The trial against the famous former Jesuit artist accused of abusing women will begin with judges named

Vatican In an unusual move on Monday, it announced it had nominated judges to decide the fate of a renowned ex-Jesuit artist accused of sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing women.

The case of Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik deeply tarnished his legacy Pope FrancisSuggested that the Jesuit Pope and the Jesuit-led Vatican sexual abuse office had protected one of their own.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that handles clergy sex abuse cases, said the five judges named to hear the Rupnik case include women and priests who are outside the Vatican bureaucracy. In a statement, it said such creation was “in order to better guarantee the autonomy and independence of the above court, like any judicial process.”

The statement suggests an implicit recognition that before now, the Vatican’s management of the Rupich file was anything but autonomous or independent.

Rupnik’s mosaics adorn some of the Catholic Church’s most visited temples and sanctuaries around the world, including the Temple of Lourdes. FranceAt the Vatican, a new basilica in Aparecida, Brazil, and the chapel of Pope Leo XIV’s own Augustinian religious order Rome,

The Rupnik scandal first came to public attention in late 2022 when Italian blogs began reporting claims from nuns and adult women who said they were sexually, spiritually and psychologically abused by them, including during the creation of their artwork.

Rupnik’s Jesuit religious order soon acknowledged that he had been excommunicated sometime in 2020 for committing one of the Catholic Church’s most serious crimes – using a confession to exonerate a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity.

The case continued to cause problems for the Jesuits and Francis, as more women came forward saying they too had been victimized by Rupnik.

The Jesuits eventually kicked him out after he refused to respond to allegations of spiritual, psychological and sexual abuse by about 20 women, most of whom were members of the Jesuit-inspired religious community he co-founded in his native Slovenia, which has since been suppressed.

The Vatican initially declined to prosecute, arguing that the claims were too old. The reluctance to prosecute exposed the Vatican’s legal loopholes, where sexual crimes against adult women are rarely prosecuted, and a famous artist like Rupnik may have received favorable treatment by his fellow Jesuits.

While Francis declined to intervene in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, he ultimately succumbed to public pressure and waived the statute of limitations so the Vatican could open a proper canonical trial.

Two years later, a Vatican statement on Monday indicated the trial was about to begin.

To date, Rupnik has not responded publicly to the allegations and has refused to answer to his Jesuit superiors during their investigation. His supporters at his Centro Altea art studio have condemned the “lynching” by the media.

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