Pope Francis

ROME — The Vatican took the unusual step on Monday of announcing that it had named judges to decide the fate of a famous ex-Jesuit artist, whose mosaics decorate basilicas around the world and who was accused by more than two dozen women of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse.

The case of the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik badly tarnished the legacy of Pope Francis, given suggestions that the Jesuit pope, the Jesuit religious order and the Jesuit-headed Vatican sex abuse office protected one of their own over decades by dismissing allegations of misconduct against him.

The Vatican office that manages clergy sex abuse cases, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the five judges named to hear the Rupnik case in a canonical court include women and priests who don’t hold jobs in the Vatican bureaucracy.

It said that such a composition was “done in order to better guarantee, as in any judicial process, the autonomy and independence of the aforementioned court.”

The statement suggested an implicit recognition that prior to now, the Vatican’s handling of the Rupnik file had been anything but autonomous or independent.

Famous artist accused

Rupnik’s mosaics grace some of the Catholic Church’s most-visited shrines and sanctuaries around the world, including at the shrine in Lourdes, France, in the Vatican, a new basilica in Aparecida, Brazil, and the chapel of Pope Leo XIV’s own Augustinian religious order in Rome.

The Rupnik scandal first exploded publicly in late 2022 when Italian blogs started reporting the claims of nuns and other women who said they had been sexually, spiritually and psychologically abused by him, including during the production of his artwork.

Rupnik’s Jesuit religious order soon admitted that he had been excommunicated briefly in 2020 for having committed one of the Catholic Church’s most serious crimes — using the confessional to absolve a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity. But he continued working and preaching.

The case continued to create problems for the Jesuits and Francis, though, since more women came forward saying they too had been victimized by Rupnik, with some of their claims dating back to the 1990s.

The Jesuits eventually kicked him out of the order after he refused to respond to allegations by about 20 women, most of whom were members of a Jesuit-inspired religious community that he co-founded in his native Slovenia, which has since been suppressed.

The Vatican initially refused to prosecute, arguing the women’s claims were too old. The stall exposed both the Vatican’s legal shortcomings, where sex crimes against women are rarely prosecuted, and the suggestion that a famous artist like Rupnik had received favorable treatment.

Trial about to start

While Francis denied interfering in a 2023 interview with the Associated Press, he eventually caved to public pressure and waived the statute of limitations so that the Vatican could open a proper canonical trial.

Two years later, the Vatican statement on Monday indicated that the trial was about to start. The judges, appointed on Oct. 9, will use the church’s in-house canon law to determine Rupnik’s fate, though it’s still not even clear what alleged canonical crimes he is accused of committing. The Vatican statement didn’t say. He hasn’t been charged criminally.

To date, Rupnik hasn’t responded publicly to the allegations and refused to respond to his Jesuit superiors during their investigation. His supporters at his Centro Aletti art studio have denounced what they have called a media “lynching.”

Some of Rupnik’s victims have gone public to demand justice, including in a documentary “Nuns vs. The Vatican” that premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. They welcomed word on Monday that the trial would finally start, attorney Laura Sgro said.

“My five clients requested 18 months ago to be recognized as injured parties in the proceedings, so we hope that their position will be established as soon as possible,” Sgro said in a statement. “They have been waiting for justice for too many years, and justice will be good not only for them but also for the church itself.”

The Catholic Church’s internal legal system doesn’t recognize victims of abuse as parties to a canonical trial but merely third-party witnesses. Victims have no right to participate in any proceedings or have access to any documentation.

At most, they are entitled to learn the judges’ verdict. Unlike a regular court, where jail time is possible, canonical penalties can include sanctions such as restrictions from celebrating Mass or even presenting oneself as a priest, if the judges determine a canonical crime has occurred.

Legal hurdles to justice

But it’s not even clear whether the Vatican considers the women to be abuse “victims” in a legal sense. While the Holy See over the last 25 years has refined the canonical rules to prosecute priests who sexually abuse minors, it has rarely prosecuted sex-related abuse cases involving women, contending that any sexual activity between adults is consensual.

The Rupnik case, though, also involves allegations of spiritual and psychological abuse in relations where there was an imbalance of power. It’s one of many such #MeToo cases in the church where women have said they fell prey to revered spiritual gurus who used their power and authority to manipulate them for sexual and other ends.

The Vatican, though, has generally refused to prosecute such cases or address this type of abuse in any canonical revisions, though Francis authorized a study group to look into allegations of “false mysticism” before he died.

Leo has expressed concern in general that accused priests receive due process. But he had firsthand experience dealing with an abusive group in Peru that targeted adults as well as minors, including through spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience.

In a letter earlier this year to a Peruvian journalist who exposed the group’s crimes, Leo called for a culture of prevention in the church “that does not tolerate any form of abuse — whether of power or authority, conscience or spiritual, or sexual.”

