Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican quietly removes Rupnik images from official website amid abuse scandalThe Vatican’s decision to remove alleged abuser Marco Rupnik’s images comes nearly a year after Vatican officials defended them.The Vatican has quietly removed images of mosaics by Father Marko Rupnik from its official website, marking a significant reversal amid ongoing outrage over the disgraced priest’s alleged abuse history.Rupnik, once a celebrated Jesuit “artist,” stands accused of sexually, psychologically, and spiritually abusing dozens of women – most of them nuns – over a 30-year period.His alleged abuse was part of his “creative process,” according to his victims. They say...

[Catholic Caucus] Chapel in Apostolic Palace: "Rupnik Lied to Replace Mosaics with His Own"The apparently sex-mad Father Marko Rupnik built his career on destroying and replacing the work of the Russian mosaicist Alexander Kornoukhov, the latter told LaNuovaBq.it (April 15).Kornoukhov was commissioned in 1996 to decorate the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. It was a gift to John Paul II for his 50th anniversary as a priest.The mosaics on walls and ceilings included motifs such as the Annunciation, Jacob's Dream, and some figures of saints (pictures of these destroyed works below).The picture at the top of this...

[Catholic Caucus] The Rule of Law and the Francis Pontificate>h2>The problem for the Church’s life, and for the application of justice, comes when the Pope appears to convey disregard or indifference for the uniform application of the law—even laws he has written—choosing to ignore them or apply them to some while reserving different treatment for others. Pope Francis greets then-Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik during a private audience at the Vatican in this Jan. 3, 2022, file photoThe rule of law is never subject to the slightest exception, even in times of crisis. The reason is that the rule of law...

[Catholic Caucus] ‘Have an abortion’: Alleged Rupnik victims detail abuse as Vatican slowly investigatesOver 500 days since Pope Francis was effectively shamed into opening an investigation into Father Marco Rupnik, alleged victims of the priest have revealed shocking new details of the abuse they accuse him of.Over 500 days since Pope Francis was effectively shamed into opening an investigation into Father Marco Rupnik, alleged victims of the priest have revealed shocking new details of the abuse they accuse him of.Painting his notorious icons naked from the waist down, raping the women under his charge, and telling one former nun to...

[Catholic Caucus] 500 days after statute of limitations lifted in Rupnik case, priest ‘does his work,’ travels world It’s been 500 days since the Oct. 27, 2023, papal lifting of the statute of limitations in the case of Father Marko Rupnik, the Slovenian ex-Jesuit who has been accused of spiritual and sexual abuse by at least 20 women, and developments are ongoing.On March 9, three alleged victims shared testimonies of their interactions with Father Rupnik on a prime time Italian television program, and when reporters tried to speak with Father Rupnik, he refused.At the same time, the retired bishop of...

[Catholic Caucus] Rupnik scandal, it's time to shed light on De Donatis' roleThe former Vicar of Rome, Cardinal De Donatis, is also the Superior of the Convent of Montefiolo. The nuns are about to move out and the controversial Slovenian priest, one of the cardinal's protégés, is being welcomed. The Holy See must clarify the situation. - Rupnik occupies a convent near Rome. Card. De Donatis is directorThere has been no official judgement by the Church on the acts committed by Don Marko Ivan Rupnik and, on closer inspection, no trial has even been opened. According to what the Prefect...

[Catholic Caucus] Is Fr. Rupnik, accused of sexual abuse, now staying in a convent with nuns outside Rome?A convent in Montefiolo, once home to Benedictine nuns, appears to have been taken over by ex-Jesuits, including accused abuser Fr. Marko Rupnik. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, a known Rupnik ally, has built a private residence there as secrecy and scandal grow.CASPERIA, Italy (Daily Compass) — The convent of Montefiolo, in Sabina, where the Pope’s former Vicar for Rome has built a luxurious apartment, will become the new headquarters of the former Jesuits of the Aletti Centre. With the relative expulsion of the...

[Catholic Caucus] The Case of Marko Rupnik: An Artist’s PerspectiveDipping my fingers into the holy water font, I immediately notice large, wide-eyed figures swirling around me in bright luminescence. I freeze, trying to stabilize myself. Eerily reminiscent of childhood bouts with hypoglycemia, my surroundings are distorted as if I were in a circus. The features of the people around me seem exaggerated and the ground unstable beneath my feet. As I cross myself, my thoughts race, “This is a Rupnik chapel. I didn’t realize this would be a Rupnik chapel. I wasn’t prepared for this.”As I walk into the chapel,...

A Pillar of Salt for Our AgeAlthough Father Marko Rupnik’s According to the Spirit sheds little light on Pope Francis’s spiritual theology, it is both valuable and concerning as the written testament of a controversial priest whose influence has been significant in the life of the universal Church.Pope Francis greets then-Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik during a private audience at the Vatican in this Jan. 3, 2022, file photo. Rupnik, whose mosaics decorate chapels in the Vatican, all over Europe, in the United States and Australia, is under restricted ministry after being accused of abusing adult nuns in Slovenia.In 1975, Father...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis Is Still a Very Public Rupnik FanDuring his address to the Roman Curia for the exchange of Christmas greetings on 21 December, Francis briefly left the text of his speech to refer to a painting by Father Marko Rupnik that he has in his studio.He had already referred to it on two other occasions, notably in 2023 when he recorded a short video message for the XVI Mariological Congress "The Mariology of Pope Francis" in Aparecida, Brazil.On 21 December, Francis said: "There is a picture that I have in my study that represents precisely the Synkatabasis...

