The Society of Jesus is offering reparations to about 20 women who say they were sexually, psychologically, and spiritually abused by the disgraced ex-Jesuit artist Father Marko Rupnik. Rupnik is accused of having committed serious sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse of dozens of religious sisters under his spiritual care over decades. His case is currently under investigation by the Vatican.
Father Johan Versuchen, Rupnik’s former superior and current general counsellor and delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome, said he sent a letter to the women who have come forward with accusations against Rupnik, offering an open invitation to reparations, according to The Associated Press.
While the letters were not made public out of respect to the alleged victims, some excerpts were shared by Laura Sgrò, a lawyer for the alleged victims, Religion News Service reported. In the letters, Versuchen reportedly lamented that Rupnik had not publicly taken responsibility for his actions nor repented. He told The Associated Press that in the letters he invited alleged victims to share what they needed and how the order can meet that need.
Versuchen also reportedly offered to start a “process of healing” and shared that the Jesuit order is “uneasy” with the situation and aware that “the various kinds of violence suffered at the time are compounded by the pain caused by the lack of listening and justice for many years.” Sgrò thanked the Jesuits for the gesture of reparation and called on the Vatican in the statement to follow “the example of the Society of Jesus and bring Marko Rupnik to trial as soon as possible, restoring dignity to the victims.” ”There really can be no more delay now; justice just has to be done,” she said.
In Sgrò’s statement, the alleged victims thanked Versuchen for “acknowledging the mistakes made thus far” and having “finally welcomed and embraced the victims of Marko Rupnik, offering them the support that had been lacking until now.”
The Jesuits want to protect the privacy of the alleged victims and do not plan to share future information on dialogue with them, Versuchen told RNS. ”Any eventual journey toward reparation will depend entirely on the person who was invited,” Versuchen told RNS. “We wrote the letter because we, too, need reparation and healing,” he continued. “We have a lot to learn from them, and to do better in the future, to avoid any type of abuse in the company of Jesus.”

The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is promoting a ”Dio-cesan Day of Unplugging” – intentionally eliminating screen time or time spent consuming digital media – on March 28 as a Lenten fasting discipline to encourage Catholics to spend more time with God as opposed to spending time on their smart devices. Noting that fasting is a “practice of self-discipline with a penitential focus,” the diocese, which is led by Bishop Michael Burbidge, called “unplugging” from the addicting influence of the internet, phones, and social media a “worthwhile and challenging type of fasting.”
Citing studies suggesting most people spend more than two hours a day on social media, the diocese said such statistics beg the questions: Are we spending more time with our devices than with God? And are we investing more time on social media than on nurturing in-person relationships within our communities? “When we fast from food or luxuries, we create space for God. Our fast reminds us of our need for God and brings us back into relationship with him.
Fasting also invites us to renew our relationships with one another in our communities,” the diocesan announcement says.
As suggestions for alternative activities to engage in rather than screen time on March 28, the diocese suggested numerous prayerful activities including attending daily Mass; making a Holy Hour or even a holy “five minutes”; praying a rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet for a loved one or the souls in purgatory; reading Scripture, the catechism, or a classic spiritual book; walking in nature; journaling; or attending the Stations of the Cross.
Works of charity would also be a good idea, the announcement says, suggesting Catholics take advantage of volunteer opportunities at their parish or local Catholic Charities, spend fellowship time with their community, or offer to grocery shop for an ill, elderly, or pregnant neighbour.
The Catholic day of “unplugging” was inspired by the Global Day of Unplugging promoted March 7–8 by the nonprofit Unplug Collective. Pope Francis is promoting screen time fasts this year as part of the ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope. As part of the special year, by the pope’s decree, Catholics worldwide can obtain an indulgence through various acts of penance. Francis’ decree specifically mentions as an option for obtaining a plenary indulgence “abstaining for at least one day a week from ‘futile distractions,’ such as social media or television.”

