VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández has downplayed concerns over the delay in a Vatican investigation into Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, saying that there are other cases “more serious” but less publicly known.
Speaking to Alfa y Omega, a news outlet run by the Archdiocese of Madrid, Fernández attempted to pour cold water on the increasing controversy surrounding alleged serial abuser Rupnik.
Fernández, who has led the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith since September 2023, rejected the idea that the Rupnik case his office was investigating was being delayed.
“In reality I am thinking of many other cases, and some perhaps more serious but less publicized,” he replied.
In light of this, Fernández warned against undue speed with the Rupnik investigation: “We cannot think of a new law only for one case, because that would limit the vision and impair the objectivity of the work.”
As extensively reported at LifeSiteNews, Rupnik has been accused of sexually and spiritually abusing numerous people, including nuns and male victims. The credibility of the well-documented allegations of Rupnik’s serial abuse is deemed to be “very high” by his former superiors.
The former Jesuit was also excommunicated for absolving a sexual accomplice in confession but subsequently had the penalty swiftly revoked – with much speculation over whether Pope Francis personally intervened to lift the excommunication.
After international outcry over Rupnik’s continued status as a priest seemingly in good standing – and after a media storm over revelations Rupnik was incardinated into a Slovenian diocese in October 2023 – Pope Francis swiftly announced that he had tasked the DDF to “review” the case.
Rupnik was thus made subject of a reopened investigation by the DDF for abuse.
Since then, the Vatican has maintained a notable silence about the investigation, though not a silence about Rupnik himself. Thanks to decisions made by the Dicastery for Communication, images and artwork created by Rupnik continue to be regularly used by the Vatican’s official online portals for feast days through the year.
Pope Francis has also promoted the images, with a video taken this week showing one of the two Rupnik images Francis owns are still hanging in the papal rooms.
NEW: An image made by Fr Rupnik can be seen still hanging in Pope Francis’ rooms, in this new video of his nightly call with the priest in Gaza’s Catholic church- https://t.co/RAitIbxHS3
Francis said in 2018 that another image he has, of Mary, was a personal gift from Rupnik pic.twitter.com/Qd146Fh3N5
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) January 22, 2025
Fernández revealed that the case is proceeding, but did not give much of a suggestion it would be concluded soon. The DDF, he said, “has completed the stage of collecting the information that was in very different places, and has made a first analysis.”
“We are now working to establish an independent court to go to the last phase through criminal justice. In cases like this it is important to find the most suitable people, and that they accept,” stated the prefect.
Though officially head of the DDF, Fernández does not have much day-to-day involvement in handling abuse cases, thanks to an arrangement he made with Pope Francis when assuming the role.
Instead, that responsibility falls to the Disciplinary Section, lead by Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy. Speaking about the investigation into Rupnik last spring, Kennedy said it was “delicate” but at a “fairly advanced stage.”
Nearly seven months later, the investigation drags on with observers highlighting the apparent disparity between Rupnik’s case and the speed with which the Vatican moved against individuals such as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó and Frank Pavone.
While Rupnik’s case rumbles on, notable developments across the Church have seen dioceses and organizations decide to cover the Rupnik images installed. The priest’s art is attested to be intimately linked to his sexual and spiritual abuse.
READ: Knights of Columbus will cover Rupnik mosaics at JPII shrine, national headquarters
Other shrines where Rupnik’s art features prominently, such as Fatima and Lourdes, have not removed his mosaics though they are no longer illuminated in the nightly Rosary procession in Lourdes.
In a message delivered to the offices of the Roman Curia last summer, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) urged that “pastoral prudence” be practiced and that Rupnik’s images not be displayed.
Vatican News and Pope Francis remain unconcerned by the link between the images and Rupnik’s alleged serial abuse.
Rupnik’s alleged victims state that the sexual abuse they endured is intimately tied to the disgraced priest’s artwork. They allege Rupnik made sexual advances during painting sessions, after Holy Mass, or after hearing confessions in his Rome-based Aletti Art Center. The priest is also accused of forcing “threesomes” in imitation of the Trinity, involving “drink[ing] his semen from a chalice at dinner.”