We take note of the Vatican statement and offer some notes of our own:

  1. – the information acquired from our sources indicated the severance of certain charges that subsequently proved – apparently – to be without adequate evidentiary support and/or not constituting an offence under the Code of Canon Law:

  2. – a possibility fully compatible with the current state of the proceedings and with their preparatory nature.

  3. – While awaiting the final judgment, the question is: is our report unfounded, or is the only thing unfounded – which, moreover, was never written by MiL anywhere – that a definitive sentence had been reached, as the Press Office statement seems to suggest?

  4. – Is it true that some charges were severed from the trial? And which ones are they?

  5. – Do they concern the charge of sexual violence, or also the sexual abuses that were reported? 

  6. – A friend of ours spoke directly with Rupnik about twenty days ago: the former Jesuit told him that the trial was going VERY WELL FOR HIM. The question is: is it a Vatican norm to provide information to the defendants and NOT to the alleged victims and their lawyers, or does he have some insider within the proceedings and in the secretariats of the DDF and/or the Secretariat of State?

  7. – Finally, how come the Vatican never provided any news about the trial itself, except after the MiL post and the letter from the plaintiffs' lawyer (HERE AP and ANSA at the bottom of the post)?
    HERE Vatican News.
    HERE the very recent MiL post on the canonical trial.
    HERE the MiL posts on the former Jesuit.
    HERE Catholic Herald. HERE Nicole Winfield Associated  Press. HERE Franca Giansoldati Il Messaggero. HERE Niwa Limbu Ad Vaticanum. HEREAd Vaticanum.
    Luigi Casalini

22-7-26, Communication

Regarding certain information that has appeared in the media in recent days, I reiterate that the news concerning any deliberation by the judges handling the case of Rev.do Marko Ivan Rupnik is absolutely unfounded: the assessment of the case is still ongoing and the college is examining the documentation coming from the dioceses involved, from the Jesuits, from the interested parties, and through the press. During the proceedings, as in any judicial procedure, no information about the ongoing activity may be shared in any way, out of respect for the proceedings themselves and to avoid wounding all those involved in the matter, as occurred in recent days. Should the college deem it necessary to obtain further information, it shall act autonomously to receive it.

This canonical penal process has a judicial nature and, as already communicated, is in derogation of the statute of limitations for any offenses and may provide indications regarding guilt or lack thereof according to Canon Law. Canon Law may judge and impose penalties insofar as the internal life of the Church is concerned, whereas Rev.do Marko Ivan Rupnik remains subject to the legislation of the countries in which any offenses may have been committed, and the statute of limitations for such offenses is established by the legislation of each country, independently of ecclesiastical authority.

 

(ANSA) – ROME, 21 JUL – The five alleged victims of the former Jesuit mosaicist priest Marko Rupnik, expelled from the Society of Jesus in 2023 precisely as a result of the serious accusations of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, say they are «disheartened and pained» in a letter sent through their lawyer to the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez.
«Since yesterday – wrote lawyer Laura Sgrò – the rumor has been circulating insistently that Fr. Rupnik has been acquitted of the charge of violence. No confirmation from accredited bodies, but neither has there been any denial. My clients are deeply disheartened and pained. They have never been informed of anything, not even through me, regarding this process, about which everything is whispered and certainly nothing is known. How is all this possible? How can what is happening be reconciled with the concept of law, of truth, of justice, of equity? With the words that the Holy Father constantly offers in favor of victims of abuse? I therefore ask you – the lawyer continues – once again, Your Eminence, to provide an answer to minimal, basic questions when one is faced with a penal process involving victims who first reported more than thirty years ago: has the process begun? If so, what is its current status? Who are the judges? What has become of the requests for admission as injured parties in the proceedings on behalf of my clients? Why have these women not been heard as witnesses?».
The lawyer adds that the women feel «abandoned and betrayed» but that they do not renounce «obtaining justice». (ANSA).