Lourdes basilica covers Rupnik’s mosaics amid abuse scandal

Editor’s note: The following article contains disturbing detail that is likely to be distressing. Discretion is advised. 

LOURDES, France (LifeSiteNews) — Images made by Father Marko Rupnik are being covered at the Marian Shrine of Lourdes, as the local bishop responds to ensure the basilica does not promote the artwork which is linked to Rupnik’s alleged serial abuse.

Entrance doors to Lourdes Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary are being covered in order to conceal the mosaics in place which are the work of Rupnik.

Explaining the decision, Lourdes’ Bishop Jean-Marc Micas said that “a new symbolic step had to be taken to make entry into the basilica easier for all those who today can’t cross the threshold.”

“As a result, all the doors to the Basilica of the Rosary have been modified,” he said.

Rupnik’s mosaics have adorned the exterior of the Marian basilica since 2008, when he was commissioned to create the work to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady. The mosaics feature the Luminous mysteries of the Rosary, and adorn the front of the basilica at the world-famous shrine, visited by an estimated 6 million pilgrims every year.

Following the outbreak of the Rupnik scandal in December 2022, and the revelation of the intimate links of his alleged serial abuse to his art, numerous calls have been made for his images to be removed from their prominent positions around the world.

As extensively reported at LifeSiteNews, Rupnik has been accused of sexually, spiritually, psychologically, and physically abusing numerous people, including nuns and male victims. The credibility of the well-documented allegations of Rupnik’s serial abuse is deemed to be “very high” by his former Jesuit superiors.

Alleged victims of the priest have attested that he raped women under his charge, that he told a former nun to get an abortion in case she became pregnant after raping her, and that Rupnik painted his notorious icons naked from the waist down and while sexually excited.

Micas had announced formation of a committee to examine the future of Rupnik’s mosaics in Lourdes back in April 2023. Noting Lourdes as a site of “healing” for pilgrims and “victims,” Micas highlighted the “distress” which is encountered upon seeing Rupnik’s artwork at the shrine.

As of July 2024, Micas decided to stop illuminating the mosaics during the nightly rosary processions.

READ: ‘Have an abortion’: Alleged Rupnik victims detail abuse as Vatican slowly investigates

Speaking to La Croix at the time, he added that “my deep, formed, intimate conviction is that they [mosaics] will one day need to be removed: they prevent Lourdes from reaching all the people for whom the sanctuary’s message is intended.” “For victims, Marko Rupnik’s mosaics are a barrier to coming to Lourdes,” he said last July.

Citing this personal conviction, Micas stated Monday that the committee will continue to evaluate the “next steps” for the Shrine of Lourdes. “We prefer to move forward calmly rather than under fire from various pressures. We are working for the long term, for the victims, for the Church, for Lourdes and its message for all,” he said.

Though the mosaics on the main and side doors are covered, there are still large, prominent Rupnik mosaics featured on the exterior of the basilica. No decision regarding those has yet been announced by the shrine.

As international outrage has grown over the Rupnik case, the U.S. Knights of Columbus has decided to cover over the numerous mosaics which Rupnik has installed in the D.C. John Paul II Shrine, though the Marian Shrine at Fatima has already ruled out removing any Rupnik images but stopped using them in promotional material.

Last June, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM), issued a letter to all Vatican dicasteries urging them to cease using art “in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense” of alleged perpetrators of abuse “or indicate indifference to the pain and suffering of so many victims of abuse.”

O’Malley singled out Rupnik’s work by name, noting how “in recent months, victims and survivors of power abuse, spiritual abuse, and sexual abuse have reached out to the PCPM to express their increasing frustration and concern at the continued use of artwork by Father Marko Rupnik by several Vatican offices, including the Dicastery for Communications.”

READ: Vatican to continue promoting Rupnik’s images despite link to his alleged sex abuse 

Indeed, the Vatican has continued to promote Rupnik’s work throughout the duration of the public scandal, and including now during the ongoing Vatican investigation into his alleged abuse.

That investigation has now been underway for over 500 days, and though officials have argued that progress is being made and judges being selected, the protracted nature of the case has angered many.

Though Rupnik’s alleged abuse is said to be of multiple forms – spiritual, sexual, psychological, physical – the investigation is only set to try him under the Vatican’s incoming norms concerning crimes of spiritual abuse.

Meanwhile Rupnik is believed to be living without restrictions in a convent close to Rome, reportedly receiving the protection of Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, who is the former Vicar of Rome and a longtime Rupnik ally.