VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In a letter sent to about 20 women who said they were abused by the Slovenian artist and former Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik, the Jesuit order on Tuesday (March 25) offered to start a “process of healing” based on recognizing the order’s own responsibility and a lack of justice.
The letter, signed by the Rev. Johan Verschueren, the delegate of the Father General for the Interprovincial Roman Houses and Works, stated the Jesuit order is “uneasy” with the situation and is aware “that the various kinds of violence suffered at the time are compounded by the pain caused by the lack of listening and justice for many years.”
Verschueren wrote he has “confidence that a process of healing and inner reconciliation is possible, provided there is also a path of truth and recognition on our part.”
At least five women have sought legal representation because they say they suffered sexual or psychological abuse in the 1980s by Rupnik, a renowned artist with over 200 mosaics displayed at some of the most famous religious sites in the world. Some of the women say Rupnik sexually abused them while he was creating his artwork and that he manipulated them into having sex with other women to imitate the Holy Trinity.
In an email to RNS on Wednes …