Sources: Vatican Trial Ends in Rupnik's Favor

A leak from the long-secret trial suggests the Vatican's most infamous priest will face no penalty

This is the final week of Leo XIV’s summer recess and is traditionally marked by a noticeable slowing in Vatican and wider Catholic news. But on Monday afternoon that peace was shattered with news of the seemingly omni-present Father Marko Ivan Rupnik.

A report from the reliably-sourced Messa in Latino (MIL) attested that Rupnik might soon be acquitted at the conclusion of the Vatican trial into him. “We have learned from persistent and highly credible sources that the criminal trial currently underway in the Vatican against Father Marko Ivan Rupnik has reportedly concluded with a favorable outcome for him,” MIL wrote.

So great has been the suspicion of maneuvers made to enable Rupnik to evade any legal scrutiny, that MIL commented they believed that their sources had leaked the information “to ensure that the Vatican can’t cover it up.”

For Pelican readers happily unfamiliar with the Rupnik saga a brief recap is first necessary. The highly influential priest and co-founder of the Loyola Community has been based in Rome for some decades, operating out of his Aletti Center, which is the operational base for the infamous mosaics he produces.

His controversial work has been installed in nearly every major shrine throughout the world, and given pride of place inside the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. He personally gave an image to Pope Francis who displayed it in his office, visible during videos recorded by Vatican News.

But it is the alleged abuse which has placed Rupnik into the Catholic media world since December 2022, when news broke – heavily led by MIL – of serial abuse reportedly committed by the priest.