Winfield writes for the Associated Press.

Oct. 9 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday released his first major document, calling on Christians and others not to become indifferent to hunger and extreme poverty across the world.

The pope’s first apostolic exhortation, called Dilexi te, builds on the final text published by Leo’s predecessor Pope Francis, which highlighted the “close connection” between love for God and love for the poor, according to the Vatican.

“With this document, signed on Oct. 4, the feast of Saint Francis of Assis, Pope Leo situates himself firmly on the path laid out by his predecessors, including Saint John XXIII, with his appeal … to wealthier countries not to remain indifferent to nations oppressed by hunger and extreme poverty,” the Vatican said in a news release.

Titled “I Have Loved You,” Leo wrote that Francis had started preparing the document and he had finished it, saying that he is “happy to make the document my own — adding some reflections,” The New York Times reported.

In the document, Leo noted the existence of moral, spiritual and cultural poverty, in addition to the poverty of poorer people and nations lacking the material means of subsistence and calls the world’s commitment to the poor “insufficient.”

Leo wrote that the modern world continues to measure poverty using outdated criteria that “do not correspond to present-day realities,” which the “dictatorship of an economy that kills” has exponentially grown the gap between the rich and poor.

Noting that a “throwaway culture” tolerates indifference toward the poor, Leo called for a change in mentality for people to move away from the “illusion of happiness derived from a comfortable life … centered on the accumulation of wealth and social success at all costs, even at the expense of others.”

“The poor are not there by chance or by blind and cruel fate,” Leo wrote. “Nor, for most of them, is poverty a choice. Yet, there are those who still presume to make this claim, thus revealing their own blindness and cruelty.”

ROME — Pope Leo XIV has intervened for the first time in an abortion dispute roiling the U.S. Catholic Church by raising the seeming contradiction over what it really means to be “pro-life.”

Leo, a Chicago native, was asked late Tuesday about plans by Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich to give a lifetime achievement award to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin for his work helping immigrants. The plans drew objection from some conservative U.S. bishops given the powerful Democratic senator’s support for abortion rights.

Leo called first of all for respect for both sides, but he also pointed out the seeming contradiction in such debates.

“Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” Leo said. “Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

Leo spoke hours before Cupich announced that Durbin had declined the award.

Church teaching forbids abortion but it also opposes capital punishment as “inadmissible” under all circumstances. U.S. bishops and the Vatican have strongly called for humane treatment of migrants, citing the Biblical command to “welcome the stranger.”

Pope Leo says mutual respect is needed

Leo said he wasn’t familiar with the details of the dispute over the Durbin award, but said it was nevertheless important to look at the senator’s overall record and noted Durbin’s four-decade tenure. Responding to a question in English from the U.S. Catholic broadcaster EWTN News, he said there were many ethical issues that constitute the teaching of the Catholic Church.

“I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them but I would ask first and foremost that there be greater respect for one another and that we search together both as human beings, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics to say we need to you know really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward in this church. Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear,” he said.

Cupich was a close adviser to Pope Francis, who strongly upheld church teaching opposing abortion but also criticized the politicizing of the abortion debate by U.S. bishops. Some bishops had called for denying Communion to Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights, including former President Joe Biden.

Biden met on several occasions with Francis and told reporters in 2021 that Francis had told him to continue receiving Communion. During a visit to Rome that year he received the sacrament during Mass at a church in Francis’ diocese.

Durbin was barred from receiving Communion in his home diocese of Springfield in 2004. Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki has continued the prohibition and was one of the U.S. bishops who strongly objected to Cupich’s decision to honor the senator. Cupich claims Durbin as a member of the Chicago Archdiocese, where Durbin also has a home.

Senator Durbin declines his award

In his statement announcing that Durbin would decline the award, Cupich lamented that the polarization in the U.S. has created a situation where U.S. Catholics “find themselves politically homeless” since neither the Republican nor the Democratic party fully encapsulates the breadth of Catholic teaching.

He defended honoring Durbin for his pro-immigration stance, and said the planned Nov. 3 award ceremony could have been an occasion to engage him and other political leaders with the hope of pressing the church’s view on other issues, including abortion.

“It could be an invitation to Catholics who tirelessly promote the dignity of the unborn, the elderly, and the sick to extend the circle of protection to immigrants facing in this present moment an existential threat to their lives and the lives of their families,” Cupich wrote.

Paprocki, for his part, thanked Durbin for declining the award. “I ask that all Catholics continue to pray for our church, our country, and for the human dignity of all people to be respected in all stages of life including the unborn and immigrants,” Paprocki said in a Facebook post.

The dispute came as President Donald Trump’s administration maintains a surge of immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.

Winfield writes for the Associated Press.