Addressing the Plenary Assembly of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, reaffirmed the Holy See’s commitment to fostering diplomacy as a means of conflict resolution.
Speaking to the delegates gathered from 26 – 28 March in Nemi, a town in the Alban Hills outside Rome, the Cardinal also urged political leaders to “set aside divisions and ideological barriers” in favour of genuine dialogue. He underscored that Europe, rooted in a deep Christian tradition, has a particular responsibility to be a beacon of peace and solidarity in an increasingly fragmented world.
Cardinal Parolin highlighted the multiple crises affecting the continent, from geopolitical tensions to economic instability and migration challenges. He warned against the temptation to retreat into nationalistic or isolationist policies, stressing that “the European project must continue to be one of integration, not division; of bridges, not walls.” Quoting Pope Francis, he reminded those present that “war is always a defeat for humanity” and called upon European leaders to intensify diplomatic efforts to end conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East. “Dialogue remains the only viable path,” he said, insisting that the Church’s role is to promote reconciliation and understanding in the face of hostilities.
The Secretary of State dedicated much attention to the importance of solidarity in addressing social and economic inequalities, and said that the Church must continue advocating for policies that place the dignity of the human person at the centre of economic and social systems. “The European Union was built on the principles of solidarity, respect for human dignity, and justice. These values must not be abandoned in times of difficulty but rather strengthened,” he stated. He also called for greater attention to the needs of migrants and refugees, urging policymakers to adopt humane and fair immigration policies.

In a written message on March 25 to the Vatican’s commission for the protection of minors from sexual abuse, Pope Francis urged the group to continue to “keep watch while the world sleeps,” and to care for victims and survivors by listening “with the ear of the heart” to their experiences. “Abuse prevention,” he said, “is not a blanket to be spread over emergencies but one of the foundations on which to build communities faithful to the Gospel.”
Pope Francis’ message was sent to participants in the March 24–28 plenary assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM), which he established in 2014. With the reform of the Roman Curia in 2022, the commission — whose mission is to help local Churches around the world to safeguard minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse — became part of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The PCPM released its first annual report on Church policies and procedures for safeguarding in 2024. During its 10 years of work, the pontifical commission has “enabled a safety network to grow within the Church,” the pope said. He also encouraged the group to “keep going!” “Continue to be sentinels that keep watch while the world sleeps. May the Holy Spirit, teacher of living memory, preserve us from the temptation to file away grief instead of healing it,” he said.
Relating the PCPM’s service to “oxygen” for the local Churches and religious communities, Francis asked the group to increase its joint work with the departments of the Roman Curia and to build alliances with civil authorities, experts, and associations outside of the Catholic Church.
He also requested that they “offer hospitality and care for the wounds of the soul to victims and survivors, in the style of the good Samaritan. To listen with the ear of the heart, so that every testimony finds not registers to be compiled but the depths of mercy from which to be reborn.”

Pope Francis’ convalescence continues at his residence of Casa Santa Marta with his continued treatment, mobility and respiratory-related physiotherapy, especially for voice recovery, personal prayer, and concelebrating Mass in the residence’s chapel.
These were among the updates the Holy See Press Office provided to accredited journalists regarding the Pope’s health after he was discharged on Sunday, 23 March, following 38 days of hospitalization in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital due to bilateral pneumonia.
After greeting 3,000 people from a balcony at the hospital and briefly stopping at Rome’s Marian Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Pope Francis returned to his Vatican resi-dence, Casa Santa Marta, where he began his period of recovery and rest.
The Pope’s period of convalescence and rest at his residence should be about “two months,” maintained Doctor Sergio Alfieri, the doctor overseeing the Pope’s hospitaliza-tion at Gemelli, and Dr. Luigi Carbone, his personal physician, at Saturday evening’s press conference at Gemelli Hospital.
“The Pope,” the Holy See Press Office noted on March 25, “is following the convalescence plan as described by the doctors on Saturday.” At the time, Doctors Alfieri and Carbone stated that the Holy Father must continue pharmacological treatment “for a long time, administered orally,” while undergoing full-time mobility and respiratory-related physiotherapy, continuing as he had done daily at the Gemelli.
The physicians also advised him to avoid meetings, whether individual or group, and to receive 24-hour medical assistance to provide for his needs, including oxygen therapy, and to address any possible emergencies. This care is being provided by the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of Vatican City and a medical team is always present with the Pope.
The Holy Father continues to receive oxygen therapy under the same conditions as during his hospitalization—high-flow oxygen through nasal cannulas at night, with a gradual reduction of oxygen therapy during the day.

