Panel of 5 judges appointed in Rupnik case

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith announced Monday, Oct. 13, that a panel of judges had been appointed the previous week to adjudicate the case of the artist and disgraced former Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, who stands accused of serially abusing mostly women religious.

“On 9 October 2025, the five Judges of the Tribunal that will hear the case of Reverend Marko Ivan Rupnik were appointed,” the Dicastery stated in a press release.

“The panel of judges is composed of women and clerics who are not members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and do not hold any office in the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia,” the release explained. “This is to better guarantee, as in any judicial process, the autonomy and independence of the aforementioned Tribunal.”

Fr. Rupnik was expelled from the Jesuit Order in 2023 after superiors found him obstinately unwilling to obey restrictions imposed after he was credibly accused of psychological, spiritual, and sexual abuse against a number of women, including religious.

He has not been laicized, and the forthcoming proceedings against him will likely be scrutinized by many in the hopes of his finally losing his priestly faculties.

Also disturbing to many is the fact that, as CatholicVote reported Sept. 22, his artworks remain on display “at Catholic shrines throughout the world.” 

Throughout the previous pontificate, Fr. Rupnik’s devotional works were frequently “featured on the Vatican website despite the protests of former victims,” CatholicVote also reported. “Shortly after Pope Leo XIV became pope, the art was removed from the Vatican website.”