FAIRFIELD, Connecticut – As the Catholic leader in charge of a world-famous and highly popular Marian healing shrine in France continues to seek consensus on the removal of artwork by an accused serial abuser, two Catholic institutions in the U.S. state of Connecticut are among the numerous church organizations confronting the question: What should be done with the art that Father Marko Rupnik and his Aletti Centre Art studio in Rome?

Rupnik is accused of having psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused dozens of victims – most of them nuns – over a period of about thirty years, much of which he spent in Rome at the Aletti Centre Art institute, which he founded in the early 1990s with the blessing of Pope John Paul II.

Shrines, chapels and other holy sites from Lourdes to Springfield Lakes in Australia – and more than two hundred other sites in between, including the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican – have used Rupnik's services for what have been massive mosaic installations over the past thirty years, often at great expense.

Removing or otherwise covering the works could also be very costly. The issue also raises potentially thorny problems of responsibility, canon and civil jurisdiction, and a number of other related issues.

From Lourdes to Connecticut

Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes issued a press release on Tuesday announcing immediate measures to reduce the visibility of the Rupnik mosaics that adorn the façade of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. Micas said he would prefer their permanent removal, but he is working to reach a consensus before moving forward.

In an exclusive interview with La Croix AirportMicas explained that the mosaics were installed in such a way that they could be removed without causing any damage.

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“My deep, firm, intimate conviction is that one day they will have to be removed,” said Micas La Croix Airport“They prevent Lourdes from reaching all the people to whom the message of the shrine is addressed.” Nevertheless, he decided “not to remove them immediately, given the passions and violence that this issue arouses,” Micas said.

Both the Holy Spirit Chapel at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, and SHU's Nativity Chapel feature mosaics from the Rupnik studio, as does the Holy Family Chapel at the Knights of Columbus headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.

SHU and the Knights of Columbus

“We were very surprised and disappointed when we first learned of Rupnik’s inappropriate and exploitative behavior,” said Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut core“The leadership of the entire university,” says the SHU, “is having ongoing discussions about the mosaics.”

“They are works of faith,” SHU said, “and we view them as such.”

The SHU did not provide any information on whether the university administration had already made a final decision on the fate of the mosaics.

The handling of the Rupnik case by the Vatican and its former Jesuit superiors has been the subject of close scrutiny and fierce criticism since the allegations against Rupnik became public over a year and a half ago.

The Society of Jesus expelled Rupnik last year for “disobedience” after the Vatican ruled that a case existed, but dismissed it on the grounds that the crimes he was accused of had expired. When the diocese of Koper in Rupnik's native Slovenia agreed to accept him as a priest in good service, there was a worldwide outcry.

In the wake of worldwide outrage and unusual pressure from his own inner circle, Pope Francis ordered an investigation into the Rupnik case.

That was eight months ago.

“The mosaics in our chapel were created in 2009 by many artists from [the] Aletti Centre where Marko Rupnik was the director,” the SHU statement said.

Most of Rupnik's works that adorn Catholic churches around the world were created and installed years and even decades before the allegations against the priest emerged, but a few were hung even after the gruesome allegations of repeated spiritual, psychological, physical and sexual abuse emerged in December 2022.

Several of Rupnik's alleged victims say his art was a central element of his abusive practices, making his artwork particularly unsuitable for decorating sacred spaces.

Laura Sgrò, the lawyer for five of Rupnik's most vocal victim-accusers, recently claimed in a letter to the ordinaries and rectors of sanctuaries and chapels where Rupnik's studio artworks are installed that Rupnik abused at least one of his victims on the scaffolding erected for the installation of a mosaic.

“These facts occurred in a church,” the letter says about the alleged abuse on the scaffold, “in a consecrated place.”

“Other sisters have told how they served as models for Father Rupnik's works,” the letter says, “which were also exhibited in holy places, and while posing they were mistreated.”

“This letter,” wrote Sgrò, “does not represent a judgment on the works of Father Rupnik, but only a reflection on the possibility of their presence in sacred places dedicated to our Lord.”

The SHU statement also states that the works of Rupnik and his Aletti Centre “can be found all over the world, including in the Chapel of the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, the Vatican and the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, DC”

The Knights of Columbus have their headquarters in New Haven, where Rupnik's works can also be seen in the Knights' Holy Family Chapel. The Knights told core They are currently conducting a review but do not wish to disclose any details.

“We have decided not to discuss the details of our review process until it is complete,” the Knights said.

Earlier this year, the Washington chapter of the Knights of Columbus called for the removal of Rupnik's works from the Knights of Columbus-sponsored John Paul II Shrine in the US capital.

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“We are deeply concerned and strongly condemn all cases of sexual abuse. These are in total contradiction to the life, legacy and teachings of Saint John Paul II,” the Knights said, referring to the Shrine of Saint John Paul II. “We continue to pray for the victims and carefully consider what best to do regarding the mosaics that have been installed in the Shrine.”

The Knights also said they were “aware of recent reports that the investigations of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith are well advanced,” and called this news an “important factor” in their deliberations.

The Roman Question

Monsignor John Kennedy, head of the Disciplinary Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is responsible for reviewing the Rupnik matter, recently described Rupnik's case as a “delicate case.”

“[W]”We've started well and we're really taking it step by step and keeping an eye on all the aspects, because there's the aspect of the allegations against him, there's the aspect of the victims, there's the aspect of the impact on the church,” Kennedy said, “so it's a delicate matter.”

Sgrò’s letter states that the request on behalf of her clients “must not be transformed into a hasty judgment”. early legal dispute) of the facts that my clients attribute to Father Rupnik.”

“Regardless of any ongoing proceedings against the author, and indeed regardless of the outcome of the proceedings,” wrote Sgrò, “the question arises as to whether there are reasonable grounds for not using these mosaics in ecclesiastical settings without respecting their artistic value, which – this is certain – is not at issue here.”

“These works,” wrote Sgrò, “cannot remain where they were placed, both out of respect for the victims and [sacred] character of the places of worship” in which they were installed. “This does not mean that they should not find appropriate space elsewhere,” Sgrò also wrote, “[someplace as] casts no shadow on the spirituality of the believers.”

Sgrò said core The letter was addressed to “bishops, nunciatures, religious” who have a work by Rupnik in their “house”. “We sent the letter to all the addresses we found regarding the more than two hundred and twenty works by Rupnik that are placed in holy places,” said Sgrò.

It was unclear whether Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport or Archbishop Christopher Coyne of Hartford received the letter.

Officials from the Diocese of Bridgeport, where the SHU is located, did not respond to Crux's repeated requests for information about the diocese's role in the decision-making process.

Coyne, of Hartford, whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction is New Haven, only recently assumed his episcopal see. Coyne was in Rome to receive his pallium – the special sign of the office of a metropolitan archbishop – in a ceremony on Friday, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.