Very good summary of the Rupnik scandal that will blacken forever the name of Pope Francis when history is written.

The Rupnik scandal, a reality of manipulation that directly affects the Pope's governance.

It is a very particular case, in Bergoglio's pontificate, the abuse scandal for which soon the former Jesuit - but still a priest - Marko Rupnik should be brought before a canonical tribunal. A particular case because it is not a bishop or a priest who committed his crimes in a distant country who knows where, but a famous, influential, intimate figure of the Apostolic Palace. A figure close to three popes and highly esteemed by them: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis. It is a scandal that directly affects the pontiff's government.

In March 2020, following a sudden indisposition of the Pontifical preacher Raniero Cantalamessa, Father Rupnik was called to hold the Lenten sermon for the employees of the Roman Curia. However, 2020 is the same year in which the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith imposes latae sentencentiae excommunication on Rupnik for having acquitted in confession a woman with whom he had had sexual intercourse. It is a type of excommunication that applies to crimes that the Catholic Church considers very serious and which therefore in the Latin definition is automatic, that is, it takes place at the very moment in which the crime is committed. Naturally the excommunication was preceded by a scrupulous investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Miraculously the excommunication is lifted after a few weeks. Everything happens in a smooth way. Aumm aumm, with your mouth closed as they say in Naples. Doesn't the Pope know anything about it? Who made the decision? Is it possible that no one informed the Pontiff of the crime and of the remission of the maximum sentence for a priest-artist, creator of mosaics that decorate basilicas and sanctuaries all over the world, from Aparecida in Brazil to Damascus, from San Giovanni Rotondo to Krakow? Rupnik, among other things, is the author of the mosaics in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican, where the Lenten exercises of the cardinals with the pontiffs usually took place.

What is surprising is not only the lack of transparency surrounding the whole affair, but also the fact that after the supposed repentance of the guilty party there is not the slightest measure of punishment that could give public satisfaction to the victim.

The story doesn't end here. In the meantime, testimonies emerge about numerous sexual abuses and abuses of conscience, committed by Rupnik against many consecrated women of the Loyola Community (founded in Slovenia in the 1990s and now on its way to dissolution by will of the Vatican). It is a fact that in 1993 the Archbishop of Ljubljana forever prohibited Rupnik from approaching the community made up of women. However, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declares that the cases, which occurred thirty years earlier, fall under the statute of limitations.

Between 2021 and 2023 the Society of Jesus, to which Rupnik belongs, takes matters into its own hands, urging anyone with complaints to come forward. Having established the solid credibility of the incidents reported, the Jesuit order imposed a series of restrictions on Rupnik and the obligation to personally apologize to the victims. Rupnik doesn't care, on the contrary he ostentatiously celebrates mass in one of the oldest Roman basilicas, Santa Prassede.

On June 9, 2023, the Jesuit general, Father Arturo Sosa, decreed Rupnik's expulsion from the order. The former Jesuit promptly managed to get himself incardinated as a diocesan priest in Koper. He is accused of abuse - it was stated in a press conference at the Fnsi attended by two former consecrated women of the Loyola community, Gloria Branciani and Mirjam Kovac, together with the lawyer Laura Sgrò - against 20 out of 41 nuns.

Only on 27 October 2023, pressured by Cardinal O'Malley, head of the Vatican commission for the protection of abuse, and by other US prelates, did Pope Francis decide to waive the statute of limitations and authorize a canonical trial.

Behind the scant list of the phases of this story, there is a reality of shocking manipulation that Gloria Branciani - a university student at the time - describes with courage and dramatic sobriety. The invitations to lift her skirt to reveal her legs mixed with phrases about the Madonna, kisses and hugs demanded invoking the transport with which a priest kisses the altar, the urge to undress between confessions, masses and the painting of sacred images. Alternating in the official role of confessor and spiritual father, he praises the tenderness and insults the inability and the alleged "egocentrism" of the manipulated subject. Evoking the Trinity as he pushes the victim into a threesome. Posing as her friend as he drags her to a porn cinema on the outskirts of Rome. The superior of the community is informed, the Archbishop of Ljubljana is informed, Rupnik's confessor (the future Cardinal Spidlik) is informed... but the great artist is not called to account. Then the case arrives in the Vatican, where it runs aground.

Anne Barret Doyle, co-director of the "Bishops Accountability" association, which fights for the transparency of ecclesiastical hierarchies in the United States, has asked that the Vatican establish an independent investigation commission into the shameful affair. The lawyer Laura Sgrò discovered in the meantime that the Jesuit Rupnik is registered in the business register and had created his own company since 2007 for the creation of mosaics, frescoes, conservative restoration and specialized study courses. Shares divided as follows: 90 percent to Rupnik, 10 percent to a shareholder. Suddenly, now that the waters are no longer calm, the distribution of shares has changed: 10 percent to Rupnik, 90 to the other partner. Fear of compensation?

“It's not just our history, but it's part of a bigger story – claims Mirjam Kovac – When the rubber wall is absolute, it becomes a defense of disvalues”. The story has just begun. And the epicentre is Rome.

Source

Cathcon:  And at the centre of the epicentre is Pope Francis

Some background on Rupnik's dodgy business   The now 90% shareholder is Manuela Viezzoli who is Executive Director of the Aletti Centre.  She is an ex-member of the Loyola Community.    Rupnik and the Centre are like origami, if you turn Rupnik inside out, you will find Aletti, if you turn Aletti inside out, you will find Rupnik.