December 20, 2022

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - The Vatican investigator who uncovered allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse by Jesuit artist Father Marko Ivan Rupnik says the claims are true, according to a letter he sent to Italian priests obtained by the Associated Press. Bishop Daniele Libanari also said the women Rupnik is alleged to have abused have “seen their lives ruined by the evil suffered and by the complicit silence” of the Church, the AP reported Monday. He urged the members of the hierarchy who hid his crimes to “humbly ask the world to forgive the scandal.” Libanori’s letter comes on the heels of revelations in the past week that Rupnik, a Slovenian priest well-known for his mosaics that adorn chapels and churches around the world, had been excommunicated for abusing the sacrament of confession. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles sexual abuse cases, declared the excommunication in May 2020 but lifted it that same month, reportedly after Rupnik repented. The Jesuits, meanwhile, are asking any other potential victims to come forward with claims, the AP reported. Stay tuned to Catholic News Agency dot com for updates to this story. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253118/report-vatican-investigator-says-father-rupnik-and-hierarchy-s-complicit-silence-ruined-victims-lives Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor Juan Esposito-Garcia and Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington. As auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington, Esposito and Menjivar will assist Cardinal Wilton Gregory in the episcopal duties of the archdiocese while holding the full rank of bishops themselves. Originally from Chalatenango, El Salvador, Menjivar, 52, came to the US as a teenager to flee violence. He attended Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and the P