Priest kicked out of Jesuits for alleged abuse of women welcomed into Slovenia diocese

A famous priest-artist who was thrown out of the Jesuits after being accused of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse of women has been accepted into a diocese in his native Slovenia, the latest twist in a case that has implicated the pope and laid bare the limits of the Vatican’s in-house legal system. The Diocese of Koper confirmed in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday that the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik was accepted as a priest there in August. Rupnik was taken in because he had been expelled from the Jesuits and because the diocese hadn't received any documents showing that Rupnik had “been found guilty of the alleged abuses before either an ecclesiastical tribunal or civil court," it said.