Jesuits expel Rupnik for «stubborn disobedience»

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We report with a heavy heart that on June 9, 2023 the Father General dismissed Father Marko Ivan Rupnik (DIR / SVN) from the Society of Jesus. This was done according to Canon Law, due to his obstinate refusal to observe the vow of obedience. 

The Reference Team in cases of complaints against Jesuits belonging to the DIR (International Delegation of Rome) handed us its dossier in February 2023 regarding the numerous complaints of all sorts that have reached us, coming from very diverse sources and for incidents that occurred over the course of 30 years, regarding Father Rupnik. As Superiors, we consider very high the degree of credibility of what has been denounced or testified, and we adhere to the indications and recommendations furnished to us by the Reference Team in its final considerations. 

Hence we obliged Father Marko Rupnik a change of community and to accept a new mission in which we offered him a last opportunity as Jesuit to be reconciled with his past and to give a clear sign to the many aggrieved that were testifying against him, that he would enter a path of truth. In face of Marko Rupnik’s reiterated refusal to obey this mandate, lamentably only one solution remained: dismissal from the Society of Jesus. 

Now he has 30 days, from June 14, 2023, date in which he received the decree of dismissal, according to the canonical rules, to appeal. During this period, we must limit ourselves to this official communication to enable the procedures to continue their course. 

Only when Father Marko Rupnik’s resignation from the Society is definitive, will it be possible to continue discussing this matter – not before. 

Delegate of the DIR

Johan Verschueren SJ

Translation of the Italian original into Spanish  by ZENIT’s Editorial Director, and into English, by Virginia M. Forrester