Statement

in Defense of Convents of Religious Sisters

of Contemplative Life

With profound sorrow and strong indignation, I follow the events related to the Apostolic Visitations that the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is carrying out in various Convents of contemplative women religious in the United States.

The manner in which these Apostolic Visitations are conducted, in violation of the canonical norms and the most elementary principles of the law; the intimidation and threats that characterize the interrogations to which the Nuns are subjected; and the psychological violence exercised over the members of these Convents, against the principles of charity and justice that ought to inspire the action of officials of a papal Dicastery – all of these reveal in all of its disturbing evidence the prejudice of the persecutory intentions of the Visitators, who are cynical executors of the orders already given by the Prefect Cardinal João Braz de Aviz and by the Secretary Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo, following Bergoglio’s precise instructions. No matter which community is targeted, the mobbing or group bullying by the Visitators, with the purpose of dividing the sisters is always the same, as is the attempt to create strong psychological pressure, even to the point of violating their private conscience, and serious disturbance to individuals who are accustomed to living in silence, prayerful recollection, and penance.

Behind this purging operation, like everything that distinguishes the work of the Bergoglian church, there is a hatred and an iconoclastic fury towards the Communities of Contemplative Life, and in a particular way against those tied to Tradition and the Ancient Rite. This hatred has become commonplace with the infamous Instruction Cor Orans and its cruel and merciless application. What also stands out is an insane interest in the finances and donations that these communities receive, which the Vatican tries to grab for itself using any pretext it can.  

This hatred has no juridical or disciplinary justification, since these Convents targeted by the Vatican limit themselves to living according to the charism of their Order, in fidelity to their Holy Founders and in a spirit of sincere communion with the Church. The number of their vocations is increasing, as is happening for all the Institutes in which the Rule of the Founders is put into practice and the Tridentine Liturgy is celebrated. The “fault” of these Religious Sisters is that they want to remain faithful to the immutable Magisterium of the Church and her two-thousand-year Tradition, to her venerable Liturgy. In the end, this is the only “fault” of all of the secular and religious communities, both of men and of women, in the face of the ruthless destructive action of Bergoglio.

I consider it my precise duty as a Pastor to denounce in no uncertain terms the systematic work of demolition being carried out by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, whose leaders make no secret of their aversion to any form of consecrated life, in perfect harmony with the one who has given them their mandate, and accompanied by the most disconcerting, inert silence of the Ordinaries, who are incapable of defending and protecting the most precious and vulnerable part of the Mystical Body.

We cannot forget that the merciless persecution of the Vatican has already struck other flourishing communities of religious women, which are now totally destroyed: I am thinking of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate (Italy), the Little Sisters of Mary of Saint-Aignan-sur-Roe (France), the Sisters of Auerbach (Germany), and the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit (France) – to name only a few.

I also mention that the ones responsible for this action are the first ones against whom a disciplinary action should have been undertaken, following the very serious financial scandals that involved Carballo when he was Minister-General of the Franciscan Friars Minor. His position is so compromised that he had to reside inside the Vatican, even though the Secretaries of the Congregation usually reside outside the Leonine Walls. Cardinal Braz de Aviz, a notorious follower of liberation theology, was appointed by Bergoglio as head of the Congregation for Religious precisely in order to “re-educate” the members of institutes of consecrated life, following the Stalinist methods that distinguish the government of the Bergoglian deep church. It is a purge worthy of the worst dictatorial regimes, in line with the climate of terror that has reigned in the Vatican since 2013.

I urge my brother Bishops, priests, and above all the faithful laity to raise their voices against the destruction of Convents of contemplative life and traditional religious Communities. It is necessary to give not only spiritual and moral support, but also material and media support to the victims of an attack that has been getting worse in recent weeks after the promulgation of the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, so that the persecuted religious sisters may be defended and those who are responsible for this persecution that is hateful in the eyes of God and the entire ecclesial community may be exposed.

I understand well how difficult it is, in the face of the perversion of ecclesiastical authority, to combine one’s solemn Vow of Obedience to one’s Superiors with the evidence of the evil purposes they pursue, and how painful it is to have to resist those who should be exercising authority in the name of Our Lord. Nonetheless, any collaboration with them would constitute a form of complicity and culpable connivance. Obedience to God and fidelity to the Church cannot be linked to blind servility towards those who show themselves to be enemies of both: “We must obey God rather than men,” according to the words of Saint Peter (Acts 5:29). And this applies to Religious as well as to secular clergy, whose silence in the face of the dissolution of the ecclesial body cannot last any longer.

In consideration of this grave dilemma of conscience that troubles the Religious Sisters, I address a particular appeal to the faithful laity and to the benefactors of Convents, so that they actively work, also through adequate legal means, to assure and protect the independence of these Convents and their property.

I assure the persecuted Religious Sisters of my constant prayer, inviting them to resist firmly and to offer their suffering for the conversion of their persecutors. May these silent Brides of Christ unite themselves spiritually to the painful Calvary of the Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne, the sixteen nuns who were guillotined during the Terror because they did not want to abandon their Carmel or renounce their religious vows. May the heroic resistance of these consecrated women, persecuted in odium fidei by bloodthirsty revolutionaries, be an example to them in these times of apostasy, in which anti-Catholic persecution and ideological fury are put in motion by those who ought to be protecting the communities of Contemplative Life as the most precious treasure of the Church and the most effective barrier against the assaults of the enemy. If the constant prayer of these blessed souls fails, the ecclesial body will be even more disarmed at the very moment in which this epochal battle rages most fiercely.

