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Mosaics by Marko Rupnik in Lourdes
Tuesday July 2, 2024 – Press release from Monsignor Jean-Marc Micas, Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes.
Following the revelation of the numerous assaults for which Marko Rupnik was implicated, the question arose of the future of the mosaics he created for the Sanctuary of Lourdes and which are affixed to the entrance to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary. Many people who were victims of sexual violence and abuse by clerics have indeed expressed their suffering and the violence that this exhibition now constituted for them.
Between May and October 2023, with the Rector of the Sanctuary, we set up a commission to discern the response to this difficult question. Among the members of this commission were victims (French and foreign nationals), but also experts specializing in sacred art, lawyers, people involved in the prevention and fight against abuse, and chaplains of Lourdes. The commission has been working since November 2023 until now. At the same time, I was also able to listen to and read the opinions of many people who wanted to send me their own contributions: cardinals and bishops, artists, lawyers, victims, pilgrims, etc.
Today, I see that opinions are very divided and often split. Should these mosaics be left where they are? Should they be destroyed? Should they be removed or exhibited elsewhere? No proposal is a consensus. The positions are lively and passionate.
For my part, my personal opinion is now clear: this situation has nothing to do with other works whose author and victims are deceased, sometimes for several centuries. Here, the victims are alive and so is the author. Furthermore, I have understood over the months that it is not my responsibility to reason from the status of a work of art, from its “morality” which should be distinguished from that of its author. My role is to ensure that the Sanctuary welcomes everyone, and especially those who suffer; among them, victims of abuse and sexual assault, children and adults. In Lourdes, the tried and wounded people who need consolation and reparation must keep first place. This is the grace proper to this Sanctuary: nothing must prevent them from responding to the message of Our Lady inviting them to come on pilgrimage. Because this has become impossible for many, my personal opinion is that it would be preferable to remove these mosaics.
This option does not have widespread support. It even meets with real opposition from some: the subject arouses passions. Today, the best decision to make is not yet mature, and my conviction turned decision, which would not be sufficiently understood, would add even more division and violence.
I will therefore continue to work even more with victims, to discern what should be done, here in Lourdes, to honour the absolute requirement of consolation and reparation.
From now on, and in a concrete way, I have decided that these mosaics will no longer be highlighted as they were until now by the play of light during the Marian procession that brings together pilgrims every evening. This is a first step. We will discern, with the people of good will who agree to help us, the next steps.
It is up to me as “Guardian of the Grotto”, and beyond the specific question of the future of these mosaics, to move forward concretely, again and again in welcoming victims and all the wounded, fragile and poor people in Lourdes. This will be my work for the months to come, with those who agree to continue to help me.
I entrust this situation to the mercy of God and to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Bernadette.
Bishop Jean-Marc Micas
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