The mosaics of Rupnik applied on the entrance doors of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary were covered in Lourdes. On March 31, before the start of the plenary assembly of the French Episcopal Conference (1-4 April) which is held at the Marian Sanctuary, the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, Monsignor Jean-Marc Micasmade a note publish on the Diocese website, complete with images (in the cover photo)to explain that he “seemed to him, together with my collaborators, that he was It is necessary to take a new symbolic step so that the entry into the basilica was facilitated for all the people who cannot cross the threshold today. For this reason, all the doors of the Rosary Basilica have been modified ». And so The mosaics of the former Slovenian Jesuit Marko Rupnik, accused of sexual and piscological abuse on at least twenty nuns, are now hidden by aluminum panels. The bishop did not hide the desire to remove them. “It is the jubilee year”, reads the note, “in Rome the holy doors have been opened in the four major basilicas. I issued a decree to declare that the Sanctuary of Lourdes is one of the two places of the diocese (together with the tarbes cathedral) in which to live the jubilee year and receive plenary indulgence. The passage through the entrance doors of the Basilica was to be up to the symbolic height of this moment ». The decision is the second step after the one taken in July when the bishop decided not to illuminate the mosaics at night. In the next few days the two large central doors will also be covered so as to allow everyone, including victims, to be able to go to the sanctuary without further traumas.
Some of the victims, through their lawyer, Laura Sgrò, made it known that they had welcomed, with joy in the heart, the illuminated words of Jean Marc Micas, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, always close to the victims of abuse, to whom our heartfelt thanks goes. We know well that his decision to cover the doors of the Basilica of Lourdes, where the mosaics of Marko Ivan Rupnik are present, has been long reasonedcarefully sought and strongly opposed ». And, on the artistic value of the works they add, “the question is not to split the artist from the work, as so far we have mistakenly wanted to make it clear, but that If it is possible to split art, that is, the mosaics, from the abuse itself and this is in no way possible, because during the construction of the works and with reference to the same works on display in the most important places of worship in the world, Rupnik has abused some of the victims. Every faithful, and not only every victim of abuse must have the free heart when it approaches prayer and that it cannot take place if it must kneel in front of a work that was probably the place where an abuse was consumed».
The facts are known. The former Jesuit was accused by several religious of having abused them psychologically and sexually using his spiritual influence and theologically justifying abuses. The story emerged in 2021 even if the conduct dating back to many years earlier. Some religious have declared that they had denounced the abuses since 1993, but not to have been listened to. The year before, in 2020, the Dicastery for the doctrine of the faith had imposed the excommunication for having the Jesuit confessed, acquitted and bound to silence an abused nun by himself, but then, a few months later, in the same year, he had withdrawn the measure because the then Jesuit would have repented. Afterwards, In 2023, an investigation by the diocese of Rome, then led by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, concluded that, in the procedure arrived at the doctrine of the faith there were “seriously anomalous procedures” and praised the “healthy” spirituality of the Aletti center, founded by Rupnik himself.
But although the crimes are prescribed according to civil and canonical law, Pope Francis decided to overcome the prescription asking the doctrine of the faith to open a trial against the theologian. In 2023 the Jesuits expelled him from the company with a decree dated June 14 and signed by the Superior General, Father Arturo Sosa Abascalbecause of his “Stubborn refusal to repent, to ask for forgiveness and start a path of purification and therapy. Following his pervicace refusal to submit to this possibility, the Father General made the decision to resign it », It was read in the note released by the Jesuits.
On March 28, moreover, The Jesuits decided to write to the victims to begin a path of listening and repair. The general delegate, Father Johan Verschueren, expressed the victims that “the violence suffered then, suffering for the lack of listening and justice for long years was added to the violence suffered then.“And a” feeling of surprise, of pain and bitterness in assumed us not only the weight and effort of the violence of the behavior of an ex-conquercello, but also of blindness, silences, waste to listen or act by other confreres “. The victims expressed gratitude for the letter with which “Father Johan Verschueren and the Company of Jesus with great courage and humility, recognizing the mistakes made so far, finally welcomed and embraced the victims of Marko Rupnik, offering them the support that had so far missed. It is a clear, strong and concrete gesture; An important step forward in a common path of awareness that will certainly give hope to all the victims of abuse ».
The prefect of the Dicastery of the doctrine of the faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, made known, meanwhile, that the preliminary phase has ended and that for the trial against the former Jesuit, which is still a priest, they are “looking for the judges who must have certain characteristics being such a media case». The judges, the cardinal specified, will be “external to the dicastery”.
