After we wrote in October about Styrian priest Jožet Šömno, who, according to French media reports, sexually abused children in Africa between 1992 and 2001, Slovenes were shocked by another affair in the Church. Patra from Zadlog was accused by Ljubljana nuns of sexually and psychologically abusing them.
He is a 67-year-old man Marko Ivan Rupnik, a well-known Slovenian Jesuit, theologian and artist, against whom accusations of alleged psychological and sexual abuse of nuns were filed last year, away from the public eye. It became known that the priest had been notified only this week, when the Italian news agency Ansa announced it, citing a message from the Jesuit order. There will be no criminal prosecution against Rupnik, as the case is time-barred.
In connection with the accusations, it was introduced “preliminary investigation”, Ansa also reported. After examining the results of the investigation, the dicastery concluded that it was necessary “regard the relevant facts as obsolete” and therefore closed the case at the beginning of October this year.
The dicastery received a complaint against Marko Ivan Rupnik regarding his way of performing his duties, although minors were not involved. As he adds, the accusation should refer to events from the early 90s of the last century, and the victims should be nuns from the Loyola community in Ljubljana.
How did our representatives of the Church react?
We wanted to get details about this matter from the Slovenian Roman Catholic Church (RKC). We asked them if they were aware of their move last year, when the nuns filed a complaint against Rupnik, and why they did not inform the general public about it. We also checked whether they contacted the nuns after the application and offered them help, and above all, whether they discussed the event and what their conclusions were about it. We were also interested in learning more about the nuns of the community of St. Ignatius of Loyola and how they were connected to Rupnik in the 1990s, but we did not receive any answers until the end of our editorial yesterday.
The Vatican has taken some measures against Father Rupnik. Among other things, it has a ban on confession, spiritual guidance and accompanying spiritual exercises. In addition, Father Rupnik was prohibited from public activity without the permission of the local superior. Among other things, he is known for his pastoral work, especially as the leader of numerous courses and spiritual exercises.
Dreamstime
Rupnik’s victims were allegedly nuns from the Loyola community in Ljubljana.
Who is Pater Rupnik?
Marko Ivan Rupnik was born in 1954 in Zadlog near Črnem Vrh nad Idrija. In 1973, he entered the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy in Ljubljana, and then in 1977 he enrolled at the art academy in Rome. He studied theology, was ordained a priest in 1985 and began specializing in missiology in the same year.
From 1987 to 1991, he lived in Gorica, in the Jesuit center Stella Matutina, where he worked mainly among young people. He received his doctorate in 1991. From then on he lived and worked in Rome as the director of the Aletti Center. He taught for a number of years at the Pontifical Eastern Institute, and still at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the Pontifical Institute of Worship of St. Anselm. He gave lectures and seminars at many other European academic institutes. Since 1995, he has also led the Atelier of Spiritual Art of the Aletti Center. From 1999 to 2013, he was an advisor to the Pontifical Council for Culture, and from 2012, an advisor to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
Wikipedia
Among other things, the Pater is prohibited from making confessions, spiritual guidance and accompanying spiritual exercises.
Makarović declined the award because of him
In 2000, for the mosaic painting of the chapel of the Mother of the Savior in the Vatican, he received the Prešeren Prize, which is the highest recognition of the Republic of Slovenia for achievements in the field of art. In the same year, she should have accepted the Prešeren Award together with him Svetlana Makarovich, but she rejected it as a sign of protest. For Rupnik to receive the award, it was scandalous for Makarović, since he should have received it from her Gustav Gnamus. She justified her protest by saying that she perceives the awarding of Rupnik as if Slovenian public space extends into the Pope’s apartment. At that time, she publicly left the Church. Gnamuš received the Prešeren award the following year.
Father Rupnik in 2002 from Milan Kučan, the then president of the country, received the Medal of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia for the recognition of Slovenian fine art in the world. In 2003, he received the Beato Angelica International Award for Europe for his artistic work in Europe. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid and in 2014 by the Faculty of Theology in Lugano. In addition to his artistic and theological work, he also devotes his time to pastoral work, especially as a leader of numerous courses and spiritual exercises.
World (well) known
He created a huge golden mosaic in Fatima, Portugal, where millions of people flock every year, and he is also the author of the painting on the facade of the church in Lourdes, which attracts around 10 million people every year.
gpn.si
In 2000, he received the Prešeren Award for the mosaic painting of the Pope’s Chapel of the Mother of the Savior in the Vatican.
