ROME (LifeSiteNews) — The staff of Father Marko Rupnik’s Rome-based art center have hit back against international decisions to cover the disgraced priest’s art as being part of “cancel culture.”

As shrines and religious centers around the world begin to examine the future of the mosaics installed by Fr. Rupnik – the disgraced ex-Jesuit accused of multiple forms of serial abuse – the Aletti Center art center he founded in the 1990s has hit back.

“[I]n the face of growing pressure for the removal of the works of art created by Aletti Center, we feel obliged to express our great concern regarding the widespread diffusion of the so-called ‘cancel culture,’ and of a way of thinking that legitimizes the ‘criminalization’ of art,” the July 24 statement read. 

Issued in multiple languages and sent from the office of the Aletti Center director Maria Campatelli and “the team,” the letter continues the consistent defense of the ex-Jesuit priest which his center has maintained since the scandal surrounding him broke in late 2022.

Rupnik has been accused of having abused numerous women, and at least one man, in a variety of forms – sexual, spiritual, physical, and psychological. The abuse is reported to have taken place against at least 21 of the 40-strong Loyola Community of religious women, which he co-founded in his native Slovenia. A further 15 alleged victims have come forward since his case became public knowledge in December 2022.

READ: Alleged victims of Father Rupnik call for ‘truth and justice’ as answers demanded from Vatican

He was also excommunicated for absolving a sexual accomplice in confession, but subsequently had the penalty swiftly revoked, an incident which has sparked speculation of direct involvement by Pope Francis.

Some of Rupnik’s abuse is said to have taken place at the Aletti Center, and the Center itself has been the base of his international operations for decades.

However, the Aletti Center has consistently stood by their leader and founder, and with their July 24 statement highlighted the “presumption of innocence until proven guilty.” The text continues:

In the concrete case of Fr. Rupnik, this means that anyone who has suffered a wrong or an act of violence on the part of any Church representative is legitimated in feeling offended by the art created by the Atelier, or art workshop, of the Aletti Center. But justice cannot be pursued by means of injustice. What does not have its origins in the good cannot bear good fruit.

Rupnik’s very unique art has been intimately linked to his alleged abuse. One former member of Rupnik’s Loyola Community, using the pseudonym “Anna,” stated that Rupnik used his paintings to attract interest in himself and to cultivate relationships.

READ: Disgraced Fr. Rupnik continues to live at his Rome art center where alleged abuses took place

Anna stated that on one occasion, while modeling for his art project, which involved undoing her blouse, Rupnik kissed her on the mouth, saying that this was how he “kissed the altar where he celebrated the Eucharist.”

“It was a real abuse of conscience,” she added. “His sexual obsession was not extemporaneous but deeply connected to his conception of art and his theological thinking.”

It is this aspect in particular that has given rise to calls for the art to be removed from many shrines and that has been behind the recent decisions in the U.S. and France to cover the images.

In reaction, Campatelli’s letter claims that “[t]he removal of a work of art ought never to be thought of as a punishment or a cure.”

Campatelli was received in a private audience by Pope Francis last September, and a few days later, the Diocese of Rome published a report of its investigation into the Aletti Center. The report greatly exonerated the staff of the Aletti Center and Rupnik himself from wrongdoing, thus contradicting the independent judgements of the Jesuits and the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as detailed testimonies of alleged victims. 

READ: Fr. Rupnik’s alleged victims accuse Pope Francis of ‘empty’ rhetoric responding to sexual abuse

The alleged victims linked the two events and strongly protested that their timings were “not accidental, even in their succession in time, [and] we recognize that the church cares nothing about the victims and those who seek justice.”

After international outcry over continued Vatican promotion of the disgraced priest despite the numerous allegations of abuse, Pope Francis announced in October that Rupnik was subject to an investigation by the Holy See for said abuse. 

The credibility of the well-documented allegations of Rupnik’s serial abuse is deemed to be “very high” by his former superiors, and the Vatican’s investigation into the case is said to be at a “fairly advanced stage.”

In the meantime, while the case continues, Rupnik continues to live an unimpeded life at the Aletti Center.