Crux

ROME – In a conversation with the press earlier this week, Venezuelan Jesuit Father General Arturo Sosa confessed that his order had been “blind” to abuses committed by a famed artist who was expelled from the group nearly two years ago.

The notorious case involving Slovene Father Marko Rupnik, accused of abusing over 30 adult women, “is not an easy case to speak about, because it caused a lot of pain, for the victims first of all,” Sosa told journalists during an April 10 press conference.

These abuses happened “due to our blindness, because it’s true that we didn’t see it,” Sosa said, saying, “this blindness came from not putting the various signs together.”

“Something very common in abuses, not only in Rupnik case, but in all victims, is it’s not easy to make a complaint like this. It takes a lot of time, and it also depends on a lot of factors,” he said, but admitted that as a society, “we lacked more sensitivity to notice what was happening.”

Sosa said thanks to this unfortunate experience, “we can see better. Not only for the Rupnik case, but other cases in the Society and in the Church.”

“I think we’ve learned, learned to have more sensitivity to these things, and we want the instruments to face them,” he said, but admitted that “there is a lot to do, especially in in the path of healing.”

One of the most celebrated religious artists in the Catholic Church, Rupnik has designed and overseen the creation and mounting of mosaics that decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at the Vatican famed Marian shrines, including the one in Lourdes.

The Society of Jesus, to which Pope Francis belongs, expelled Rupnik in June 2023 after more than two dozen women came forward to say he had sexually, spiritually and/or psychologically abused them over a period of 30 years, some while they were collaborating with him on artworks.

Despite these complaints, including the testimonies of several women who have gone public with their claims, Rupnik remains a priest, while his supporters and collaborators have denied any wrongdoing.

For decades he has escaped punishment, because the women accusing him were not minors at the time of the alleged abuse, and because of his high standing in the Church.

A case was opened against him in the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in October 2023, and a panel of judges has been selected to review the findings, however, it could still be some time before a ruling is made and any punishment is dolled out.

The Jesuits recently sent a letter to 20 women who say they were abused in some way by Rupnik, among other things lamenting that Rupnik had refused to engage in a process of truth and reparation prior to being ousted from the order, and that it had taken the Church so long to act.

In an email to the Associated Press, Father Johan Versuchen, a top-ranking Jesuit official in Rome who oversaw a group tasked with handling an internal investigation into the allegations against Rupnik, said the order was evaluating victims’ needs for reparation on a case-by-case basis.

Sosa in Thursday’s press conference said the Jesuits “are waiting for the end of this judgement” by the Vatican, along with the victims, and voiced hope that “it can be resolved as soon as possible, even if I know this process is not easy.”

Regarding the order’s process of reparation, he said individual paths of healing must be identified, “because there are deep wounds in people, and wounds must be healed in different ways, there is not just one way to heal.”

He said there have been some responses to their letter, and they are waiting for others to reply.

Sosa also referred to a new study the Vatican is conducting within the Dicastery for Legislative Texts to define the crime of “spiritual abuse,” when spiritual imagery or false mystical experiences are used in the manipulation and sexual abuse of individuals, so it can be codified in Canon Law.

Insisting on the need for “a consistent culture of care, of safeguarding” in the Church, he said, “It has become very common to speak of vulnerable people.”

“We prefer to say that everyone is vulnerable, and (focus on) how to create relationships where there is no possibility of abuse, spiritual or physical,” Sosa said, saying spiritual and other forms of abuse happen when relationships are “unbalanced.”

“The spiritual realm is a realm that can be converted into very serious abuse,” he said, saying they are trying to educate members on how to maintain healthy relationships with clear boundaries “that avoid this kind of spiritual abuse.”

He said one project the Jesuits have undertaken is to raise awareness about the severity of abuse within the Church and society through a series of programs intended to “guarantee safe spaces in our communities and our apostolic work, and to understand more deeply the cause of this drama in the Church.”

One of the first steps is awareness-raising, he said, saying they are beginning with an audit of each of their 74 provinces that is focused on evaluating procedures and “breaking silence,” especially in places where discussing the topic of abuse is considered taboo.

“We understand this as a cultural change, not just a change of rules,” he said, saying they are working to promote a “consistent culture of protection.”

“In process of growing in social impact to contribute to the transformation of culture to establish correct actions in time. Project for this year, and for coming years.

Sosa also addressed the question of what to do with Rupnik’s artwork, which many have said ought to be taken down.

In general, Sosa said he supports the decision by the Diocese of Lourdes, where Rupnik murals adorn the entrance to the city’s famed Marian shrine, and where the bishop underwent a lengthy process of consultation with locals and with victims before opting to cover the murals decorating the door.

“There is no rule, I think, to do everything the same for everyone, but it really depends on how much this harms someone” to see the artwork exposed, he said.

Sosa in the presentation also highlighted the Jesuits’ work around the world and the order’s various social projects and attempts to be “against the current,” including when it comes to sensitive issues such as the United States administration’s mass deportation policy and navigating the dictatorial, anti-clerical regime in Venezuela.

He also spoke of the pope’s health, the need to better engage young people, and the Vatican’s relationship with China, saying on China that “this is very difficult to give a prospect on.”

It is a place with “a capacity to … do harm, just as there they also have an ability to do good. There, we find ourselves before the mystery of human freedom. How those who have the means to produce what is necessary for the lives of the people, use it to give life or to concentrate their own economy and power?”

There are around 20-25 Jesuits in China, he said, saying most are professors who enjoy freedom of movement and do what they can to accompany the people around them, and to do “what is possible for China and the Church.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen