Former nuns who said they were subjected to sexual, psychological or spiritual abuse by a famous priest urged Pope Francis on Wednesday to allow an independent investigation, saying the Catholic Church had put up "a rubber wall" blocking the truth. Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, a religious artist whose mosaics adorn about 200 churches and chapels around world, including in the Vatican, was expelled from the Jesuit order last year and is believed to be somewhere in his native Slovenia. About 20 people, mostly former nuns, have accused him of various types of abuse, either when he was a spiritual director of a community of nuns in Slovenia about 30 years ago or after he moved to Rome to pursue his career as an artist.