Pope Leo XIV asks Rupnik accusers to be patient Pope Leo XIV asked accusers of Father Marko Rupnik to have patience as a trial on the priest\u2019s alleged abuse begins at the Vatican. \u201cA new trial has recently begun, judges were appointed. And processes for justice take a long time. I know it\u2019s very difficult for the victims to ask that they be patient, but the Church needs to respect the rights of all people,\u201d the pope said, addressing a question from Magdalena Wolinska-Reidi of EWTN News just outside his Castel Gandolfo residence, Villa Barberini, on Nov. 4. \u201cThe principle of innocent until proven guilty is also true in the Church,\u201d he added. \u201cHopefully, this trial that is just beginning will be able to give some clarity to all those involved.\u201d Leo answered questions from journalists as he left Castel Gandolfo to return to the Vatican. He has spent almost every Tuesday at the papal retreat, located 18 miles south of Rome, since early September. The Vatican\u2019s doctrine office announced last month that a panel of five judges had been nominated to decide the disciplinary case against Rupnik, accused of the sexual and psychological abuse of consecrated women under his spiritual care. Rupnik \u2014 a well-known artist with mosaics and paintings in hundreds of Catholic shrines and churches around the world \u2014 is accused of having committed sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against dozens of women religious in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith began to investigate the abuse accusations against Rupnik in October 2023 after Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations. 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 Vatican declared Rupnik to be in a state of \u201clatae sententiae\u201d excommunication for absolving an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment. His excommunication was lifted by Pope Francis after two weeks. The Society of Jesus expelled Rupnik from the religious congregation in June 2023 for his \u201cstubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.\u201d Leo also told journalists Nov. 4 he is aware of calls to remove or cover up Rupnik\u2019s artwork by some abuse survivors and their advocates. \u201cCertainly in many places, precisely because of the need to be sensitive to those who have presented cases of being victims, the artwork has been covered up. Artwork has been removed from websites. That issue is certainly something that we\u2019re aware of,\u201d he said. According to the Rome-based Centro Aletti, the art and theology school founded in 1993 and previously directed by Rupnik, the workshop has 232 completed mosaic and other art projects around the world \u2014 including in some of the most prominent international Catholic shrines, such as the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo in Brazil and the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The Vatican has at least three original mosaics by Rupnik, including in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, in the chapel of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and in the San Calisto Building in Rome\u2019s Trastevere neighborhood. Some calling for the art\u2019s removal or concealment say that seeing the works in places of worship can have a traumatic effect on abuse victims, particularly since Rupnik\u2019s accusers say he sexually abused them as they assisted him in the process of making his art. The bishop of Lourdes, Jean-Marc Micas, announced earlier this year that the shrine would cover mosaics by Rupnik on the entrances to the shrine\u2019s main church. In June, the official Vatican News outlet removed images of the priest\u2019s distinctive works, inspired by artistic traditions from Eastern Christianity, from its website, after years of criticism for its use of them to illustrate pages dedicated to saints and feast days. Centro Aletti last year called the pressure to remove works of art by the studio part of \u201ccancel culture\u201d and the \u201ccriminalization of art.\u201d The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors sent a letter to top Vatican officials last year urging them not to display artwork, like Rupnik\u2019s, \u201cthat could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense\u201d of those accused of abuse. In an interview with Crux in July, Pope Leo said how to respond to the Church\u2019s abuse crisis is \u201cone of the many challenges that I\u2019m trying to find a way to deal with.\u201d And while it remains unresolved, it cannot be the Church\u2019s sole focus, he said. He also drew attention to the difficulty of striking a balance between providing help and justice for victims with respect for the rights of the accused. \u201cWe\u2019re in kind of a bind there.\u201d Leo put the issue of clerical sexual abuse into the context of his views on the wider role of the Church in the world: \u201cWe can\u2019t make the whole Church focus exclusively on this issue, because that would not be an authentic response to what the world is looking for in terms of the need for the mission of the Church.\u201d This article was originally published by CNA. Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. 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