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When two friends hang out for 30 years, writing jokes and sketches, trading emails, smoking cigars, and earning Emmys—what happens when one of them comes out as transgender at the age of 61? The long-term friendship between comedian and actor Will Ferrell and comedy writer Harper Steele began on Ferrell’s first day at Saturday Night […]

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CNA Staff, Mar 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The contribution of nearly 700 Catholic religious sisters to a “groundbreaking” decades-long study on Alzheimer’s and dementia continues to offer important information for maintaining “cognitive health” across the lifespan, researchers say.

Launched in 1986 by neurologist David Snowdon, the “Nun Study” produced “seminal findings” on “cognitive impairment and related neuropathologies,” researchers said in a historical review published at Alzheimer’s & Dementia journal last month.

Kyra Clarke, a doctorate student at UT Health San Antonio and one of the authors of the February review, said Snowdon opted to use Catholic sisters for the monumental study after he “realized that studying nuns came with many advantages for dementia research.” 

“Normally, it’s hard to pinpoint what causes some people to develop dementia while others remain healthy because people can have very different lifestyles, environments, and biology — some smoke, some don’t; some have better access to health care than others; some may be more genetically disposed to disease,” she said.

“But Catholic sisters from the same order share the same environment for most of their adult lives: similar marital histories, housing, nutrition, health care, income, and social networks,” she pointed out. 

“It is difficult to find a community of people with such consistent and comparable lifestyles. This makes it easier to figure out what factors truly increase or decrease the risk of dementia.”

Snowdon launched the pilot study of the program in 1986 in cooperation with the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), with a pool of 678 sisters eventually being drawn out of 1,000 candidates from what were then seven main convents across the country, including in Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas, and elsewhere. 

The age of the sisters at the outset of the study ranged from 75 to 102. All had similar life histories, while the vast majority were at least college graduates, with nearly 90% having been teachers at some point.

Researchers used a variety of methods to gauge progression of cognitive function of the sisters later in their lives, including autobiographies the nuns wrote prior to taking their vows, medical records, academic transcripts, and questionnaires.

The sisters “consented to participate in neuropsychological assessments and permitted researchers access to personal records kept by the convents,” researchers said; they were further required to agree to brain donation upon their deaths for the scientists to study. 

Clarke said the sisters exhibited ”extraordinary dedication and enthusiasm” for the study, particularly as evidenced by the high numbers of them who agreed to participate. 

“A 66% participation rate is a truly impressive amount for a longitudinal study requiring participants to undertake extensive cognitive testing every year for the rest of their lives and agree to brain donation as well,” she noted.

The inclusion of healthy as well as cognitively impaired sisters was a critical factor in the study, the researchers said, as it “allowed for the longitudinal tracking of cognitive changes through annual assessments.”

The high brain donation rate likewise “provided the opportunity to compare neuropathology findings from the autopsied brains of impaired individuals with healthy control brains, which had been historically difficult.”

The findings of the study have “significantly advanced” understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. One key discovery, Clarke said, was that “higher early-life cognitive ability seems to be protective against dementia.”

“Researchers found that sisters with higher educational attainment and academic performance (based on school transcripts stored in convent archival records) had higher scores on cognitive tests in late life and lower risk of dementia,” she said. Religious sisters with better written language skills earlier in life were also at a lower risk for dementia. 

“The Nun Study really emphasized that maintaining cognitive health is a lifelong task and emphasized the importance of education and cognitive stimulation in reducing the risk of dementia,” Clarke said.

All of the sisters in the study have since passed away. In some cases the research has taken on personal significance: multiple family members of Margaret Flanagan, the director of the ongoing Nun Study at UT Health, attended Chicago’s Academy of Our Lady run by SSND sisters. 

Researchers, meanwhile, continue to meet with representatives of the SSND to provide updates on the ongoing data. 

The scientists are “deeply appreciative of their dedication to education and helping the lives of others,” Clarke said. 

“Their kindness and generosity made the Nun Study an iconic and groundbreaking contribution to dementia research and continuously inspires us to keep pushing towards understanding and treating this debilitating disease,” she said.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2025 / 17:50 pm (CNA).

Diocese of Boise Bishop Peter F. Christensen raised concerns about a “culture of death” and threats to human dignity after Idaho made death by firing squad its primary method of execution for death row inmates.

