Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said Thursday that judges have been selected to hear the trial of Father Marko Rupnik, a former Jesuit accused of sexual abuse against women.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE

The cardinal told journalists that the judges chosen are “independent and external” to the dicastery but did not indicate when the Slovenian priest’s trial is set to take place in the Vatican.

“The idea was, if possible, to eliminate the idea that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith or the Holy See had any interest or were subjected to pressure,” he said.

Rupnik, whose religious artworks can be found in shrines and churches around the world, has been accused by at least a dozen women, mostly former nuns, of sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse that reportedly occurred over the past three decades.

In May 2019, the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith launched a criminal administrative process against Rupnik after the Society of Jesus reported credible complaints of abuse by the priest to the Vatican.

One year later, the congregation declared Rupnik to be in a state of “latae sententiae” excommunication in May 2020. His excommunication lasted only two weeks.

The Society of Jesus subsequently expelled Rupnik from the religious congregation in June 2023 for his “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.”

Since allegations of abuse against Rupnik first became public in 2018, several Church leaders and Catholic groups around the world have increasingly called for the removal of sacred art created by the former Jesuit.

On March 31, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France announced its decision to cover Rupnik mosaics found at the entrances to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.   

The Dicastery for Communication, meanwhile, removed digital images of Rupnik’s art from its Vatican News website on June 9. 

The changes came days after Pope Leo met with members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on June 5.

The Holy Father also met with Cardinal Seán O’Malley, president of the Vatican body commissioned with safeguarding vulnerable adults and children, within the first week of his pontificate on May 14.

In June 2024, O’Malley sent a letter to the dicasteries of the Roman Curia expressing hope that “pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense” of those accused of abuse.

“We must avoid sending a message that the Holy See is oblivious to the psychological distress that so many are suffering,” O’Malley wrote in a letter to Curia leaders last year.

This article was originally published by CNA.