Timeline: Rupnik case from December 2022 until now

A full timeline of the complicated affairs of the Rupnik case.

Jul 24, 2026

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — With the Marko Rupnik case making a return to the headlines this week, after many months of silence – even years – since any substantive update, it is perhaps useful to recall the timeline of the affair.

On Monday, Messa in Latino (MiL) wrote that reliable Vatican sources had informed them that Rupnik would soon be acquitted in his trial. This is the trial which apparently began in October 2025, after the Vatican re-opened an investigation into Rupnik in October 2023.

Even though coverage of the report was limited enough, the Vatican obviously perceived that this represented too much of a PR threat and thus issued a denial some 48-hours later. “The review of the case is still ongoing, and the panel is examining documentation provided by the dioceses involved, the Jesuits, the parties concerned, and from the press,” the Vatican press office stated.

{For full details of said update, see a report by this correspondent}

In allegations which became public in late 2022, Rupnik has been widely accused of committing serial abuse in multiple forms – sexual, spiritual, physical, and psychological. According to testimony from an alleged victim of Rupnik, who is also a former member of his Loyola Community, the priest abused at least 21 of the 40 members present in the community during the 1990s.

Since the case became public in 2022 a further 15 alleged victims have come forward.

The Jesuits have compiled a 150-page dossier of reported instances of abuse that Rupnik is said to have committed from 1985 through 2018, the credibility of which is deemed by the priest’s former superior to be “very high.” After expelling Rupnik in July 2023, the Jesuits have since begun a process of reparations to alleged victims.

Previously, in a separate case Rupnik was automatically excommunicated in 2020 after he was found guilty of absolving in confession a woman with whom he had sexual relations. The penalty was swiftly revoked, leading to much speculation over whether Pope Francis personally intervened to lift the excommunication. The Pontiff has denied any involvement acting on Rupnik’s behalf, on the brief occasion he was asked about the Rupnik case by a journalist. Such was Rupnik’s influence and prestige in the Vatican that he even led the Lenten retreat for the Vatican curia whilst under investigation in 2020 for that crime.

In order to stay up to speed on the entire affair, a timeline has been compiled and is presented below. The images can be opened and downloaded for greater ease.