"I, an abused woman, denounce Father Rupnik to save other women"

"Rupnik and Sister Ivanka Hosta are dangerous, they must be stopped definitively." "Many sisters still pay the consequences of the abuse they suffered, we have never had any help, neither material nor psychological." "Bishops must understand that hiding evil destroys the Church." Exclusive Brujula interview with Fabrizia Raguso, one of the victims of the Slovenian Jesuit and one of the first to give life to the Loyola Community.

There could not have been a more clumsy maneuver. The fanciful Note from the Vicariate of Rome that paints the Aletti Center as an idyllic place and sows doubts about how the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had arrived at Rupnik's excommunication, promptly withdrawn by Pope Francis, is increasingly discrediting to Cardinal De Donatis, who from the beginning defended Rupnik against all odds, causing the break with Bishop Libanori. And about the Pope himself. The visitor, Don Giacomo Incitti, investigated a crime reserved for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, not the Vicariate; and even allowed himself to make insinuations about the latter's actions. It is likely that it was this Note that reached the limit of the tolerance of the former Prefect, Cardinal Ladaria, leading him to withdraw his participation in the next Synod (see here).

Meanwhile, some of Rupnik and Sister Ivanka's victims have decided to publicly express their shock. We reach the first signatory of the Open Letter, Fabrizia Raguso, Associate Professor of Psychology at the Portuguese Catholic University, CR Braga.

Prof. Raguso, a few words about her history in relation to Marko Rupnik and Sister Ivanka Hosta.

I met Rupnik in 1990, at a national Catholic Action youth sector conference in Rome. At that time, already graduated in psychology, she continued my training in family psychotherapy. I was very involved in my diocese (Taranto) in the youth sector of Catholic Action. Between life in the diocese and passion for my (future) profession, for some years now I have been wondering how to live my life more fully. After the Congress to which Rupnik was invited by Maria Campatelli to talk about her experience of “reconciliation” that she was carrying out at the Stella Matutina Pastoral Center in Gorizia, she herself continued to maintain contact with him. And months later, during the summer, some collaborators from the youth sector and I were invited to do the first week of Ignatian spiritual exercises. There Rupnik's “advertising” about the community still in formation, the future Loyola community, immediately began. A few months later, both Campatelli and I met Ivanka and some other sisters, we decided to enter the community. In August 1991 I had already left my job and was in Slovenia to start the novitiate.

Why did you decide to write the public letter?

I personally cannot sit still and wait for everything to be decided behind our backs, without being informed of anything and without being allowed to participate in our destiny. Although I have already asked for and received pardon and therefore am completely freed from the community, I nevertheless feel a responsibility, both civil and ecclesial, so that everything that has happened in these thirty years comes to light and justice is done. Many of the sisters are still in quite bad shape and have never received any help, neither material nor psychological. The others who signed with me, in some way, with certainly personal nuances, feel the same.

In addition to the past, have you also thought about the present and the future?

Yes. We feel responsible for all the other people who may still be involved in Rupnik and Ivanka's plots, especially if they are young. In addition to Rupnik's cunning ways of insinuating herself into civil, cultural and ecclesial life, Ivanka has always continued to look for “vocations.” She worried that not only was the community not growing, but that many had left over time. They are truly dangerous, they must be stopped definitively. Now, faced with this clumsy, but also arrogant attempt to rehabilitate Rupnik and the Aletti Center, we feel that waiting for truth and justice from the ecclesial authorities was a waste of time. We had to take a decisive step: writing an open letter and putting our names and academic titles was a way to give a face and name to the victims and counteract the preconceived idea that victims are “vulnerable” because they do not realize or are little instructed.

An easy way to discredit the accusations is to also believe that they are women with psychological problems. You are a psychologist and know them personally: what can you tell us?

We are people who have experienced psychological difficulties after abuse; and some during their stay in the community, due to excessive psychological pressure, due to the meaninglessness of many decisions and impositions. As always happens. In short, the psychological impact of these experiences is very similar both in the context of religious life and in family abuse or intimate relationships. Because what is abused is trust, the “abandonment” entrusted to the superior, or, in our case, to a friend: this is how we consider Ivanka, as we, pioneers of the Community, almost all of the same age. And to a friend with whom we had wanted to have a strong, new spiritual experience, of which we were convinced. In the spiritual life, abuse destroys the abused person's relationship with God. It is an aspect that frequently appears in the testimonies of victims of spiritual abuse. I am trying to deepen, from a theoretical point of view, the relational and psychosocial contexts that can facilitate relationships of psychological abuse, both in religious life and in other important existential relationships; because what opens the way to sexual abuse is above all psychological abuse that also uses control of spiritual life.

Suppose you have never read anything that appeared in the press. Based on your direct experience and the confidences you received, what can you say about Rupnik and Ivanka?

I would say that they are two people who, for different reasons, which I do not honestly know, have in some cases developed a “mystical” delusion of omnipotence. Mystical not in the sense of “visions”, but of feeling invested with a mission, with a charisma, which in reality was just a personal project. I have always seen Rupnik as a true narcissist and eager to assert himself, to gain fame and power; very angry when he comes contradicted. I have the impression that Ivanka in turn has suffered violence or some type of abuse, and that this is how “a parallel story” was constructed: in addition to the authoritarianism with which she led the community after the separation from Rupnik, she created a myth about her family as if it were almost perfect and the society of Slovenian Catholics as if they were the only truly believing ones. That is why they were imposed as absolute models, especially for us Italians.

A common element in both situations is having chosen the administrative route and having avoided the canonical process.

It was an unwise course of action and very open to manipulation. Many among canonists say that this is a common way of proceeding, based on the assumption that “punishment” serves conversion. But in this case, given that neither of them has ever shown themselves open to confrontation with either the Church or the victims, and both essentially deny the facts and all responsibility, not having subjected them to a fair trial has not helped either. obtain the truth or clarity, nor to truly “convert.”

The Note from the Vicariate of Rome has so far had the opposite effect than expected: there are many media outlets that consider the Rupnik case as the heaviest stone of this pontificate. In just over a week there will be a new Consistory: do you think any cardinal will finally be able to address the issue?

I hope so, sincerely. Just as I believe that, as we remember the Gospel and all healthy relational theory, “a house divided in itself cannot exist.” I believe that a Church so torn by these unclear plots will not be able to resist much longer. It sincerely pains me that the bishops still do not understand that hiding evil destroys the Church; It doesn't preserve it at all.

Source