NEW YORK — Pope Francis’ Jesuit religious order is making a broad gesture of reparations to some 20 women who say they have been waiting years for justice after sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse by a famous ex-Jesuit artist.
A top Jesuit official in Rome, the Rev. Johan Versuchen, said Wednesday he had sent a letter outlining the offer to 20 people who say they were abused by the Rev. Marko Rupnik, one of the most celebrated religious artists in the Catholic Church.
The Slovenian artist’s mosaics decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at the Vatican.
The Jesuits expelled Father Rupnik from their order in 2023 after more than two dozen women came forward to say he had sexually, spiritually or psychologically abused them over 30 years, some while they were collaborating with him on artworks.
He remains a priest, and his supporters have denied he did anything wrong.
The women had made the claims against him years ago, but Father Rupnik long escaped punishment, both because the women were not minors at the time of the alleged abuse and because of his exalted status in the church and at the Vatican, where even Pope Francis’ role in the case came into question.
With the case languishing at the Vatican, Father Versuchen wrote to the 20 alleged victims on Tuesday lamenting that Father Rupnik had refused to engage in a path of truth and reparation and that the institutional church for years had refused to hear their claims or provide justice.
He said now, the Jesuit order had “confidence that a process of healing and inner reconciliation is possible, provided that there is also a path of truth and recognition on our part,” according to excerpts of the letter cited by a lawyer for some of the women, Laura Sgro.
In an email to The Associated Press, Father Versuchen confirmed that the letters invited victims “to know what they would need now, and how we can meet that need,” Father Versuchen said.
He described the gesture as “an extended hand,” offered on an individual, anonymous and case-by-case basis.
“Any path to reparation will totally depend on the person invited. The concreteness of that will follow later,” he said, adding that the Jesuits need to learn from the victims so that such abuse is not repeated.
Often such gestures from the church involve economic assistance, in the form of spiritual or psychological help, as well as financial compensation or even help finding work.
Ms. Sgro thanked Father Versuchen and the Jesuits for what she called a “clear, strong and concrete gesture” of reparation. She called for the Vatican’s dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is handling the Rupnik investigation, to finally prosecute him and “restore dignity to the victims.”
“There really can be no more delay now; justice just has to be done,” she said.
The Rupnik scandal first exploded publicly in late 2022, when the Jesuit order admitted that he had been excommunicated briefly in 2020 for having committed one of the Catholic Church’s most serious crimes: using the confessional to absolve a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity.
The case continued to create problems for the Jesuits and Francis, since the Vatican initially refused to prosecute other allegations of abuse, arguing the claims were too old. Under pressure because of suspicions he had protected his fellow Jesuit, Francis ultimately waived the statute of limitations so that the Vatican could open a proper canonical trial.