[Catholic Caucus] New Preacher of Papal Household Is A Friend of Marko RupnikThe new Preacher of the Papal Household, homosexual activist and Capuchin Roberto Pasolini, has a connection with Father Marko Rupnik, a former Jesuit at the centre of sexual affairs with half of a nunnery in Slovenia.Fr Pasolini used Rupnik's artwork as the cover of his trilogy of books: "Saremo noi. Immersi nell'amore più grande", "Non siamo stati noi" and "È stato Dio: Dentro una vita nuova".The three images are taken from the Joseph Cycle, realised by Rupnik's Roman Aletti Centre in a church in Mostar. The figures have...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope faces abuse scandals, lays out template for Catholicism in a secular milieuROME – In a country still reeling from a deep clerical sexual abuse crisis, Pope Francis on Saturday bitterly acknowledged that such abuse “generates atrocious suffering and wounds,” vowing that the path of reform includes learning from survivors.The realities of abuse, the pontiff said, can even “undermine the path of faith.”“There is a need for a great deal of mercy, to keep us from hardening our hearts before the suffering of victims, so that we can help them feel our closeness and offer all the help...

[Catholic Caucus] The Strange Chapel of Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Pope's Ambassador to ParisPaix Liturgique continues to place us all in its debt, even while its websites in various languages remain unaccountably defunct. The following letter 1080 of August 8, 2024, was sent in French to email subscribers, and now we bring it to you here in English. - PAKPrayer card illustrated by RupnikPraying Every Day in Front of Mosaics Created by Top-Ranking Abuser Rupnik Is Strange for a Nuncio Who Is Supposed to Fight AbuseFew people know it, but there are only two places in France where there are...

[Catholic Caucus] Rupnik’s center denounces ‘cancel culture’ of removing disgraced priest’s imagesSome of Marko Rupnik’s alleged serial abuse is said to have taken place at his Rome-based Aletti Center, which has become his international base of operations and where he continues to live an unimpeded life.Pope Francis meets Aletti Center director Maria Campatelli, Sept 2023.Vatican Media The staff of Father Marko Rupnik’s Rome-based art center have hit back against international decisions to cover the disgraced priest’s art as being part of “cancel culture.”As shrines and religious centers around the world begin to examine the future of the mosaics installed by...

[Catholic Caucus] Fatima shrine rules out removal of Rupnik mosaic amid growing pushback against his artThe decision by the Shrine of Fatima to unquestioningly preserve Fr. Rupnik's work comes as other Catholic sites are beginning to cover or remove the images. 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...

[Catholic Caucus] Knights of Columbus to cover Rupnik art in DC and ConnecticutThe Knights of Columbus announced Thursday it will cover mosaics by the accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut, a dramatic move that represents the strongest public stand yet by a major Catholic organization regarding the former Jesuit’s embattled art.The 2.1-million-member lay Catholic fraternal order said July 11 it would use fabric to cover the floor-to-ceiling mosaics in the two chapels of the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington and in the chapel at the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut — at...

[Catholic Caucus] Rupnik artwork must come down, says top US cardinal as he breaks ranks with RomeAmerican Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston issued a statement saying he has asked the heads of all offices in the Roman Curia to take down the artwork of a famed priest and artist accused of abusing dozens of adult women.The statement came from the Pontifical Commission for Protecting Minors (PCPM), for which O’Malley serves as President, and said in that capacity, the cardinal has written to the heads of all Vatican departments asking that “pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that...

[Catholic Caucus] "He who keeps silent is to be taken as consenting…”The miscarriage of justice in the case of Marko Rupnik—the appalling farce it has been from the start—is sadly not an aberration under Pope Francis. The Rupnik Affair has indelibly stained this pontificate.“Who am I to judge the Rupnik stories?”Pope Francis’s Communicator-in-Chief, Dr. Paolo Ruffini, asked that rhetorical question on Friday in an Atlanta, GA hotel ballroom, in front of journalists, one of whom—Colleen Dulle of America Magazine, it happens—had asked him to explain his dicastery’s rationale for continuing to use reproductions of artwork by a disgraced priest who...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican communications prefect: Removing Rupnik art ‘not the Christian response’The prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication told a group of Catholic journalists Friday that removing artwork by disgraced religious artist and alleged serial sexual abuser Fr. Marko Rupnik is “not the Christian response.” Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, speaks at a synod on synodality briefing at the Vatican on Oct. 14, 2023. Screenshot from Vatican News YouTube channel.“I don’t think we have to throw stones, thinking it is the way of healing someone,” said Paolo Ruffini, according to video footage of his remarks...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis removes cardinal-vicar, auxiliary bishop of Rome reportedly over tensions and Rupnik caseCdl. De Donatis and Bishop Libanori have been marked by key involvement with, but differing stances on, the Fr. Marko Rupnik case.ROME (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has removed the cardinal-vicar of Rome and one of the city’s auxiliary bishops, in a move which is suggested to be due to personal conflicts and objections to the Pope’s handling of the Father Marko Rupnik case. Announced by the Holy See Press Office bulletin April 6, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Angelo De Donatis as...