'He made us take part in threesomes, watch porn'; former nuns makes shocking revelations against renowned priest

VATICAN CITY: Two former nuns have levelled shocking revelations against a well-known artist priest, sending shock waves across the Christian community.

Speaking at a press conference in Rome, former nuns Gloria Branciani and Mirjam Kovac alleged that Marko Rupnik, a world-renowned artist priest, made them take part in threesomes and watch porn so they would “grow spiritually”.

Slovenian mosaic artist Marko Rupnik is accused of sexually and psychologically abusing at least 20 women for around 30 years at a religious community in Slovenia.

“He took me to pornographic theatres to help me ‘grow spiritually’,” Gloria Branciani, who was a member of the community until 1994, told journalists.

“He said that I would not grow spiritually if I did not meet his sexual needs. We had another nun have sex with us because he said it was like the Trinity,” Ms Branciani said, referring to the central Christian doctrine of three persons within one God.

Rupnik was briefly excommunicated in 2020 for absolving someone of having sexual relations with him, but was reinstated after he formally repented.

He was finally expelled from the Jesuit order – of which Pope Francis is a member – in June 2023.

In October, Pope Francis waived the statute of limitations on the offences, opening the way for potential disciplinary proceedings.

Ms Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the abuse tracking site Bishop Accountability, which documents abuse within the Catholic Church, described Rupnik as a “powerful cleric who was protected at the highest levels of the Church and the Vatican”.

The press conference comes five years after an unprecedented summit at the Vatican on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, at the end of which Pope Francis promised a “zero tolerance” approach.

“The Rupnik case shows that little has changed,” said Ms Barrett Doyle, who called for an independent investigation and the publication of its findings.