Fifth Rupnik victim comes forward. "He entered my mind, took control and I was a prisoner".

Sister Samuelle, victim of Rupnik: "He entered my mind, took control and I was a prisoner".

I resisted for a while internally," continues the sister, who today lives as a hermit, "and after multiple pressures and blackmail, one day, I submitted. I can say that with him, I really experienced a hook-up: he entered my mind, he took control and I was a prisoner of him".

"He takes her in his arms, caresses her shoulders and neck, plays with her bra." "It's beautiful that we can do this, together, me priest, you sister. It's crystal clear. I have a very pure look for you, me", continues the story, which also indicates, with the words of Sister Samuelle, that the Slovenian Jesuit "never crossed the limits that lead to genitals: he knew very well what he was doing".

"I am beginning to put together the scattered pieces of a dissociated life: today I have the right to recover them in order to unify them, to find their place for each one". These are the words of Sister Samuelle, a 47-year-old woman who suffered psychological violence in the Jerusalem Fraternities and sexual violence with the Jesuit Marko Rupnik, with whom she lived since 2010 in Rome, at the Aletti Centre, and whose traumatic experience she recounts in the French weekly La Vie. 

In the Jerusalem Fraternities [which he left in 2018], "she was the victim of a subtle and deleterious psychological violence: every time he spoke to a sister, in any form of budding friendship, a reproach from her superiors would descend without explanation. To avoid this, she does not get attached to anyone and silences the anguish this triggers in her".

Total panic

"One day, during a confession with Pierre-Marie Delfieux [implicated for sexual assault and spiritual abuse], she explained to me that I regularly fall in love with one sister or another, that my difficulties stem from this, and that it is up to me to fight against this 'tendency'. Except... I don't have this orientation!", she recounts, underlining that "nobody ever asked her the question". That is why, she adds, today "I am inhabited by moments of total panic, on the lookout for the slightest suspicious glance".

"After this 'confession', the dissociation and guilt that had been simmering in me for a long time crystallised and exploded, literally lacerating everything inside me. These were terrible moments, where he burned himself all over his body with a burning iron and climbed onto the window sill of his cell in Brussels, on the fourth floor. When she changed her place of life to go to Rome, she had the impression of "being saved from hell", Sister Samuelle told La Vie.

"One day, I submitted".

In Rome, she "sought refuge at the Aletti Centre, in the mosaic studio of the world-renowned artist Marko Rupnik", who "perceived my anguish, saw the defects in me... and immersed himself in it". I resisted for a while internally," continues the sister, who today lives as a hermit, "and after multiple pressures and blackmail, one day, I submitted. I can say that with him, I really got hooked: he entered my mind, took control and I was a prisoner of him.

Thus, Rupnik becomes a kind of spiritual guide and starts inviting her to nightly meetings. "He takes her in his arms, stroking her shoulders and neck, playing with her bra. "It's beautiful that we can do this, together, me priest, you sister. It's crystal clear. I have a very pure look for you, me," continues the account, which also indicates, in Sister Samuelle's words, that the Slovenian Jesuit "never crossed the boundaries leading to the genitals: he knew very well what he was doing", adding that the artist could repeat his physical attacks, even in public, leaving her "paralysed".

It was finally in the winter of 2014 that Samuelle stood up to him. "I told him that he didn't have a healthy relationship with me. He told me that I saw sex everywhere, that I betrayed him and that, with a clear conscience, he would leave me to go and celebrate Mass, before he stormed out."

Today, Sister Samuelle, who testified in writing and orally before the counselling unit of the Jerusalem Fraternities, is struggling to keep her peace of mind. She also confided her story to the Jesuits, when they took decisive action. "They showed me a benevolent attention that allows me to continue my journey of reparation today, with the greatest possible peace of mind," he says.

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