LOURDES, France (LifeSiteNews) — The bishop of Lourdes has said he hopes to decide by spring on the option of removing artwork by disgraced Father Marko Ivan Rupnik.
Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of the Diocese of Tarbes and Lourdes is thus further delaying the removal despite victims identifying the link between the artwork and Rupnik’s alleged abuse.
In 2008, Rupnik — known throughout Italy for his artwork before multiple allegations of sexual assault were made against him — was responsible for designing the facade of the Basilica of the Rosary at the Shrine of Lourdes to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady. His mosaics, which adorn the front of the basilica, depict the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. An estimated six million pilgrims visit the world-famous shrine every year.
In an interview with CNA, Micas said he hopes to decide whether or not to remove Rupnik’s mosaics by spring this year. Micas set up a commission to deal with the question in March 2023.
READ: Fr. Rupnik’s artwork at Lourdes shrine under review following abuse allegations
“This occupies my mind, my prayer, and my heart every day, especially when I meet victims of abuse,” Micas told CNA.
He said it is a “very, very difficult decision to make” and added, “But I have to make it.”
This further delay of a decision is despite the testimony of Rupnik’s alleged victims that the sexual abuse they endured is intimately tied to the disgraced then-Jesuit’s artwork. They allege Rupnik made sexual advances during painting sessions, after Holy Mass or after hearing confessions in his Rome Aletti Art Center.
READ: Vatican to continue promoting Rupnik’s images despite link to his alleged sex abuse
A 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.
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.”
Anna argued that Rupnik’s art was firmly linked to his sexual desires:
It was a real abuse of conscience. His sexual obsession was not extemporaneous but deeply connected to his conception of art and his theological thinking. Father Marko at first slowly and gently infiltrated my psychological and spiritual world by appealing to my uncertainties and frailties while using my relationship with God to push me to have sexual experiences with him.
Micas told CNA that he has received letters from both sides of the debate: “[W]e’ve received letters, letters, a pile of letters — people very angry because the mosaics are still there and other people who were very angry at the idea we could remove them.”
Micas said that he formed the commission to discuss the possible removal of Rupnik’s mosaics because of a conversation he had had with a woman from England who had been a volunteer in Lourdes, helping the sick who come to wash in the baths and seek healing, for several years.
“She told me… ‘I met many, many women who come to Lourdes in order to ask for special healing after abuse,’” the bishop stated. “‘And they come to the Immaculate Conception to be cured, to be healed, to find consolation.’”
The woman described how the architecture of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Lourdes, with its grand entrance of two large curving ramps, is meant to convey “the arms of the Immaculate Conception embracing her children.”
“And now, for me, for them, the arms are not the arms of the Immaculate Conception. They are the arms of Father Rupnik,” the woman apparently told Micas.
“I very often say that the decision we will make here is made for Lourdes and only for Lourdes,” Micas said. He added, “It cannot be extended to any other place where there are mosaics of Rupnik’s because Lourdes is Lourdes, and it is for weak people, sick people, special people. And we have to serve the message of Lourdes, whatever the cost.”
READ: Vatican orders Father Rupnik’s Slovenia order of nuns to dissolve within one year
CNA noted that the bishop of Lourdes was aware that many other Catholic churches and shrines that contain Rupnik’s art could be looking to Lourdes’s decision as guidance, potentially setting the tone on how to deal with controversial art worldwide.
In addition to the basilica at Lourdes, Rupnik’s artwork is found in numerous churches and shrines around the world, including that of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, and in Vatican City.
As widely highlighted since the emergence of the Rupnik scandal in December 2022 (which LifeSiteNews has covered extensively here), his images are still used by Vatican News on the website and the various social media accounts.