VATICAN CITY (RNS) — A former nun in Slovenia, one of five witnesses in the sex abuse trial of the Rev. Marko Rupnik, an ex-Jesuit priest and artist, recently detailed what she claims was sexual and psychological abuse that Rupnik subjected her to for years.
The woman, who spoke to Religion News Service on the condition that she would be identified as Klara, belonged to the Loyola community of Mengeš, which Rupnik co-founded. The allegations against Rupnik, an influential figure in the church whose artwork is displayed in more than 200 sacred sites around the world, has prompted complaints from Catholics about the continued lack of accountability in the church, as well as the underreporting of sexual, psychological and physical abuse of religious sisters.
While Rupnik’s trial continues at the Vatican, the Jesuit order expelled Rupnik in 2023.
Klara said she met Rupnik in 1980, when she was a 16-year-old intern at a clinic in Slovenia where Rupnik was being treated. The two started talking about her Catholic faith, and he invited her to join meetings of the Christian Life Community, a lay association that follows the spiritual principles of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit …