Bishop of Lourdes to Review Rupnik Mosaics
The mosaics, located on the façade of the Rosary Basilica have been controversial since they were installed, as is acknowledged by the bishop in his statement, although, he says, on the whole they have been admired.
Bishop Micas says he is concerned that the controversy surrounding the artist may cause victims, he considers this "cannot be ignored" and is therefore considering whether they should be taken down. The bishop has already met with the Rector of the Shrine, Fr. Michael Daubanes and the Shrine's Directing Council. The next step, according to the bishop, is to set up a reflection group in April which, along with the bishop and the rector, will include at least one victim, an expert in sacred art and a psychotherapist. The bishop’s full statement can be read in French here.
Celebrity priest Marko Rupnik has been at the centre of Allegations which have become a point of great scandal in the Church, after Rupnik was accused of serially abusing Slovenian consecrated women in the 1980s and 1990s.
The scandal has been compounded by the discovery from the Associated Press that at the end of a process which began in 2019, the dicastery declared Rupnik excommunicated. The priest was found guilty of attempting to absolve an accomplice after a sexual encounter — a major crime in the Church’s legal system. Despite this, the excommunication was quickly lifted, according to Jesuit superior general, Fr Arturo Sosa.
But while the process was underway, according to the Society of Jesus, Rupnik was nevertheless asked in March 2020 to preach a Lenten spiritual reflection in the Apostolic Palace for officials of the Roman curia. Incredibly, as recently as March 5th, Rupnik was seen concelebrating Mass in the Basilica of St. Praxedes along with senior Jesuits associated with the Pontifical Gregorian University. They were accompanied by the leadership of Centro Aletti — a centre for art and spirituality which Rupnik cofounded. Centro Aletti still lists Rupnik as a director on its website today.
The way the Church deals with abuse is particularly in the spotlight at the moment following the resignation of Fr. Hans Zollner, who was working with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM), on the 29th March. Zollner was an internationally renowned expert in protecting children and vulnerable adults from clerical sex abuse and is broadly considered to be both honest and competent among a wide cross section of Church leaders. The 56-year-old Jesuit, a founding member of the commission, said in a statement that “structural and practical issues” within the commission had led him “to disassociate” from it.
“The protection of children and vulnerable persons must be at the heart of the Catholic Church’s mission,” he said. “That was the hope I and many others have shared since the commission was first established in 2014. However, in my work with the commission, I have noticed issues that need to be urgently addressed and which have made it impossible for me to continue further.”
Zollner’s statement was issued three hours after Cardinal O’Malley, the head of the commission, had issued his own statement which said Zollner was stepping down because he was too busy. The highly critical public statement issued by Zollner so quickly after this is highly unusual nothing short of a direct challenge of the commission’s effectiveness which is a clear critique of Cardinal O’Malley himself. After ten years of Pope Francis Pontificate, it appears very little progress has been made addressing this scourge within the Church.
My opinion is that Zollner obviously had this discussion with Cardinal O'Malley who did not alleviate his fears or even address them to the point where Zollner thought it was worth burning the Commission in public rather than suffering the reputational loss associating with it would cause him. Extremely bad for O'Malley who, before Zollner made his statement, released his own statement saying he was leaving because he was very busy.
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