FáTIMA (PORTUGAL)
Portugal Resident [Lagoa, Portugal]
September 19, 2026
By Natasha Donn
One of Father Rupnik’s victims accuses Portuguese Church of “complicit silence”
While the Portuguese Catholic Church is already receiving very negative PR from victims of sexual abuse as children, the case of a panel of mosaics, on display in the Holy Shrine of Fátima, created by a priest accused of sexually, psychologically and physically abusing around 30 women, is adding to the pressure – particularly as hopes are for a visit to Fátima next year by Pope Leo XIV.
Expresso explains the delicate situation. It came on the wings of a decision by a French bishop to completely cover Rupnik’s mosaics in the Holy Shrine of Lourdes, due to the Slovenian priest’s fall from grace – and a pending visit (on September 26) by the Pope. The bishop has stressed that the covering is “permanent”.
One of the many disturbing parts of this story appears to be that Rupnik is understood to have abused his victims “as part of the creative process itself”.
This aspect, Expresso stresses, does not appear to be something that Portuguese clerics were aware of when they cited “the need to separate the artist from his work, frequently giving the example of Caravaggio, who murdered a man and whose artwork nevertheless continues to be greatly admired…”
Another inconvenient detail is the fact that Bishop Jean-Marc Micas, in Lourdes, is understood to have ordered the covering of Rupnik’s work ahead of the papal visit “following guidance from Pope Leo” himself.
Expresso adds that Pope Leo is also understood to have “ordered the Vatican to stop using Rupnik’s images in its communication materials”.
All this makes the decision to leave things as they are in Fátima all the more disconcerting.
“Complicit silence”
Fabrizia Raguso is a former member of the Loyola Community, a female religious order founded by Rupnik, over which he exerted considerable influence until 1993.
Many of his victims were nuns from the community, which was officially dissolved by the Vatican in 2023. Raguso was sent by the order to live in the Portuguese city of Braga in 2000. She officially left the Loyola Community in 2021, but continues to live in Braga, where she teaches Psychology at the Portuguese Catholic University.
In an interview with Expresso, she says that the Fátima Shrine’s position on the mosaic reveals a “complicit silence” that she says is widespread among the Portuguese Catholic hierarchy. “I consider the position of the Portuguese Church to be one of non-transparent silence, which is a common stance. The Church is quite divided on this issue and that is also demonstrated through this silence, which ends up being complicit, or not entirely liberating.”
The former nun was one of six Rupnik victims who came forward in a letter addressed to Pope Francis in 2023, after a canonical visitation to the Aletti Center (run by Rupnik, in Rome) claimed to have found a “healthy community life”. In the letter, the six signatories, all former members of the Loyola Community, stated that the conclusions of the visit “ridiculed the victims’ pain”, especially because Pope Francis had refused to meet with the women who alleged they had been abused.
Raguso says that the abuse she suffered at Rupnik’s hands was not sexual, although she says she suffered psychological manipulation. She has been instrumental in keeping the issue active, writes Expresso, and gathering testimonies from other victims – including those who suffered sexual abuse.
Raguso maintains that there can be no doubt about the scale of the abuse committed by Rupnik, now aged 71: “We have accounts from people making accusations in different contexts. There are around 30 and they are not all from the Loyola Community, there are many who have no connection with one another, who did not know each other, but who testify to abuse, including during the actual construction and installation of the works.”
Trial underway at Vatican
Marko Rupnik is currently on trial at the Vatican, accused of multiple crimes of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse against dozens of women. Some of the cases are said to have occurred during the process of creating the works of art itself, including “blasphemous” sexual acts, supposedly to replicate the Holy Trinity. He was briefly excommunicated for the canonical crime of absolving a sexual partner in confession, although the penalty was later lifted, Expresso continues.
When the scandal became public, the Fátima Shrine issued a statement saying it “categorically” repudiated “the acts committed by Father Rupnik”, and stood in solidarity with the victims.
“As for the mosaic panel by the Aletti Center, which is located in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, we are not considering its removal. However, since we became aware of the allegations against Marko Rupnik, we have suspended the use of the image, the work as a whole and details from it in our promotional materials”, said the April 2025 statement.
After recent statements by Bishop Jean-Marc Micas, and the covering of the Lourdes mosaics, Expresso contacted the Fátima Shrine, “but was informed that there had been no change to the official position.”
This may change, of course, between now and next year, when the Fátima Shrine celebrates 110 years since the 1917 apparitions, and there is widespread hope among Portuguese Catholics that Pope Leo will visit Portugal for the occasion.
As Expresso concedes: “It is not known whether the presence of such a prominent work of art in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity will weigh on the decision, or in any way affect a possible visit.”
Source material: Expresso