Pope Francis on Friday ordered a
trial against a Slovenian ex Jesuit priest, mosaic artist and
theologian for alleged sexual abuse of nuns.
Complaints about Father Marko Rupnik were made in 2021 but the
alleged offences were initially judged to have been timed out
and covered by the statute of limitations, the Vatican's sex
abuse department, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,
said last December.
The dicastery "found that the events in question were to be
considered timed out and it therefore shelved the case, at the
beginning of October of this year," said a statement from the
Company of Jesus, or Jesuits.
Rupnik, 68, was ejected by the Jesuits in June.
The Slovenian cleric is one of the best known mosaic artists in
the religious world.
Among the churches he has decorated around the world are the
Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington D.C., the
Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Sanctuary of Fátima, the
Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, and the Almudena
Cathedral in Madrid.
In December 2022, Rupnik's brief excommunication due to the
ecclesiastical crime of absolution of an accomplice and
allegations about sexual misconduct became public knowledge.
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