The church has come a long way with regards to abuse and its public image.
However, some are determined to keep it stuck in the past.
One of the most shocking allegations of abuse in recent years did not involve children, but involved a Slovakian Jesuit known for his ultra modernist paintings, normally focusing upon creepy oversized eyes.
Marko Rupnik’s alleged crimes are unbelievably blasphemous against both God and his fellow human beings, yet the Anglo Synodalsphere has taken him up as a cause celebre for some reason. They have stopped just short of shouting ‘from my cold dead hands’ about their Rupnik art collections.
To get to the point quickly, Rupnik is accused of sexually abusing many nuns, but the most repulsive story is of him apparently forcing nuns to drink his semen from a chalice. Read that again, yes, those are the accusations which were credible enough to see him expelled from the Jesuits.
Rupnik’s crude ‘art’ is at many shrines throughout the world, including at Lourdes. There is something so deeply offensive and cultish about a victim of sexual abuse or a terminally ill person seeking healing at Lourdes and being confronted with art by a man such as this.
In recent weeks, Vatican Media outlets have faced calls to stop using Rupnik’s ‘art’ on their stories.
According to Vatican journalist Diane Montagna, the Vatican Dicastery for Communications has sided with keeping Rupnik at the forefront of their work.
This is damaging to the church, it is damaging to victims of abuse, particularly Rupnik’s alleged victims.
It is an insult to every single Catholic across the world, it is an insult to God and it is an insult to every victim of abuse.
