Vatican communications chief defends use of artwork by accused sex offender

The head of the Vatican’s communications department defends the use of artwork by a man accused of sex offender on his office’s website.

The Prefect of the Holy See Dicastery for Communications, Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, delivered his defense speech on Friday, June 21, in response to questions from journalists attending his keynote address at the annual Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

“We didn’t upload any new photos,” said Ruffini, “we just left the pictures that were there.”

“I think that’s the reason,” Ruffini said. “We didn’t decide what — what wasn’t our responsibility to decide.”

The artist is the former Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik, who is accused of having abused numerous victims – most of them nuns – over several decades, much of which he spent in Rome at the Aletti Centre Art institute, which he founded in the early 1990s.

“We are not talking about the abuse of minors here,” Ruffini told around 150 journalists and other media representatives. “We are talking about a story that we do not know,” Ruffini said. “Who am I to judge the Rupnik stories?”

Jesuit investigators said they found allegations that Rupnik abused his victims spiritually, psychologically and sexually “highly credible.” The order expelled Rupnik from the community last year after he refused to follow orders imposed on him by his superiors.

The Vatican is currently investigating Rupnki after Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations under canon law for prosecuting crimes against adults last October.

Rupnik’s alleged victims, along with other survivors of clerical sexual abuse and victim advocates, have repeatedly called on the Vatican to stop using digital reproductions of Rupnik’s works. They have criticized the Vatican both for the continued use of Rupnik images and for the Vatican’s silence in the face of these demands.

Pope Francis himself has referred approvingly to Rupnik’s art on at least one specific occasion since the story became known in late 2022, and new Rupnik installations continue to be erected around the world.

Ruffini confirmed that criminal proceedings are currently underway against Rupnik, saying: “We – the Dicastery – and I personally believe that this,” i.e. removing the images from official Vatican media, “is not a good way to forestall this.”

“You know,” Ruffini is heard saying in an audio recording of Ruffini’s speech and question and answer session obtained by core“As Christians, we are called not to judge.”

Rupnik’s victims spent years trying to get Rupnik’s former Jesuit superiors to take action. Their complaints were reportedly first heard in the 1990s.

In 2019, Bishop Daniele Libanori, a Jesuit priest and auxiliary bishop in Rome who was investigating a religious congregation that Rupnik co-founded in his native Slovenia, finally brought some of the numerous allegations of abuse to the relevant Roman authorities.

The then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the statute of limitations had expired and declined to prosecute Rupnik. The Jesuits excommunicated Rupnik, who nevertheless remained a respected priest and was incardinated in the Slovenian diocese of Koper shortly after his expulsion, sparking worldwide outrage.

Details of the case against Rupnik and how it was handled emerged bit by bit over the course of many months. One of these involved a secret Vatican trial against Rupnik. He was accused of illegally granting absolution to an “accomplice” for a sin against the Sixth Commandment – in legal jargon, this means a sexual partner – which is a serious crime under canon law. He was temporarily excommunicated as a result, but otherwise not punished.

Under sustained pressure from the media and at the urging of those close to him, Pope Francis finally changed course – after previously expressing his general reluctance to lift statutes of limitations in cases involving adult victims – and decided to override the statute of limitations and order a review of the entire Rupnik matter.

On Friday, Ruffini said in Atlanta that those calling on the Vatican to stop using digital reproductions of Rupnik’s works are doing it “wrong.” “Removing, deleting, destroying art,” Ruffini said, “has never been a good decision.”

Rupnik’s victims have described in gruesome detail how Rupnik used his “creative” process as a tool of manipulation and an opportunity for his abuse.

One of Rupnik’s most vocal victim-accusers, Gloria Branciani, told OSV News: “With Rupnik, the sexual dimension cannot be separated from the creative experience.” “By portraying me,” Branciani said, “(Rupnik) declared that I represent the eternal feminine: his artistic inspiration comes precisely from his attitude to sexuality.”

“I don’t think we should throw stones,” Ruffini said Friday in Atlanta, “but that we believe this is the way to heal someone.”

“Do you think that I am closer to the victims if I delete the photo of a work of art from my – from our – website? Do you believe that?” Ruffini repeatedly asked a journalist who had asked him about his message to the victims.

“I think you’re wrong,” Ruffini said. “I think you’re wrong,” Ruffini repeated.

“I really think you are wrong,” Ruffini said again.