The Vatican announced on October 13 that a panel of five judges has been named to hear the charges of sexual and spiritual abuse against Father Marko Rupnik.
Almost two full years ago—on October 27, 2023—Pope Francis had ordered the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to hold the trial, lifting the statute of limitations that had previously blocked prosecution of the influential former Jesuit.
In an implicit recognition that the odd treatment of the Rupnik case had prompted questions about whether powerful Vatican officials had protected him, the Vatican said that judges had been chosen from outside the Roman Curia “to better guarantee, as in any judicial process, the autonomy and independence” of the tribunal.