Jesuits offer help to women who say they were abused by Father Rupnik

ROME (CNS) -- The Jesuits have written to 20 women who have accused Father Marko Rupnik of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse, offering to work with them to find a path of reparation "geared toward healing the wounds" caused by the former Jesuit priest.

Jesuit Father Johan Verschueren, the order's delegate for Interprovincial Roman Houses and Works, and Father Rupnik's immediate superior before he was expelled from the order, confirmed the news in an email to Catholic News Service March 26.

Laura Sgrò, a lawyer for many of the women, issued a press release earlier in the day about the letter, which she said arrived March 25.

The press release said Father Verschueren told the women that the Jesuits had "offered Marko Rupnik the opportunity to take public responsibility for his actions, to repent, to ask for forgiveness and to begin a path of purification and therapy. Following his stubborn refusal to submit to this possibility," he was expelled from the order in June 2023.

Father Rupnik, a well-known mosaic artist from Slovenia, was later accepted into the Diocese of Koper, Slovenia, and continues to be a priest.

While he had been briefly excommunicated in 2020 for the canonical crime of absolution of an accomplice, the excommunication was lifted after he apparently repented. The Jesuits conducted another investigation into other accusations of abuse and sent those findings to the now-Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in January 2022 with the recommendation of a criminal process.

That October, the dicastery said it could not proceed with the case because the statute of limitations for reporting had passed. But Pope Francis waived the statute of limitations in October 2023.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told reporters March 21 that the dicastery has gathered, organized and studied material relating to the allegations against Father Rupnik and is preparing a tribunal for a trial.

Sgrò said Father Verschueren told the women that the Jesuits were not "comfortable" with the current situation particularly because "to the violence of various kinds suffered then, was added the suffering from the lack of listening and justice for long years."

However, he said, he was confident that "a process of healing and inner reconciliation is possible, provided that there is also a path of truth and recognition on our part."

The Jesuit official apologized not only for "the violence of an ex-brother's behavior, but also for the blindness, silence, refusals to listen or act" on the part of other Jesuits.

Father Verschueren confirmed to CNS that he had told The Associated Press that the letter asked the women "what they would need now, and how we can meet that need."

Whether the reparation will include financial support will depend on what the women say they need from the Jesuits, he said.