The Vatican has officially decreed the dissolution of the religious institute “Miles Christi”, marking the end of its existence as a clerical institute of diocesan right. The decision, formally approved by Pope Francis on February 6, 2025, was announced by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Bishop Mauricio Landra, Auxiliary Bishop of Mercedes-Luján, has been appointed as the pontifical delegate responsible for overseeing the institute’s closure. His appointment brings an end to the tenure of Archbishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva, who had served as the Vatican’s commissioner for “Miles Christi” since late 2022. A Troubled History Leading to Dissolution Founded in 1994 in the Archdiocese of La Plata, Argentina, “Miles Christi” was once regarded as a promising religious institute. However, in recent years, its reputation suffered due to serious allegations against its founder and members. In February 2020, the institute’s founder, Roberto Juan Yannuzzi, was expelled from the clerical state after being found guilty of offenses including sexual misconduct with adults, abuse of authority, and violating the secrecy of confession to absolve a complicit party. This marked the beginning of increased scrutiny of “Miles Christi” and its internal governance.
By December 2022, under the leadership of Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Archdiocese of La Plata terminated the institute’s management of San Luis Gonzaga Parish and San Francisco de Asís School, institutions it had overseen for 16 years. These responsibilities were transferred to the archdiocese. Shortly thereafter, additional concerns emerged. A formal complaint of sexual abuse involving a “Miles Christi” priest had reportedly been filed with the religious institute’s leadership in early 2022.

The case was later escalated to the archdiocese, then expanded, and ultimately submitted to civil authorities. By early 2023, Archbishop García Cuerva, in his role as Pontifical Commissioner, announced the closure of «Miles Christi’s San Ignacio Centre in La Plata, further signaling the Vatican’s growing intervention in the institute’s affairs. On March 6, 2025, Bishop Landra issued a statement confirming that Miles Christi had been formally notified of the Vatican’s decision. Acknowledging the complexity of the situation, he expressed hopes that the closure would be carried out with “justice and charity” and entrusted the process to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.

In one of his final official acts, and in the wake of a Vatican-mediated deal with the Cuban government, Joe Biden on January 14 removed Cuba from a US terrorism blacklist in exchange for an agreement by the Cuban government to free 553 prisoners.
The United States, the European Union, the Catholic Church and rights groups have long pushed the island nation to release hundreds of protesters jailed following anti-government protests in July 2021, the largest since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
In a statement after the deal, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said, “As part of the close and fluid relations with the Vatican State, I informed Pope Francis of [the decision to free the prisoners] in the spirit of the 2025 Jubilee.”
The deal was overturned by the new US presidency just six days after Donald Trump was sworn in, but prisoners have continued to be sporadically released. In February, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, called the gradual release of the Cuban prisoners “a sign of great hope” at the start of the Holy Year, and he expressed hope for more “gestures of clemency” from governments in the spirit of the Jubilee.

