[4] Rupnik was born 28 November 1954 to Ivan and Ivanka Kaucic in Zadlog, a village in the Municipality of Idrija, in western Slovenia, at the time part of Yugoslavia.

[6][7] Centro Aletti was set up primarily for central and eastern European scholars and artists to interact with their western counterparts, and became specialized in mosaic creation.

[7] The distinctive feature of these mosaics is their vast size; built to entirely cover the walls of cathedrals, they often reach an extension of hundreds or even thousands of square meters.

[8][9][10] The Society of Jesus issued a statement on 2 December 2022, confirming that Rupnik had undergone a canonical investigation in the previous months at the request of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith ("DDF").

[13] The Jesuit superior general, Arturo Sosa, revealed on 14 December 2022 that, after a 2019 complaint, Rupnik had been convicted and sanctioned by the Holy See for the ecclesiastical crime of absolution of an accomplice.

Despite the earlier statement on 2 December 2022, the restrictions on Rupnik's ministry "actually dated from that confession-related conviction, and not the 2021 allegations that the Vatican's sex crimes office decided to shelve because they were deemed too old to prosecute.

"[14] After his conviction, Rupnik preached in 2020 a Lenten meditation for priests working in the Roman Curia, including Pope Francis and Luis Ladaria Ferrer, then-Prefect of the DDF, both fellow Jesuits.

"[17] On 15 June 2023, following his "stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience", the Superior General Father Arturo Sosa expelled Rupnik from the Society of Jesus.