(Le Monde).
Marko Rupnik, an artist priest with mosaics in churches worldwide, is under investigation for psychological and sexual violence on some 20 women, after Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations on the offenses.
Victims of an artist priest accused of sexual assault welcomed a decision by the Catholic pilgrimage site of Lourdes to no longer illuminate his mosaics, on Wednesday, July 3.
(Crux Staff).
The Catholic leader responsible for a world-famous and much beloved Marian healing shrine in France has ordered measures to lower the visibility of mosaic artwork by an accused serial rapist, but has stopped short — for the time being — of ordering the removal of the art. Father Marko Rupnik is accused of abusing dozens of victims — most of them women religious — over several decades, much of which he spent in Rome at the Centro Aletti art institute he founded in the early 1990s.
(Catholic Herald).
American Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston issued a statement saying he has asked the heads of all offices in the Roman Curia to take down the artwork of a famed priest and artist accused of abusing dozens of adult women. The statement came from the Pontifical Commission for Protecting Minors (PCPM), for which O’Malley serves as President, and said in that capacity, the cardinal has written to the heads of all Vatican departments asking that “pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defence” of alleged abusers “or indicate indifference to the pain and suffering of so many victims of abuse.” In his letter to Vatican prefects, dated June 26, O’Malley said, “We must avoid sending a message that the Holy See is oblivious to the psychological distress that so many are suffering.”