“Whether we live in Idaho or anywhere else in the world, Catholics need to stand firm on the Gospel we preach,” Christensen said. “Therefore, we oppose this means of execution and every other form of capital punishment. We are people who strive to promote redemption and peace.”

The bishop said in a statement provided to CNA Thursday afternoon that “Christians are called to oppose the culture of death” and “a person’s dignity is not lost even after committing grave crimes.” He noted that the government can protect the community by incarcerating the person “while avoiding definitively depriving the guilty of the possibility of redemption.”

“In light of the Gospel of mercy and hope, our response to the death penalty is not based on what the condemned have done but who we are in Christ,” Christensen said. “The Catholic Church recognizes that it is the right and duty of every government to maintain law and order. While doing so, the sanctity of life and the dignity of every human being must also be safeguarded.”

Christensen cited the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew, in which Christ said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” He also cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which holds that the death penalty “is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267).

Governor defends new law

Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed the bill this week to make death by firing squad the default method of execution for every person on death row in the state. Per the legislation, lethal injection will be the backup method of execution if, for any reason, the state cannot carry out an execution using a firing squad.

“I have long made clear my support of capital punishment,” Little said in a statement provided to CNA.

“My signing of [this bill] is consistent with my support of the Idaho Legislature’s actions in setting the policies around methods of execution in the state of Idaho,” Little added. “As governor, my job is to follow the law and ensure that lawful criminal sentences are carried out as ordered by the courts.”

The state has carried out three executions since 1957 with the most recent occurring more than 12 and a half years ago in June 2012. Those three executions were all completed through lethal injection. 

Idaho attempted to execute convicted serial killer Thomas Creech by lethal injection in 2024, but the medical team was unable to establish an intravenous line to carry out the lethal injection after eight attempts over the course of an hour. A federal judge temporarily halted his execution after the botched lethal injection attempt.

Creech is one of nine people currently on death row in Idaho.

Shift from lethal injection to firing squad

Idaho banned executions by firing squad in 2009 but later reversed that ban in 2023 when the state made executions by firing squad the backup method. At the time, lethal injection was the primary method for executions.

Executions by firing squad are permitted in five states, but the new law will make Idaho the only state in which death by firing squad is the primary form of execution. The new law goes into effect on July 1, 2026. 

Only four death row inmates in the United States have been executed by a firing squad since 1977, with the most recent occurring in South Carolina just last week. South Carolina recently brought back this method of execution because of a shortage of drugs for lethal injection.

Many states have had trouble obtaining the drugs for lethal injection over the past two decades because drug manufacturers have refused to sell the products amid public pressure from death penalty opponents and moral qualms about ending human life.

“As lethal injection drugs become harder to procure, either because pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell their drugs for this purpose or because of rampant botched lethal injections, we have seen states seeking additional methods of execution,” Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, told CNA. 

“We are witnessing that some states are so hellbent on pursuing executions that they’ll go to distant lengths in order to take these lives,” she said. “Catholic Mobilizing Network will continue to oppose legislation that promotes executions because this is clearly a direct affront to the sanctity of life and the inviolability of human dignity.”

Catholic Mobilizing Network works closely with the United States Conference of Catholic bishops on efforts to oppose the death penalty.

“Whether someone is shot, electrocuted, injected, or gassed, each and every execution extinguishes a God-given life with inherent dignity and worth,” Murphy said. “Each and every execution is a blatant act of state-sanctioned violence.”

Some states have also brought back executions by the electric chair and others have approved different drugs to carry out lethal injections. 

Last year, Alabama became the first state to execute inmates by forcing them to inhale nitrogen gas. Louisiana also intends to execute inmates with nitrogen, but the first scheduled execution with this method was temporarily halted by a judge this week.

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CNA Staff, Mar 13, 2025 / 16:55 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

FDA chief counsel resigns after outcry over defense of abortion pill

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) chief counsel resigned Thursday following criticism from pro-life advocates for having defended abortion pills for the Biden administration. 

As a trial lawyer with the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, Hilary Perkins defended access to the abortion pill mifepristone during a lawsuit against the FDA.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri had criticized Perkins’ appointment in a post on X on Wednesday, saying “I can’t imagine anyone who would be more at odds with President Trump’s agenda.” His post followed an Axios story that drew attention to Perkins’ appointment.

Hawley noted that Perkins also opposed conscience rights for vaccines during COVID-19 and argued in favor of vaccine mandates.

