(LifeSiteNews) — The embattled pro–LGBT prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, Dr. Paolo Ruffini, shockingly downplayed last week the sexual abuse scandals of disgraced former Jesuit priest Father Marko Rupnik. 

Ruffini spoke at the annual Catholic Media Conference, held from June 18-21 in Atlanta, Georgia. In his keynote address, he urged attendees to change “the narrative towards hope” and to recognize “the dynamism of good.”  

Following his speech, Ruffini opened up for questions. Reporters from left-wing America magazine and Our Sunday Visitor, neither of which have been particularity critical of Pope Francis’s liberal agenda the past 11 years, inquired about why the Vatican has not done more to remove Rupnik’s art from public viewing.  

Rupnik, who is Slovenian, is known for his many artistic creations, including mosaics and digital art that has been used in over 200 Catholic centers and on the Vatican’s website. He notably created the logo for the 2022 World Meeting of Families.  

Ruffini stubbornly responded by claiming that taking down his images, which Rupnik’s accusers attest are closely linked to his sexual abuse, would not help Rupnik’s victims with their pain. 

READ: Fr. Rupnik concelebrates Mass in Roman basilica despite ban on public ministry

“Do you think that if I pull away a photo of art from my website, our website, I would be more close to victims? Do you think so?” he told the Our Sunday Visitor reporter. “Removing, deleting, destroying art does not ever mean a good choice,” he continued. “This is not a Christian response.” 

„Who am I to judge” Dr Ruffini answered a question from ⁦@ColleenDulle⁩ on using Fr. Rupnik’s art by Vatican News.

To my ⁦@OSVNews⁩ question he said: „I don’t think we have to throw stones thinking that this is the way of healing” pic.twitter.com/6N9OAb1JS2

— Paulina Guzik (@Guzik_Paulina) June 21, 2024

“We’re not talking about abuse of minors,” he stunningly said.  

“Who am I to judge?” he also asked, noting that Rupnik is still under investigation by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). Rupnik was expelled from the Jesuits in 2023, with his former superior, Father Johan Verschueren, S.J., affirming that the credibility of the sexual abuse allegations against him is “very high.”

Separately, Rupnik was automatically excommunicated by the Vatican in 2020 after the DDF unanimously ruled he was guilty of absolving one of his sexual accomplices. He subsequently had the penalty swiftly revoked – with much speculation over whether Pope Francis personally intervened to swiftly lift the excommunication.

Multiple mainstream Catholic media outlets expressed astonishment with Ruffini’s remarks. National Catholic Register published an op-ed by its editors flatly stating, “we disagree with his view of the situation.” They also said the dicastery’s use of Rupnik’s art “appears to the outside world as shockingly tone-deaf and indefensible in light of the Church’s long struggle with the sexual-abuse crisis, including the abuse of adults.”  

Catholic World Report journalist Chris Altieri likewise exclaimed, “this is a communications disaster unlike any this scribbler has seen in twenty years … this is a crisis of government jeopardizing the whole Church’s ability to serve her core mission.”  

This is a communications disaster unlike any this scribbler has seen in twenty years on the beat, but it is not only—or even primarily—a comms disaster.

This is a crisis of government jeopardizing the whole Church’s ability to serve her core mission.https://t.co/ypjMFXrcUw

— Chris Altieri (@craltieri) June 24, 2024

Even Francis’ biographer, left-wing writer Austen Ivereigh sided against Ruffini. In an X post, he said, “This is crazy. Of course the Vatican should not be using the images in websites, etc, especially given that Rupnik is being investigated by the Vatican. That’s just prudence, as well as showing respect to victims.” Ivereigh has previously defended Rupnik’s images. 

As reported by LifeSiteNews’ Vatican correspondent Michael Haynes, Rupnik has been at the center of an ongoing scandal for several years. In December 2022, it was revealed that he had been widely accused of committing serial abuse in multiple forms – sexual, spiritual, physical, and psychological — of members of the Aletti Center he belongs to in Rome.  

According to testimony from one of his alleged victims, Rupnik abused at least 21 of the 40 members of the center during the 1990s.  

The Jesuit order, which has compiled a 150-page dossier of reported instances of abuse he is said to have committed from 1985 through 2018, expelled him in July 2023, the official reason being a “refusal to observe the vow of obedience.” 

In October 2023, it was revealed that Rupnik had been incardinated into the Slovenian Diocese of Koper, without any restrictions on his ministry.  

LifeSite has compiled a detailed timeline of events relating to Rupnik since December 2022, which is found in a pdf version here. A detailed analysis of the events prior to that date can be found as reported on by LifeSite here, while a pdf version of the pre-2022 timeline can be dowloaded here. In March 2024, Aletti Center staff confirmed to LifeSite’s Michael Haynes that Rupnik is still based at the center.