VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
The Pillar [Washington DC]
October 13, 2025
By Edgar Beltrán
Five judges have been selected to oversee the trial.
The Vatican announced on Oct. 13 the appointment of five judges for the canonical trial of disgraced former Jesuit Fr. Marko Rupnik, accused of sexually abusing several adult women.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) officially announced that it had appointed five judges to oversee Rupnik’s trial. It said the appointments had been made Oct. 9.
The Vatican has been criticized over the slow pace of progress in the case against Rupnik, after the first allegations against the former Jesuit became public in December 2022, with Pope Francis finally lifting the statute of limitations to try the case in October 2023, amid immense public pressure.
Rupnik, a former Jesuit from Slovenia, is the creator of mosaics installed in dozens of high-profile chapels, cathedrals, and basilicas in Europe — including the Vatican — as well as Latin America and the United States.
Rupnik has been accused of sexually abusing approximately 30 religious sisters. Some of the allegations involve claims of blasphemous acts of sexual abuse in the context of designing and creating works of art.
The statement from the Vatican indicates that the panel of judges is made up of women and members of the clergy who are not part of the DDF and do not hold any office in the Roman Curia.
“This decision is intended to better ensure the autonomy and independence of the tribunal, as is necessary in any judicial process,” the statement said.
In April, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández confirmed to The Pillar that only canonists from outside the Roman and curial orbits were being considered for the case and that, while he was aware of criticisms over the delay in the trial taking place, he was ultimately more concerned with selecting the most credible judges possible.
“There will always be suspicions for those who want to think badly,” he told The Pillar, “but we try to offer all possible guarantees.”
The DDF’s procedural norms generally require judges to be clerics, although the dicastery can and does dispense from this norm upon request.
On July 3, Fernández said in a press conference that the judges for the case had been selected, although the official appointments were not made at that time. The cardinal said at the July press conference that the panel was “made up of judges who are all independent and external to our dicastery.”
“The idea was, if possible, to eliminate the idea that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith or the Holy See had any interest or were subjected to pressure,” he said. “People were chosen who would not give rise to any suspicion.”
Fernández was also asked about the potential start date of the trial.
“There are technical times, such as notification to the victims. We are working with the necessary confidentiality,” he said.
In a January interview, Fernández was asked if the Vatican was acting with urgency to resolve the Rupnik case, after widespread criticism over the pace of the investigation.
He responded, “I think of many other cases, including others that are worse, but less publicized. We cannot think of a new law for just one case, because that would limit the vision and harm the work’s objectivity.”
“With regards to the Rupnik case, the dicastery finished the stage of gathering information, which was in very different places, and conducted a first analysis,” he added. “Now, we are working to constitute an independent tribunal that goes to the last stage through a penal judicial procedure.”
Rupnik was previously convicted by the DDF of sexual crimes related to the sacrament of penance and was briefly excommunicated in 2019.
The excommunication was remitted soon after it was declared, according to the Society of Jesus, apparently because Rupnik had expressed contrition for his action.
When asked about the excommunication imposed and revoked on Rupnik, Fernández said that such excommunications and quick revocations “happen much more often than one can imagine, sometimes even on the same day.”
The Society of Jesus conducted a lengthy investigation into Rupnik’s alleged abuse and found a “high degree” of evidence against him. Instead of pursuing the priest’s laicization, the Jesuits opted to expel him from the order in 2023 for “disobedience.”
After being expelled from the Society of Jesus, Rupnik was incardinated in 2023 by his home bishop in the Slovenian Diocese of Koper. The diocese stated that “as long as Rev. Rupnik has not been found guilty in a public trial in court, he enjoys all the rights and duties of diocesan priests.”
The Vatican has been repeatedly criticized for its apparent passivity in dealing with the case.
In 2020, a few months after his excommunication, Rupnik preached a Lenten meditation for priests working in the Vatican. He met with Pope Francis in January 2022, and received an honorary doctorate from a Catholic university in Brazil later that year.
The pope originally refused to lift the statute of limitations for a canonical trial when new allegations against the priest surfaced in 2022. The statute of limitations was lifted the following year, only after the public outcry over Rupnik’s incardination in Slovenia.
Meanwhile, the Vatican communications prefect, Paolo Rufini, repeatedly defended the use of Rupnik’s art in Vatican communications, saying that removing his art is “not the Christian response” to the allegations against the priest.
A video published in January by Vatican media showed Pope Francis speaking with the Catholic community in Gaza in his room, with Rupnik’s artwork hanging on a wall.
Pope Leo XIV has not commented publicly on the situation since taking office in May.
However, in June, Rupnik’s artwork was silently taken down from all Vatican platforms.