Perkins joined the Department of Justice during Trump’s first term as a trial attorney at the Consumer Protection branch beginning in April 2019 and was retained by the Biden administration.

Acting FDA general counsel Sean Keveney appointed Perkins on Tuesday as part of a reorganization effort by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“I’m pleased Makary has reconsidered that position and dismissed this lawyer,” Hawley said in a post on Thursday, referring to FDA commissioner-designate Marty Makary.

During his hearing last week, Makary had pledged to review safety policies surrounding the abortion pill.

Montana judge blocks law barring Medicaid-funded abortion

A Montana judge blocked the enforcement of three pro-life restrictions that limit the public funding of Medicaid-covered abortions. 

The restrictions included two laws passed in 2023 as well as a regulation from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. 

One bill put into effect July 1, 2023, laid out restrictions for abortions covered under Montana’s Medicaid program. It only allowed publicly-funded coverage of abortion when a patient’s physical health was threatened, or if a pregnancy could aggravate severe mental illness or intellectual disability. The bill also required a physical examination before an abortion and instructed that only physicians in the state can perform abortions covered by Medicaid.

Another bill effective the same date prohibited public funding for abortion, including Medicaid. The bill allows exceptions if the patient’s life is in danger or if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.  

The Department of Public Health rule requires that for an abortion to be covered by Medicaid the abortion can only be performed by doctors. It also requires a physical examination and patient records before abortion. 

In the March 11 ruling, Judge Mike Menahan of the Montana District Court for Lewis and Clark County ruled that women seeking abortion were being treated unequally compared with women carrying their pregnancy to term because of these various restrictions on Medicaid-funded abortions. Menahan maintained that poverty should not play into the ability of a woman to have an abortion. 

Child support from moment of conception debated in Kansas

The Kansas Senate debated a bill on Tuesday that could require child support payments beginning at conception.

The child support bill would provide child support payment orders from the date of conception, designed to include medical and pregnancy-related expenses for the mother. The payment orders would not include money for elective abortions.

The bill would also provide an income tax exemption for unborn children. 

Opponents criticized the bill for providing unborn children with a tax ID number and argued that the bill could lead to personhood rights for the unborn. Proponents, however, argued that it would help financially support single mothers who were facing unplanned pregnancies.

The bill defined an unborn child as “a living individual organism of the species homo sapiens, in utero, at any stage of gestation from fertilization to birth.”

The Senate passed an amended version of the bill with 30 voting in favor and nine voting against. The House, which passed the original bill, will still need to approve the version with its amendments. 

Study links abortion and attempted suicide

A recent survey found women who have had an abortion are twice as likely to attempt suicide, while women who had successfully delivered their children had the lowest attempt rate. 

The Charlotte Lozier Institute study found that “women who experience pregnancy losses, either induced or natural, are at higher risk of suicidal and self-destructive thoughts and behaviors.” 

Elliot Institute Director and Charlotte Lozier Associate Scholar David Reardon led the study, which was published Jan. 21 in the Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The study surveyed nearly 3,000 American women ages 41-45, including women who had abortions, difficult pregnancies, pregnancy loss, and live births, as well as women who had never been pregnant.

Reardon found that “aborting women were twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to other women” and that women who had abortions were “significantly more likely to say their pregnancy outcomes directly contributed to suicidal thoughts and behaviors compared to women in all other groups.”

Those who had an abortion had the highest rate of suicide attempts, at nearly 35%, while women with pregnancy loss had the second highest rate at 30%. 

Among women who had abortions, those coerced into abortion had the highest rate of attempted suicide at 46.2%, while women who reported that they had chosen abortion freely had a 29.5% rate of attempted suicide. 

Women who had experienced at least one live birth and had no pregnancy loss or problematic pregnancies had the lowest attempted suicide rate at 13.4%.

“Our findings require rejection of the null hypothesis that pregnancy outcomes, especially abortion, have no effect on suicidal thoughts and behaviors,” the study read. 

The study recommended post-abortion mental health checkups and support as well as screening for patients “who may feel pressured to abort contrary to their own values and preference.” 

The study also recommended that mental health workers “be aware of the elevated risks of suicidal thoughts and behaviors associated with natural and induced pregnancy losses.”

“These findings should be used to improve both pre-abortion screening and counseling and post-abortion care,” the study concluded.

