ROME (AP) — The lawyer for five women who say they were sexually and spiritually abused by a former Jesuit priest and internationally known religious artist penned a scathing denunciation Tuesday of the Vatican’s secretive legal system, in which her clients have no right to know any details of the trial.In a letter to the Vatican, attorney Laura Sgro demanded to know the status of the Vatican investigation into the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik after an Italian blog, Messa in Latino, reported Monday that Rupnik had been absolved in a canonical trial.The Vatican has never said what alleged crimes Rupnik faced in its in-house church tribunal, so there was no way to know if he had possibly been absolved of some charges while the investigation continues into others. Vatican officials said Tuesday the case was ongoing.The Rupnik scandal has become one of the most sensitive matters for the Holy See in recent years, given suggestions that the Slovenian priest was protected for over three decades by his Jesuit superiors and the Vatican hierarchy, up to and including Pope Francis.Rupnik had been one of the most celebrated contemporary religious artists in the Catholic Church, designing stylized mosaics that decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at Lourdes and the Vatican.The scandal exploded in late 2022, when Italian blogs first reported claims of misconduct against him by women and nuns dating back to the 1990s that had been consistently dismissed by the Catholic hierarchy.