In more than 160 countries, Pope Francis’ call for debt relief is becoming manifest, says Eric LeCompte, the Executive Dire-ctor of Jubilee USA Network, a development coalition of more than 750 religious groups and organizations around the world, in an interview with Vatican News.
The coalition, which includes Pope Saint John Paul II among its founders, frequently advises the Catholic Church and Bishops’ Conferences around the world on implementing the Church’s vision for the Church on Jubilee, a vision of debt relief, debt cancellation, and building an economy that provides for everyone.
For more than 25 years, LeCompte has led religious groups to win policies that alleviate poverty, address global conflict, and promote human rights. He has also addressed the United Nations General Assembly on needed economic and climate policies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Amongst other roles and responsibilities, LeCompte, who serves on boards of faith-based development and financial transparency organizations and recently received an honorary doctorate from Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, has advised a UN General Assembly process on global sovereign bankruptcy structures to alleviate poverty and is a member of expert UN working groups.

In 2016, the Vatican’s Ponti-fical Commission for the Prote-ction of Minors established a Universal Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Sexual Abuse. In the press release anno-uncing its creation, the Commi-ssion explained that a “survivor of clerical child sexual abuse made the proposal of a Day of Prayer.” In response, Pope Fran-cis requested Bishops’ Confe-rences around the world to choose an appropriate day to mark this prayer initiative. Dioceses in Poland and Ireland mark the Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Abuse on the first Friday of Lent, which this year falls on March 7.
Since 2017, the dioceses in Ireland have commemorated this day of prayer. This year, parishes across the country will light blessed candles as a reminder of the importance of “atonement, repentance, and the light of hope amidst darkness.” These “Candles of Atonement” will be placed in cathedrals and churches throughout Ireland.
The tradition of the Candles of Atonement stems from Pope Francis’ visit to Dublin in 2018 during the 9th World Meeting of Families. During the closing Mass, he entreated God’s mercy for the crimes of abuse and asked for forgiveness on behalf of the Church. The candles are meant to “reflect the commitment to spiritual healing, reconciliation, and peace.”
Churches in Poland become meeting places of hope. In Poland, a line from the Gospel of St. Matthew serves as the motto for the Day of Prayer. The Delegate of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for the Protection of Children and Youth, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, invited everyone to use this day to express their solidarity with victims and survivors.
He explained that there are designated churches where people are encouraged to come together to pray with those affected.

As the season of Lent began, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has urged Christians to look to the Cross of Christ, which represents the heart of Easter and the hope of the world, especially in times of war, selfishness, and violence.
In his Lenten message sent to the faithful of the Holy Land, the Cardinal Patriarch said every believer in Christ must realize that “violent words of rancor and hatred, the presumptuous speeches of conflict and recrimination cannot prevent God from speaking the word of reconciliation in Christ: Ave Crux, spes unica!”
Lent, he said, represents an ever-renewed opportunity to receive the gift of grace and forgiveness, as we experience the desert alongside Jesus. “We need this new word, the word of the Cross, which may seem like foolishness to the powerful and wise of this world and of our time,” said Patriarch Pizzaballa. “It is the only word that can reopen paths of hope and peace, by overturning worldly criteria. The Way of the Cross, along which we learn with difficulty, but with joy, the new logic of gift and forgiveness, calls for men and women, young and old, families and children, who are ready to walk it, by renewing their way of thinking and their attitude. Only in this way can we hope for a future in peace.”
The Cardinal invited Christian commu-nities in the Holy Land to make time to read the Passion narratives and visit the places marked by the Lord’s passage to Calvary and the Sepulcher. He recalled that reconciliation can only become effective by becoming ministry in service toward our brothers and sisters. “The gift is not magical, but must be received, witnessed, lived and shared,” he said. “So, let us all, pastors and lay people, religious men and women, get involved and feel jointly responsible for carrying the word and ministry of reconciliation into the world.”
“When reconciled with God, Christians must deeply feel the call to reconcile among themselves and then extend that reconciliation to all humanity,” said Patriarch Pizzaballa. “Let us not waste this time given to us by the mercy of God,” he concluded. “It is not just another Lent: if we want it to be, it can become a different, a new Lent!