Rosary beads and tributes are placed on the sculpture of St. John Paul II on March 13, 2025, at the main entrance of Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where Pope Francis is being cared for. Today marks the 28th day since Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome on Feb. 14 and also 12 years since Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis. / Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Vatican City, Mar 13, 2025 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis marked the 12th anniversary of his pontificate on Thursday from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for pneumonia for nearly a month.

Hospital staff commemorated the occasion by presenting the 88-year-old pope with a cake decorated with candles. Additionally, he received hundreds of drawings, messages, and letters from children and well-wishers worldwide.

The Holy See Press Office told journalists that Pope Francis continued his medication regimen, motor physiotherapy, and high-flow oxygen therapy on Thursday morning. He participated in spiritual exercises and prayed in the hospital chapel.

In the afternoon, he followed the Roman Curia’s spiritual exercises via video link to the Paul VI Hall and continued respiratory therapy. His clinical condition remains stable yet complex, according to the Vatican, with ongoing “noninvasive mechanical ventilation” at night and high-flow oxygenation during the day.

Friday will mark one month since the pope’s hospitalization. During his hospital stay, the pope has experienced multiple episodes of acute respiratory failure in which his situation appeared critical. After weeks of treatment, the pope’s doctors indicated on Tuesday that the Holy Father is “no longer in immediate danger from the respiratory infection.”

A chest X-ray earlier this week indicated “a slight improvement” in Pope Francis’ lungs. The Vatican is currently not providing an estimate for when the pope may be discharged from the hospital.

At the age of 76, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected the 266th successor of St. Peter on March 13, 2013, taking the name Pope Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. He is the first Latin American pope and the first from the Jesuit order.

To mark the 12th anniversary of Francis’ pontificate, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will offer a Mass for the pope on Friday morning in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, attended by members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. The liturgy will be broadcast live via Vatican Media at 10:30 a.m. local time.

Catholics are invited to gather in St. Peter’s Square on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. to pray the rosary for the pope’s recovery.

Highlands El Encinar School in Madrid. / Credit: Courtesy of Highlands School

Madrid, Spain, Mar 13, 2025 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

Regnum Christi has announced that it will review the protocols it has in place in Spain following five allegations of abuse against Legionary priest Marcelino de Andrés Núñez.

Google offices in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York. / Credit: MNAphotography/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2025 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is demanding answers from Google over concerns that its YouTube TV streaming service might be discriminating against faith-based channels in its programming decisions. 

The allegations stem from YouTube TV’s refusal to permit faith-based television network Great American Family, which is owned by Great American Media, to stream on its platform. The channel, which seeks to promote family-friendly Christian values in its shows, is available on cable and satellite television providers and many other streaming services. 

“These concerning allegations come at a time when American public discourse has experienced an unprecedented — and unacceptable — surge in censorship,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the agency, said in a post on X. 

“I’m asking Google for answers,” he added. 

Carr’s March 7 letter to Google and its parent company, Alphabet, states that YouTube TV “does not appear to have a public-facing policy against such programs.” But, he wrote, “I want to determine whether your company engages in this form of discrimination in practice.”

“Concerns have been raised alleging that your company has a policy (secret or otherwise) that discriminates against faith-based programming,” the letter adds. “As an example, Great American Media wrote a letter to me in which they claim that YouTube TV deliberately marginalizes faith-based and family-friendly content.” 

Carr wrote that the Great American Family network “is the second-fastest-growing channel in cable television,” yet “YouTube TV refuses to carry them.” He expressed concerns about technology companies “silenc[ing] individuals for doing nothing more than expressing themselves online and in the digital town square.”

“Understanding the nature of carriage policies … can help inform the FCC’s approach to the broader set of regulatory issues that the FCC has been called on to address,” Carr’s letter states.

Carr asked Google to brief the FCC on the role of multichannel video programming distribution in the media marketplace and to inform the agency about YouTube TV’s carriage negotiation process and the potential role of viewpoint-based discrimination.

Great American Media has been trying to make its Great American Family network available on YouTube TV for at least several months. In November 2024, Great American Family President and CEO Bill Abbott told the Washington Examiner that he has tried “every conceivable way” to get a deal with YouTube TV.

“Well, we’ve offered YouTube TV every conceivable way to get carriage on the platform, including free, and that has not been accepted to this point, and we’ll see,” Abbott said at the time. 

“We’re hopeful that they recognize the value of the audience and the strength and quality of content and the premise of being on the pillars of family, faith, and country, but we don’t know where that will go.”

