A Washington, D.C., Knights of Columbus council has called for chapel mosaics created by disgraced artist Fr. Marko Rupnik to be removed from the area’s St. John Paul II Shrine, which is sponsored by the Knight of Columbus fraternal organization.
The Cardinal O'Boyle Council 11302 passed a resolution April 9 calling on Knights leadership to remove Rupnik’s artwork from the shrine’s Redemptor Hominis Church and the Luminous Mysteries Chapel.
The resolution notes that Rupnik has been accused of sexually abusing religious sisters in the context of creating his works of art.
“O’Boyle Council calls upon the executive leadership of the Washington, DC State Council of the Knights of Columbus (State Council) and the executive leadership of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus (Supreme Council) to renovate the Shrine such that the mosaics in both the Redemptor Hominis Church and the Luminous Mysteries Chapel created by Fr. Rupnik are removed and replaced with liturgical art suitable to the celebration of the sacraments,” says the resolution, which was obtained by The Pillar.
The council calls on Knights national leadership to immediately publicize a plan for a removal of the artwork and to cover the images until a full renovation can begin.
“O’Boyle Council calls upon the executive leadership of the Washington, DC State Council and the executive leadership of the Supreme Council to immediately make a public apology to survivors of Fr. Rupnik's abuse for the Order's continued inaction in addressing the matter of the mosaics in the Shrine,” the resolution adds.
Rupnik is a well-known Slovenian priest, an artist, and a former member of the Jesuit order, the Society of Jesus.
The priest is at the center of a multi-faceted sexual abuse and cover-up scandal. Rupnik has been accused of spiritually, psychologically, and sexually abusing consecrated women in a Slovenian religious community. He was also briefly excommunicated in 2020, for attempting to sacramentally absolve a woman after a sexual encounter with her, a major crime in the Church’s canon law.
An initial examination of the allegations against Rupnik met a dead end when the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) declined to lift the statute of limitations on the allegations.
Amid widespread criticism, Pope Francis in October 2023 waived the statute of limitations on the claims against Rupnik, reopening the case against the priest, and allowing him to face a canonical process.
The DDF is currently investigating the allegations. Five new complaints of abuse were filed with the dicastery earlier this month.
The allegations against Rupnik have led to calls for the removal of his artwork, which is prominently featured in sacred spaces around the world, including the Basilica of the Sanctuary in Lourdes, France.
In December 2022, the Knights of Columbus said it was “reconsidering the place” of Rupnik’s work in the organization’s chapels. The Knights have already removed Rupnik’s art from their evangelization booklets and other published materials.
The O’Boyle Council resolution cites Sacrosanctum concilium’s exhortation that works of art which are “repugnant to faith, morals, and Christian piety” should be removed from sacred spaces.
“[T]he mosaics created by Fr. Rupnik in the St. John Paul II Shrine are repugnant to faith, morals, and Christian piety due and lack artistic worth due to the fact that Fr. Rupnik reportedly perpetrated his sexual abuse through the creation of his artwork,” the resolution states.
Rupnik’s mosaics are also featured in Holy Family Chapel, at the Knights of Columbus’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.