Sept. 1 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV confirmed his intent to include LGBTQ parishioners within the Catholic Church ahead of their planned Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City.

The pope met editor and author the Rev. James Martin of New York for 30 minutes and said he intends to continue Pope Francis‘ policy of inclusion for all, the National Catholic Reporter reported Monday.

Pope Francis refused to judge and expel a gay priest in 2013 and afterward allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.

Francis did not change the Catholic Church’s policy of teaching parishioners that homosexual acts are “disordered,” though.

Martin co-founded Outreach, which is a Catholic ministry that promotes LGBTQ inclusion, and will participate in the Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City on Friday and Saturday.

An estimated 1,200 people are expected to participate in the pilgrimage, which is not sponsored by the Vatican.

Leo and Martin met in the library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, where the Pope clarified his position of inclusion for LGBTQ church members.

The pontiff’s position was in doubt after he criticized what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” in 2012 while serving the church and was still known as the Rev. Robert Prevost.

After being elevated to a cardinal in 2023, Prevost told Catholic News Service he did not oppose Pope Francis’ inclusion of members due to the choices that they make in their personal lives.

He confirmed the Catholic Church’s policy regarding homosexuality had not changed.

Leo also said church leaders were “looking to be more welcoming and more open and to say all people are welcome in the church,” the Catholic News Service reported.

Aug. 21 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV is expected to travel to Lebanon before the end of the year on his first international trip.

Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, said in an interview that Leo would visit Lebanon “sometime between now and December.”

“The visit will happen after a decision from the Vatican about when it will take place, so until now it’s not yet determined. But preparations for the visit are underway, though the exact timing is still unknown, waiting for the Vatican to announce it,” Rai said.

There has been no official announcement from the Vatican about the international trip yet

Archbishop Paul Sayah, deputy to Lebanon’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, told BBC that a trip to Lebanon would be an important visit for the pope.

“Lebanon is a multicultural, multi-religious country and is a place of dialogue,” Sayah said. “It’s one of the rare environments where Muslims and Christians are living together and respecting each other so it sends a message to the region.”

Throughout recent decades, popes have been conducting overseas travels to connect with Catholics worldwide.

Pope Francis during his 12 years, visited 68 countries on 47 foreign trips.

Francis had formerly expressed his desire to visit Lebanon, but the country’s political and economic crisis complicated the planning.

Lebanon is home to more than two million Catholics and has carried symbolic weight for the Church.

July 6 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV, 69, started a six-week long vacation at the papal retreat of Castel Gandolfo Sunday, getting out of the Roman summer heat and seeking the cooler temperatures outside of the capitol.

“I hope everyone can have some vacation time to restore the body and spirit,” Leo said before leaving the Vatican during his noontime prayer Saturday.

“Once the gate was closed and the crowd began to disperse towards the square and the lake area, a woman’s cry caught everyone’s attention,” a release from the Vatican said. “Pope Leo suddenly appeared on the balcony of the villa.”

Leo’s visit marks a return to the papal vacation spot after his predecessor, Pope Francis, eschewed the retreat during his dozen year papacy.

Castel Gandolfo overlooks Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome, and has been a favorite getaway for Roman rulers since the time of first century Emperor Domitian.

Leo will have a handful of public events while on vacation, including performing Masses, noon prayers and will also participate in some events at the Vatican, the release said.

July 5 (UPI) — French Archbishop Thibault Verny is the Vatican’s new president of its Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors after opposing child abuse within the Episcopal Conference.

Pope Leo XIV appointed Verny to succeed American Capuchin Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, with whom Verny worked to promote a “culture of protection for vulnerable people,” Vatican News reported on Saturday.

Verny is the Archbishop of Chambery and the Bishop of Maurienne and Tarentaise in France.

As president of the commission to protect minors, Verny said he will continue working to protect minors against sexual abuse and raise awareness within the church.

“In France, my mission … allowed me to listen to the victims and accompany them on their journey,” Verny said. “It was a decisive experience.”

He also worked with law enforcement and other civil authorities to develop protocols for thwarting abuse within the church.

“It is a matter of raising awareness among the various sepiscopates, religious orders and congregations in different countries about listening to and accompanying victims in a specific way,” Verny said.

“We must continue to implement a mindset [and] a culture within the churches to spread the protection of minors and ensure that it becomes natural, both in the church and in family and also in society.”

His appointment comes as the Catholic Church works to address past wrongs and prevent future occurrences.

Pope Francis in September visited Timor-Leste, during which he called for protecting youth amid a clergy abuse scandal in the island nation.

He made the visit following the Vatican in 2022 disciplining Bishop Ximenes Belo, who had been accused of sexually abusing young boys during the 1980s and 1990s.

The accusation was one of many that have plagued the Catholic Church for many years.

In France, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse published a 2,500-page report in 2021 after a three-year investigation.