Google did not respond to a request for comment from CNA.

Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz gives a talk during his July 2024 visit to Santiago, Chile. / Credit: Courtesy of Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus De/Flickr

Madrid, Spain, Mar 13, 2025 / 14:20 pm (CNA).

In his latest pastoral letter, the prelate of Opus Dei, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, reflected on how Christians should live joyfully in the context of “difficult times.”

Normally busy streets in Manhattan are deserted April 10, 2020, after officials imposed a COVID-19 lockdown. / Credit: George Wirt/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2025 / 13:50 pm (CNA).

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic five years ago this week, on March 11, 2020. 

Every diocese in the U.S. curtailed public Masses in some way during the ensuing lockdowns, many in response to state or local laws. Secular authorities varied widely in their treatment of houses of worship during the pandemic, with some imposing harsher rules on churches than on other entities deemed “essential.”

Legal protections afforded to churches have evolved considerably since the start of the pandemic, however. Many states have since passed explicit protections for houses of worship, ensuring either that they will not be forced to shutter again amid a future health emergency — or, at the least, that they will not be treated more harshly than other “essential services” allowed to remain open.

CNA compiled data on which states now protect houses of worship as “essential” and which do not. Peruse the map below and see where your state falls.

The Supreme Court ruled in late November 2020 that New York state restrictions, which included restrictions on the number of attendees at worship services during the coronavirus pandemic, constituted a violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free religious exercise.

This means there is now legal precedent at the federal level suggesting that states may never shut down worship entirely again and can limit indoor capacity at houses of worship to, at most, 25% of normal. 

Some bishops lifted the dispensations they had issued as early as late 2020, while a few held out until 2022 before lifting the dispensation and inviting Catholics back to Mass in person.

After years of uncertainty over whether in-person Mass attendance numbers would ever rebound after plummeting during the COVID-era lockdowns, recent data has suggested that Mass attendance levels — at least nationally — have quietly returned to 2019 levels.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, a premier Catholic research organization, found that between May 2023 and the first week of 2025 attendance has averaged an estimated 24% nationwide. 

By comparison, weekly Mass attendance in the U.S. averaged 24.4% prior to the pandemic in 2019.

Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik, S.J., with the official image of the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome. / Screenshot from Diocesi di Roma YouTube channel.

Rome Newsroom, Mar 13, 2025 / 13:20 pm (CNA).

Media reports say the Vatican may be getting closer to making a decision in the case of Father Marko Rupnik, the artist and former Jesuit who has been accused of the sexual and spiritual abuse of women under his spiritual care.

Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations on the case on Oct. 27, 2023, allowing it to be tried by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).

More than 500 days later, reports say Rupnik continues to travel while reportedly living in a monastery an hour outside of Rome — and will be tried under the canonical crime of “spiritual abuse.”

The head of the DDF, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, said in an interview at the end of January that the dicastery had finished gathering information in the case, had conducted a first review, and was working to put together an independent tribunal for the penal judicial procedure.

A lawyer for some of Rupnik’s victims released a book in March detailing the accusations of three women against the priest. Laura Sgrò told EWTN News she is looking forward to receiving updates in the case.

Here’s a timeline of known facts about the Rupnik case, including the knowledge and response of the Jesuits and the Vatican: 

2018

October: Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, Rupnik’s superior, receives allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Rupnik and an allegation that Rupnik gave absolution in confession to an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment. A preliminary investigation is set up.

2019

May: The 2018 allegations are deemed credible; a file is sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

June: Precautionary restrictions are imposed on Rupnik by his superior, Guerrero. What the specific restrictions were is unknown.

July: The CDF asks Father Arturo Sosa, the Jesuits’ superior general, to set up a penal administrative process for the Rupnik accusations. Sosa appoints a delegate and two assessors who are not part of the order.

2020

January: The delegate and assessors assembled by Sosa unanimously find that Rupnik did commit the canonical crime of absolution of an accomplice. The order knows that Rupnik had incurred an automatic excommunication for that crime.

May: The CDF also formally declares the excommunicable act (the absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment) happened and that Rupnik is in an excommunicated status. The excommunication is lifted by CDF decree later the same month. Rupnik ceases to be director of the art and theological center he founded in Rome, the Centro Aletti, and administrative restrictions are imposed for three years.

