As accusations of sexual abuse have mounted against Father Marko Rupnik, his art has increasingly come into question and under the microscope. This has included attentive observers noting a curiosity – the face of the artist himself, along with two of his closest friends and allies, appears in an obscure section of perhaps his most famous work. <br><br>Rupnik’s giant mosaic in the Vatican’s Redemptoris Mater Chapel, sometimes dubbed the “Sistine Chapel” of the late Pope John Paul II, was installed by the Rupnik-founded, Rome-based Centro Aletti in 1999, and blends eastern and western motifs in depicting the history of salvation.<br><br>In a small corner of the sprawling work, three figures are depicted in white robes who, upon examination, turn out to be the late Czech Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík, Rupnik’s great patron, shown holding a set of books; Nataša Govekar, a member of the Centro Aletti, who today serves as a department head in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications, depicted with a laptop; and Rupnik himself, holding a painter’s easel.
<em>Depictions (from left to right) of Czech Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík, Nataša Govekar and Rupnik himself in the mosaic inside the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. (Credit: Vatican Media; via Crux.</em>)<br><br>However jarring the image may seem now, Rome-based art historian Elizabeth Lev say there is "nothing unusual" about artists injecting such personal flourishes into their scenes. “Portraits of artists and patrons in works are very normal."<br><br>On the other hand, Lev says there’s a great deal unusual about the broader debate over the removal of Rupnik’s artworks, which his abuse scandals have kindled – and insists that, contrary to popular opinion, things aren’t nearly as straight-forward as they may seem.
Rupnik, 69, whose famed murals adorn chapels and cathedrals around the world, including inside the Vatican and at the Marian shrine of Lourdes, is accused of sexually abusing at least 30 adult women, many of them nuns belonging to the Loyola Community he helped found in his native Slovenia in the 1980s.<br><br>US Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors recently wrote a letter to the head of all Vatican departments asking that they refrain from using Rupnik’s art out of respect for victims of abuse.<br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/rupnik-artwork-must-come-down-says-top-us-cardinal-as-he-breaks-ranks-with-vatican/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Rupnik artwork must come down, says top US cardinal as he breaks ranks with Rome</mark></a></strong>
In the letter, dated June 26, O’Malley asked for “pastoral prudence” in displaying Rupnik’s work, saying, “We must avoid sending a message that the Holy See is oblivious to the psychological distress that so many are suffering.”<br><br>But Lev, calling the distinction between art and artist “complicated”, notes that several prominent artists whose work is featured in the Vatican and beyond have their own nefarious histories.<br><br>“Raphael was a notorious womaniser, how he seduced women is not known, but that he did is well documented,” she said, adding that Caravaggio himself was known for his drunken antics and at one point killed a man in a violent duel.<br><br>Famed French artist Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was described by Lev as a “sex tourist”, while Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose masterpiece canopy adorning the main altar in St. Peter’s Basilica is currently being restored ahead of the upcoming Jubilee of Hope in 2025, was an adulterer, at the time a capital offence, who at one point “slashed his mistress' face”.<br><br>Likewise, Lev said that Italian artist Carlo Crivelli served time for seducing a married woman, while Italian painter Agostino Tassi was convicted for the rape of fellow artist Artemisia Gentileschi, and Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini apparently killed four men.<br><br>Lev voiced her belief that the core of the problem around Rupnik and his art is that he “seems to have had no accountability for his crimes”.<br><br>But when it comes to his legacy as an artist, and seemingly punishing that, she flagged several considerations that as a historian she believes ought to be part of the broader debate.<br><br>Lev notes that Rupnik’s larger projects were not completed alone, but with the help of many well-intended members of the Aletti Center.<br><br>“Should they be punished too? Their time and their effort [went to] making works they thought were evangelising – or are we saying they are all complicit?” she said. <br><br>She also noted that, in Rome and beyond, Rupnik for decades was “lionised” by the Catholic community, including many of her peers, who appeared dazzled by his works and who would go to lengths to show off any mosaics they had.<br><br>“Now those people who thought he was God’s gift to art want to dump him? How were they such blind patrons?” she asked, adding: “If we don’t leave the works this question will never be asked, which I consider a problem.”<br><br>Lev compared “cancelling” Rupnik to destroying Caravaggio masterpieces once news of the murder and of his gambling and promiscuity came to light.<br><br>Centuries later, “we can look at his struggle between light and dark and learn from it,” she said, asking about Rupnik, “is there nothing we can learn from thinking about why he was so popular for so many years?”<br><br>Other concerns involve the immense cost of taking down and replacing Rupnik’s art, she said, noting that this also raises the question of what to replace it with, and whether whatever is found would survive as long as a Rupnik piece might endure. <br><br>Lev argues that more attention ought to be paid to Rupnik's current standing as a Catholic priest.<br><br>“Why are we more upset about his art that the fact that he is still allowed to hold a chalice?” she said, suggesting that the Church, in deciding what to do about Rupnik, should “start with sacraments, then let’s talk about art". <br><br>Debate over the Vatican’s ongoing use of Rupnik’s art has flared recently after the head of the Vatican Dicastery for Communications, Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, recently sparked controversy for defending his office’s continued use of the artwork of the former Jesuit on its website.<br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/vatican-comms-chief-defends-rupnik-art-remaining-on-website/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Vatican comms chief defends Rupnik art remaining on website</mark></a></strong><br><br>Ruffini’s remarks were met with a wave of immediate backlash. Many observers and survivors of clerical abuse called them insensitive and a sign that the Church has learned nothing from the clerical child abuse scandal. <br><br>In her comments to <em>Crux</em>, Lev said she believes Ruffini “made some good points” in his remarks, “but they were couched in such a cavalier, dismissive attitude, that he might as well have just slapped those women in the face".<br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/former-nuns-in-rupnik-abuse-case-reveal-identities-while-calling-for-complete-transparency/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Former nuns in Rupnik abuse case reveal identities while calling for ‘complete transparency’</mark></a></strong><br><br>Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, when speaking to journalists during a book presentation in Rome, claimed that he had not yet seen the letter by Cardinal O’Malley, adding: “On the Rupnik issue, I’m not involved in it, so it’s difficult for me to give an opinion.”<br><br>He referred to a recent decision announced by Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes that after 18 months of debating what to do with the Rupnik mosaics adorning the façade of the Marian shrine there, no consensus has been reached, and so it has been decided to leave the art works in place for now, but to no longer illuminate them at night in order to reduce their visibility to a degree. <br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/lourdes-shrine-taking-action-on-rupnik-art-though-not-removing-it-yet/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Lourdes shrine taking action on Rupnik art though not removing it yet</mark></a></strong><br><br>In referring to that decision, Parolin said: “I don’t think they even proposed to take down the mosaics in Lourdes, those things are a little difficult,” and offered no further comment on the Vatican’s own use and display of Rupnik’s art.<br><br>Rupnik’s case is currently being investigated by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), after authorities initially refused to lift a statute of limitations allowing an inquiry to take place, before reversing course after the Pope intervened last year. <br><em><br>Photo: Mosaic by Father Marko Rupnik inside the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. (Credit: Vatican Media.)</em>
