Who is Father Marko Rupnik, the Jesuit Catholic priest and artist accused of abuse?

During the presentation of this work, Rupnik was praised, mentioning that “his motto is to evangelize through beauty.”

Rupnik’s studio is also responsible for the wall of the main altar of the Shrine of the Holy Trinity in Fátima, Portugal, located opposite the site of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

In Italy, Rupnik designed the ramp and crypt of the lower Church of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, where thousands of faithful Catholics come to venerate the saint who bore the stigmata.

Some other notable works by Rupnik and his studio around the world are the Chapel of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary in Italy, the Shrine of the Cave in Manresa, Spain, where the artist painted 90 faces of biblical figures, the Church of the Virgin of the Southern Cross in Australia and the Chapel of the Holy Family of the Knights of Columbus at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C.

The Jesuit priest is the author of the logo for the Jubilee of Mercy called by Pope Francis from Dec. 8, 2015 to Nov. 20, 2016.

Rupnik was also commissioned to create the official image for the Tenth World Meeting of Families that took place in Rome from June 22 to 26, 2022. 

A Lenten sermon in the Vatican 

In March 2020, Rupnik gave the first Lenten sermon for the pope and the Roman Curia at the Vatican.

During the preaching, the Jesuit priest stressed that “we are called to a continuous conversion” and that God “manifests himself in this world through our presence.”

That same year, the Vatican appointed Bishop Daniel Libanori, SJ, as commissioner of the Loyola Community, to which the nine women alleged victims of the Jesuit Marko Rupnik belong.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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