(OSV News) — All mosaics by disgraced priest Father Marko Rupnik adorning the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lourdes will be covered ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s September visit and will remain covered indefinitely, said Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes.

Although mosaics covering the basilica’s entrance were covered in March 2025, Bishop Micas told the French daily La Dépêche that the mosaics on the basilica’s facade will be covered before the pope’s Sept. 25-28 visit to France.

“The Holy Father’s visit to Lourdes is an opportunity to take another step on this matter,” the bishop said. “All the works on the facade will be covered and then decorated in connection with Leo XIV’s apostolic journey.”

A former Jesuit, Father Rupnik, 71, was briefly excommunicated by the church in 2020 for absolving an Italian novice with whom he had a sexual encounter. The excommunication was lifted after he repented. 

Since then, the Slovenian priest is accused of abusing more than two dozen women over several decades. He has denied wrongdoing and is currently facing a canonical trial. 

Role is to ensure Lourdes ‘welcomes everyone’

In his interview with La Dépêche, Bishop Micas said that his role was to ensure that the basilica at Lourdes “welcomes everyone,” especially victims of sexual abuse.

“Since the revelation of the serious allegations against Father Marko Rupnik, it has become difficult, if not impossible, for these victims to come,” he explained. “The distressed and wounded who need consolation and reparation must hold first place in Lourdes. This is the distinct grace of this sanctuary: nothing must prevent them from responding to Our Lady’s message inviting them to make a pilgrimage here.”

In 2023, Bishop Micas established a commission on Father Rupnik’s artwork, comprising a prosecutor, a lawyer, experts in sacred art, and victims.

The mosaics were commissioned in 2008 to mark the 150th anniversary of Mary’s apparitions to St. Bernadette Soubirous.

Bishop Micas said that regardless of the outcome of Father Rupnik’s canonical trial, the mosaics will be covered indefinitely.

Reflection on ‘future of the basilica’s facade’

“The mosaics will remain covered after the Holy Father’s pilgrimage, following which a new review will be launched. The current commission will be expanded — notably bringing together artists and theologians — to reflect on the future of the basilica’s facade,” he told La Dépêche.

Speaking with OSV News July 24, Bishop Micas said he was motivated to cover the mosaics after several meetings with victims of sexual abuse, including victims allegedly abused by the Slovenian priest. 

The victims “told me their story with Marko Rupnik … how he abused them,” he said, noting that they described the abuse taking place in “the process of the making of the mosaics, on the places where they were creating the mosaics.”

“This gave me a new look on our mosaics in Lourdes,” Bishop Micas told OSV News.

‘We were right’ to mask mosaics, ‘and we have to continue’

The two meetings were “the foundation for my conscience about my responsibility in Lourdes considering these mosaics,” and the positive reaction the decision received “showed me we were right to do what we did at that time. And we have to continue.”

When asked by OSV News if the mosaics would remain covered if Father Rupnik is found not guilty in his canonical trial, Bishop Micas said that such a verdict was “not that easy — a judgment of guilt or innocence.”

“Innocence would be to say that all the people who said what they said were liars,” the bishop said. “And I don’t think they were liars.”

Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.