October: Bishop Daniele Libanori, SJ, an auxiliary bishop of Rome, is appointed extraordinary commissioner of the Loyola Community following a canonical visit that identified governance problems in the religious institute. 

2021

Libanori, in conversations with current and former members of the Loyola Community in early 2021, uncovers allegations of abuse against Rupnik, who had split from the institute in 1993 after co-founding the community with current head Sister Ivanka Hosta in the late 1980s. Libanori, according to the Associated Press, urges the women to file their complaints with the Vatican.

June: The CDF contacts the Jesuit general curia about allegations concerning Rupnik and some members of the Loyola Community.

July: Sosa asks Father Johan Verschueren, who succeeded Guerrero in January 2020 as Rupnik’s superior, to set up a preliminary investigation into the allegations with a person outside the Jesuits.

2022

January: An investigation concludes that there was enough evidence for a case; the results are sent to the CDF with a recommendation for a penal process. Pope Francis has a meeting with Rupnik at the Vatican on Jan. 3.

February: Verschueren imposes new, unspecified restrictions on Rupnik’s ministry.

October: The CDF (now called the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) says the statute of limitations has expired on the alleged criminal acts and there can be no trial. Rupnik’s ministry continues to be under restrictions.

December: Sometime during this month, Verschueren imposes new restrictions on Rupnik. On Dec. 18, the Jesuits publish a statement asking anyone who has suffered abuse to contact them to lodge a new complaint or to further discuss any complaints that were already made. The statement also includes a basic timeline of when the Jesuits learned of accusations against Rupnik and what actions were taken.

On Dec. 17, Verschueren tells the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, that Rupnik’s early restrictions were to “avoid private, in-depth spiritual contacts with persons, forbidden to confess women, and to give spiritual direction to women specifically in the context of Centro Aletti. In 2020, these restrictions were widened geographically to include anywhere.” In further comments to the Register on Dec. 20, Verchueren says Rupnik had been able to continue certain public activities while under restrictions because “a few exceptions” were made for him. “The local superior had the right to allow exceptions,” Verschueren said, and “could judge whether they were opportune or not.” He added: “I admit that this did not work well. We made these rules ‘absolute’ after complaints reached my ears.”

2023

January: In statements to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Verschueren says he asked Rupnik to not leave Lazio, the Italian region where Rome is located, during ongoing preliminary investigations. 

February: The Society of Jesus says it will open a new internal procedure on Rupnik after receiving 15 abuse accusations with a “very high” degree of credibility.

A more detailed timeline of the developments in the Rupnik case, including notes on his public activities while under restrictions, can be read here.

June: Rupnik is dismissed from the Jesuits due to his “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.” 

“Faced with Marko Rupnik’s repeated refusal to obey this mandate, we were unfortunately left with only one solution: dismissal from the Society of Jesus,” the order says in a June 15 statement.

August: Rupnik is accepted for priestly ministry in the Diocese of Koper in his native Slovenia.

October: In a statement to CNA on Oct. 25, the Diocese of Koper confirms that Rupnik is now incardinated there and says the local bishop accepted Rupnik’s request to be received into the diocese “on the basis of the decree on Rupnik’s dismissal from the Jesuit order” and “and on the basis of the fact that no judicial sentence had been passed on Rupnik.”

Two days later, on Oct. 27, the Vatican announces that Pope Francis has waived the statute of limitations, allowing the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to open a disciplinary case against Rupnik.

2024

February: Two former religious sisters, ex-members of the Loyola Community Rupnik co-founded, share their testimony and identities publicly for the first time at a press conference in Rome.

October: A year after the Vatican case against Rupnik was opened, a person working in the disciplinary section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), who asked not to be named, tells CNA the DDF does not usually comment on open cases but is looking at the merits of Rupnik’s case and examining the procedural steps that can be taken and “the mechanism by which justice can be served.” 

2025

January: The head of the DDF, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, reveals in an interview that the dicastery had finished gathering information in the case, had conducted a first review, and was working to put together an independent tribunal for the penal judicial procedure.

March: A media report says a decision in Rupnik’s case could come “in the not too distant future,” as other reports say he is living in a monastery an hour outside Rome and continuing to travel internationally for his work. Rupnik does not respond to questions from an Italian journalist who confronts him at a Rome airport.

This story was first published on Feb. 26, 2023, and updated on Oct. 26, 2023, and March 13, 2025.