Explained: Who is Father Marko Rupnik and why are there calls to remove his art?

By Andy Drozdziak2024-08-05T14:45:00

2022-12-26T000000Z_842256501_MT1ABCPR836439002_RTRMADP_3_ABACA-PRESS

The disgraced Jesuit has already been excommunicated by the Catholic Church, following sexual infidelity. Now, as the Church awaits the findings of a new abuse investigation, survivors are calling for his once-popular mosaics to be taken down

Slovenian Catholic priest Fr Marko Rupnik, 69, is currently under investigation by the Vatican after being accused by multiple women and at least one man of historic sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse.

Fr Rupnik is one of the most popular artists in the Catholic Church. He founded the religious art community, Centro Aletti, in Rome in 1991, which produces murals and mosaics adorning many Catholic churches and shrines throughout the world. These include chapels and shrines at the Vatican and over 100 other places, including Fatima and the iconic Marian shrine in Lourdes.

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