Father Marko Rupnik As Church leaders and Catholic groups around the world increasingly call for the removal of sacred art created by Fr Marko Rupnik, the art institute founded by the disgraced former Jesuit is punching back, saying Fr Rupnik’s art is being subjected to “cancel culture”.
“In the face of growing pressure for the removal of the works of art created by Centro Aletti, we feel obliged to express our great concern regarding the widespread diffusion of the so-called ‘cancel culture’ and of a way of thinking that legitimises the ‘criminalisation’ of art,” Centro Aletti Director Maria Campatelli contends in a letter addressed to friends of the institution.
In the letter, Ms Campatelli says the centre continues to face a “time of trial” while the allegations of sexual abuse by more than two dozen women, mostly former nuns, against Fr Rupnik continues to be investigated by the Vatican.
“The removal of a work of art ought never to be thought of as a punishment or a cure,” Ms Campatelli continues. “While pastoral care for suffering persons if of course necessary, this cannot become justification for the removal or covering of works of art.”
In the letter, Ms Campatelli also reiterates that Fr Rupnik “has always firmly denied, in the appropriate forums, having ever committed the abuses described by those accusing him”.
Fr Rupnik has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct since 2018 and in recent years has faced repeated allegations of past sexual abuse.
During a June visit to Atlanta, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication Paolo Ruffini also expressed reservations about removing Fr Rupnik’s art in places of worship.
That same month, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston and outgoing head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, sent a letter to heads of the Holy See expressing hope that “pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defence” of those of accused of abuse.
Last month, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes issued a statement and expressed his personal opinion to remove Rupnik’s mosaics affixed to the entrance of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.
“Many people who were victims of sexual violence and abuse at the hands of clergy have in fact expressed their suffering and the violence that this exposure now constituted for them,” he wrote in the statement.
The Knights of Columbus last month temporarily covered Rupnik art at the St John Paul II Shrine in Washington, DC, as well as at the fraternal organisation’s headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.
Pope Francis ordered the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to begin a judicial process to investigate the sexual abuse allegations against Fr Rupnik after backlash arose in the aftermath of Fr Rupnik’s incardination into a diocese in his native Slovenia in October 2023.