NEW HAVEN (CT)
La Croix International [France]
July 15, 2024
By Fanny Uski-Billieux
In the United States, the Knights of Columbus have announced in a statement that they will cover two mosaics by Slovenian Father Marko Rupnik, who is accused of sexual assault and psychological violence.
Two works by Slovenian artist Father Marko Rupnik will be covered in Washington and Connecticut in the United States. In a statement published July 11, the Knights of Columbus announced this decision. This is the first time such a decision has been made regarding the artistic works of the priest, who is currently accused of multiple sexual assaults.
“Our first concern must be for victims of sexual abuse, who have already suffered immensely, and who may be further injured by the ongoing display of the mosaics at the Shrine,” said Patrick Kelly, the supreme knight of the Catholic charitable organization, adding that this decision was the result of an “extensive process.”
“Every situation is different. In the United States, Catholics continue to suffer in a unique way from the revelations of sexual abuse and, at times, from the response of the church. It is clear to us that, as patrons of a national shrine, our decision must respect this country’s special need for healing,” he said.
The charitable organization, founded in 1882, possesses two works by Rupnik, one at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, installed in 2015, and the other at the Knights of Columbus headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut, since 2005. The two mosaics will initially be covered with fabric and then more permanently with a plaster coating, the Knights of Columbus further specified.
Should the mosaics created by Rupnik be removed or left in place? The question is not only being asked in the United States. In Lourdes (Hautes-Pyrénées), the mosaics of the Basilica of the Rosary will “no longer be highlighted,” declared Bishop Jean-Marc Micas in an interview with La Croix on July 2. “My deep, formed, intimate conviction is that they will one day need to be removed: they prevent Lourdes from reaching all the people for whom the sanctuary’s message is intended,” he explained. “But I have decided not to remove them immediately, given the passions and violence the subject incites.”
In total, there are 231 works by Rupnik around the world, from Portugal to Syria, including Rome, which alone has no fewer than 43 chapels or churches adorned with the work of the Slovenian mosaicist and his Aletti Center, a workshop under the protection of the diocese. The Shrine of Aparecida, the largest pilgrimage center in Brazil, inaugurated the south facade of its basilica with great pomp in mid-May.
Further reading: Sexual Abuse: Vatican official defends keeping Marko Rupnik’s mosaics