Cardinal Cantalamessa, Archbishop Gänswein deny involvement in Father Rupnik’s 2020 Lenten sermon to Roman Curia

January 13, 2025

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CWN Editor's Note: Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, the Preacher of the Papal Household from 1980 to 2024, said he was not involved in the decision to select Father Marko Rupnik to take his place in preaching a 2020 Lenten sermon to the Roman Curia.

Father Rupnik took Cardinal Cantalamessa’s place because the prelate was sick that day. Two months earlier, Father Rupnik had unanimously been found guilty of the excommunicable offense of absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment—though it was not public knowledge at the time.

Father Rupnik “was not of course chosen by me,” said Cardinal Cantalamessa. “I had no authority for doing this and I lived away from Rome at the time because of a temporary illness. To tell the truth, neither do I know who suggested his name.”

“I don’t think it was the Pope personally, but probably the competent office of the Curia, knowing that there was little time for preparation and Rupnik was in Rome and was known for giving retreats and writing spiritual books,” Cardinal Cantalamessa added.

The competent office of the Curia is the Prefecture of the Papal Household, led at the time by Archbishop Georg Gänswein—but his responsibilities had been reduced earlier in 2020.

The “archbishop does not remember any personal participation [in] that decision [in] 2020,” said Father Vincentas Lizdenis, a member of the administrative staff of the Apostolic Nunciature in the Baltic States, where Archbishop Gänswein is now apostolic nuncio.

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