Vatican now choosing judges for Rupnik trial: Cardinal Fernandez
March 24, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has completed an investigation of Father Marko Rupnik, and is now selecting judges for his trial, reports Cardinal Victor Fernandez.
Cardinal Fernandez says that the DDF has “made a list” of potential judges, noting that they must be chosen carefully because of the sensitivity and prominence of the case. Some of the judges who have been approached have not yet indicated whether they will accept the appointment, he added.
The DDF first received complaints of sexual abuse by Father Rupnik in 2018. After an investigation—which resulted in his excommunication for the separate canonical crime of abuse of the confessional—the DDF announced that the allegations of sexual abuse were covered by the statute of limitations, and the prosecution could not proceed.
In October 2022, amid an international uproar, Pope Francis waived the statute of limitations in this case, allowing for the investigation of Rupnik to be re-opened. Thus seven years have passed since the original complaint, and nearly five years since the case was re-opened, and the DDF still has not set a date for the trial.
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