The Vatican has pushed back against reports that former Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik has been acquitted in his Vatican criminal trial.

In a July 22 statement, the Vatican said rumours of an acquittal are "completely unfounded" and confirmed the canonical trial is still under review. Officials said judges continue examining evidence from dioceses, the Jesuits, alleged victims and media reports.

The press release came a day after Laura Sgrò, a civil and canon lawyer who represents five women who have accused Rupnik of abuse, rebuked the Holy See's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, saying she and her clients have no information about the case, and they had not been informed whether the trial even began.

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On July 20, Italian website Messainlatino.it reported that Rupnik, a well-known mosaic artist accused of abusing several women, may have been acquitted.

"INCREDIBLE! We have learned from persistent and highly authoritative sources that the criminal trial underway in the Vatican against Father Marko Ivan Rupnik has concluded in his favour," the website said.

On July 22 Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office said in a statement to journalists that "With regard to certain reports that have appeared in the media in recent days, I reiterate that the news concerning any decision by the judges presiding over the case of Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik is completely unfounded," and that "the review of the case is still ongoing, and the panel is examining documentation provided by the dioceses involved, the Jesuits, the parties concerned, and from the press."T

In its July 22 press release, Bruni said that "During the proceedings, as with any judicial process, no information regarding the ongoing investigation may be shared in any way out of respect for the process itself and to avoid causing harm to all those involved in the matter, as has occurred in recent days. Should the panel determine that it requires further information, it will take the necessary steps on its own initiative to obtain it."

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After the February 2019 safeguarding summit organized in the Vatican by Pope Francis, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta told the National Catholic Reporter that "victims who bring a claim forward have a right to know how it is handled."

"We have a law and we have a system which empowers people to disclose abuse or misconduct, but you also have the right to know what happens with their reports," he said. Since 2018, Scicluna has served as adjunct secretary of the DDF.

Seven years after the summit, Pope Leo XIV, during the Jan. 7-8 first extraordinary consistory in Rome, strongly condemned the Church's failure to welcome survivors of sexual abuse, calling it a "scandal" that deepens their suffering.

The door of the Church "was closed" and the victims "were not welcomed," the Pope told the cardinals.

The abuse itself "causes a deep wound that perhaps lasts a lifetime," the Pope said, "but many times the scandal in the Church is because the door was closed and the victims were not welcomed, accompanied by the closeness of authentic pastors."

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In her letter to Fernández, Sgrò said her clients feel "abandoned and betrayed" and "victims, once again, of a system that has never welcomed, protected or comforted them."

Sgrò said she has heard nothing from the DDF since July 2025, when the Vatican officially named the judges overseeing Rupnik's canonical trial. In her letter to Fernández, Sgrò claimed that victims have not been heard by the judges, nor received any communications, and that the lawyer had previously written to the prefect "several times, without receiving any response."