity and anger problems that need to be addressed.
Go burn some books little man.
However, I had never thought that they had shared a common eye as pervert Rupnik portrays.
Would you be offended if I threw Pachamama false idols into the Tiber River, big man?
Would you be offended if I beheaded a satanist's idol to some goddess of abortion in Houston, TX, big man?
Would you be offended if I decapitated a blasphemous, disgusting and sacrilegious statue of Our Lady giving birth in a Catholic cathedral, big man?
Your defense of worthless "art", for the sake of defending art, disgusts me.
Now, you may proceed with your onslaught of personal attacks against all who disagree with you.
I'll include you in my rosary tonight.
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