Slovenia diocese takes in priest accused of abuse

ROME — A famous priest-artist who was thrown out of the Jesuits after being accused of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse of women has been accepted into a diocese in his native Slovenia, the latest twist in a case that has implicated the pope and laid bare the limits of the Vatican’s in-house legal system.

The Jesuits said Thursday they had provided the diocese of Koper, Slovenia, an “extensive letter” outlining the allegations against the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik and notice that he had been convicted and excommunicated for committing one of the most serious crimes in the Catholic Church.

But the Koper diocese said it accepted Rupnik as a diocesan priest in August because it hadn’t received any documentation showing that he had “been found guilty of the alleged abuses before either an ecclesiastical tribunal or civil court.”

A statement from the diocese to The Associated Press cited the Universal Declaration on Human Rights’ provision on the presumption of innocence and right to a defense for anyone accused of a crime.

Rupnik, whose mosaics decorate churches and basilicas around the globe, was declared excommunicated by the Vatican in May 2020 for a confession-related crime. The Jesuit order kicked him out this summer after several adult women accused him of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuses dating back 30 years.

The scandal has been a headache for the Vatican and Pope Francis himself due to suspicions Rupnik received favorable treatment from the Holy See since Francis is a Jesuit and other Jesuits head the sex crimes office that investigated the priest and declined to prosecute him for abuse.

After conducting their own investigation, the Jesuit order announced in June that it found the women’s claims to be “very highly credible.” But they said the Vatican’s canonical norms in force at the time of the alleged abuse precluded harsher punishment for old cases involving the abuse of adults.

On Thursday, Rupnik’s former Jesuit superior, the Rev. Johan Verschueren, confirmed he had communicated with the bishop of Koper, Monsignor Jurij Bizjak, after learning earlier this year that Bizjak was prepared to take Rupnik in.

“I immediately wrote an exhaustive letter to the bishop about the situation and the many complaints or cases we were dealing with, and I asked him whether he would maintain his offer after having been informed by it,” Verschueren said in an email to The Associated Press.

The Jesuits learned later from the Vatican that the transfer had gone through, he said.

Verschueren said his letter included a reference to the lone canonical sanction Runik incurred after a guilty verdict: a 2020 excommunication for having used the confessional to absolve a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity. The Vatican lifted the excommunication decree two weeks later.

The Catholic Church has long responded to women who report priests for abusing their authority by blaming the women for seducing the churchmen, portraying them as mentally unstable or minimizing the event as a mere “mistake” or “boundary violation” by an otherwise holy priest.

The Jesuits said they had kicked Rupnik out not because of the abuse claims, but because of his “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.” The Jesuits had exhorted Rupnik to atone for his misconduct and enter into a process of reparation with his victims, but he refused.

While Francis’ role in the Rupnik scandal has come into question, the pontiff insisted in a Jan. 24 interview with the AP that he had only intervened procedurally in the case, though he also said he opposed waiving the statute of limitations for old abuse cases involving adults.

More recently, Francis was seen as being part of an apparent attempt by Rupnik’s supporters to rehabilitate the priest’s image. In a widely publicized audience, Francis received a close collaborator and strong defender of Rupnik’s who has denounced what she called a media “lynching” of him.

In a statement last month, the Vicariate of Rome, which Francis heads, cast doubt on the Vatican’s lone punishment of Rupnik — the 2020 declaration of excommunication. Women who alleged they were abused by Rupnik said the statement revictimized them.

Usually, when a priest moves from one diocese to another, or joins a diocese after leaving a religious order, the process takes years. According to canon law, it also requires “appropriate testimonials … concerning the cleric’s life, morals, and studies,” from the priest’s previous superior.

Information for this article was contributed by Ali Zerdin of The Associated Press.