Former Jesuit provincial on the Rupnik case: It is a ‘tsunami’ of lack of transparency

Denver Newsroom, Dec 7, 2022 / 22:30 pm

In an unusual Twitter thread, Father Gianfranco Matarazzo, SJ, former superior for the Euro-Mediterranean Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) demanded full transparency from his community in dealing with the current situation of noted Jesuit Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, accused of having abused several women religious from a Slovenian congregation almost 30 years ago.

“The ‘Rupnik case’ is a tsunami ... of injustice, lack of transparency, questionable management, dysfunctional activity, personalized work, apostolic community sacrificed to the leader and unequal treatment,” tweeted Matarazzo, who is currently the delegate for social ministry and abuse prevention for the dioceses of Sicily, Italy’s southern island. 

The former superior said that the statement released by the Jesuits on Dec. 2 barely describing the current situation of Rupnik “relaunches this tsunami.”

“A deadly damage to the Jesuit order, but even more so to Holy Mother Church. Another case study, as if it were not enough that has happened so far.” 

In the Twitter thread, Matarazzo asks “What is to be done?” and provides a list of actions to be taken by the Jesuits:

1. Accept full responsibility and consequences.

2. Offer a detailed reconstruction of everything that happened.

3. Convene a press conference and answer all questions in a transparent manner, without having to make run-up additions because forced to. 

4. Open wide the archives.

5. Father Hans Zollner SJ, who is credited as an authoritative voice on the subject of abuse and is always demanding of the bishops with respect to the handling of this tragedy, take a stand on his order (sic.).

Zollner is one of the leading experts in the field of safeguarding from sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. He is a member of the Vatican’s Commission for the Protection of Minors since its creation in 2014 and is the director of the Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care (IADC) at the Gregorian University in Rome.