Jesuits expel prominent priest accused of abuse

The Roman Catholic Jesuit order said on Thursday it had expelled Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, an internationally-known religious artist accused of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse.

A statement said Rupnik, whose case has shaken the worldwide religious order and the Vatican, was dismissed for “obstinately” refusing to obey the Jesuit superior general.

About 25 people, mostly former nuns, have accused Rupnik of various forms of abuse, either when he was a spiritual director of a community of nuns in his native Slovenia about 30 years ago, or after he moved to Rome to pursue his career as an artist.

Rupnik has not spoken publicly of the accusations, which have rattled the worldwide order, of which the pope is a member, and the Vatican since breaking into the open in November.

His superior in the order, Father Johan Verschueren, said Rupnik had declined to meet Jesuit investigators.