Like the prudent virgins of the Gospel parable (Mt 25:1-13), may Religious Women remain faithful to their Divine Spouse and await Him with lighted lamps. These dark times will pass, and along with them the renegades who rage against them.

The highest levels of the Vatican, and in particular Jorge Mario Bergoglio, will have to answer to God for these very grave sins of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which are not devoid of disturbing ideological connotations, as well as for the abuse of their authority against the good of the Church and the salvation of souls. May the Lord open the eyes of many who still do not want to recognize the apostasy that afflicts the Catholic Hierarchy.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States

October 1^st, 2021

§§§

4 commenti

• Sr. Gabriela, OCD ha detto:

  4 Ottobre 2021 alle 23:28

  Open Letter to
  Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
  Concerning Cloistered Contemplative Nuns

  Reverend Monsignore,
  Praised be Jesus Christ!
  On October 1st, 2021, the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, a Discalced Carmelite Nun and Doctor of the Church, you published a statement denouncing the treatment of cloistered contemplatives by Pope Francis. Your statement has so far appeared on Stilum Curiae, https://www.marcotosatti.com/2021/10/01/vigano-in-defense-of-womens-monasteries-of-contemplative-life/, and Non Veni Pacem, https://nonvenipacem.com/2021/10/01/fairfield-carmelite-interrogations-concluded-archbishop-vigano-issues-statement-in-defense-of-womens-monasteries-of-contemplative-life/#comments. In your statement, you inveigh against the visitation of cloistered contemplative nuns ordered by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz and Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo. The statement appeared on Non Veni Pacem under the heading Fairfield Carmelite Interrogations Concluded, Archbishop Viganò Issues Statement in Defense of Women’s Monasteries of Contemplative Life, and in it your refer to “the Apostolic Visitations that the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is carrying out in various Convents of contemplative women religious in the United States.” Articles concerning the Fairfield Visitation have appeared on various websites including Non Veni Pacem, LifeSiteNews, Gloria.tv, Fr. Z, FreeRepublic.com and CatholicCulture.org among others.
  In your statement, you wrote: “Behind this purging operation, like everything that distinguishes the work of the Bergoglian church, there is a hatred and an iconoclastic fury towards the Communities of Contemplative Life, and in a particular way against those tied to Tradition and the Ancient Rite. This hatred has become commonplace with the infamous Instruction Cor Orans and its cruel and merciless application.” You also write: “I understand well how difficult it is, in the face of the perversion of ecclesiastical authority, to combine one’s solemn Vow of Obedience to one’s Superiors with the evidence of the evil purposes they pursue, and how painful it is to have to resist those who should be exercising authority in the name of Our Lord.”
  Monsignore, you are obviously not familiar with the writings of St. Teresa of Jesus, who founded the Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1562. In the “Book of Her Life” she writes: “Some persons came to me with great fear to tell me we were in trouble and that it could happen that others might accuse me of something and report me to the Inquisitors. This amused me and made me laugh, for I never had any fear of such a possibility. If anyone were to see that I went against the slightest ceremony of the Church in a matter of faith, I myself knew well that I would die a thousand deaths for the faith or for any truth of Sacred Scripture. And I said they shouldn’t be afraid about these possible accusations; that it would be pretty bad for my soul if there were something in it of the sort that I should have to fear the Inquisition; that I thought that if I did have something to fear I’d go myself to seek out the Inquisitors; and that if I were accused, the Lord would free me.” (“Life”, 33, 5) If St. Teresa laughed at the thought of being investigated by the Inquisition, who were not known for their respect towards the persons they investigated, then her Daughters can have no reason to fear an investigation by the Church. “But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (Jn. 3, 21)
  You also denounced Cor orans, the Instruction issued by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life to establish the norms for applying Pope Francis’s Apostolic Constitution, Vultum Dei quaere. In the March and July 2021, editions of “Amigas”, the newsletter of the St. Joseph’s Association of American Carmels, there appeared several articles written by various Carmelite Nuns concerning Cor orans, and especially the norms presently regulating canonical visitations. The opinions expressed by the Carmelite nuns are overwhelmingly positive. You can read these articles on my Community’s website: https://flemingtoncarmel.org/posts.
  On the Home page of that website, you will also find the link to our Statement of Support for Pope Francis: https://flemingtoncarmel.org/.
  In your statement, you write, about the persecution of traditional, cloistered nuns. However, as someone wrote, when people speak of “tradition”, they mean how things were 75 years ago. But Tradition goes back millenia! Vatican II said to return to the sources. That is what we have tried to do in my Order, the Discalced Carmelites. We returned to what St. Teresa wrote and how she intended her sons and daughters to live. In my Carmel, we wear the full habit, sandals included, we keep the full enclosure and only go out for doctor’s visits and absolutely necessary business, and we have the full monastic schedule with 2 hours of prayer and 2 hours of recreation. We consider ourselves totally traditional, even if we don’t have the Liturgy in Latin or the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, except when we have a visit from a FSSP priest or a priest of the Institute of Christ the King. We are glad to be fully traditional and fully faithful to the Holy Father and to the prescriptions of Vatican II.
  You deplore the treatment meted out to cloistered contemplative nuns by the present Holy Father and his delegates. But there are some 6,000 cloistered contemplative nuns around the world, in various Congregations and Orders. How many of these nuns share your opinions about the way they are treated? I do not know for how many nuns you speak for, but here in Flemington, New Jersey, there is one Community which does not share your views. We are all weak and we are all sinners who have been blessed by God’s mercy and grace, but we here in Flemington rejoice to give this witness to our gratitude to God for the blessings and graces we have received through Pope Francis and his delegates.
  Reverend Monsignore, though I do not share your opinions, I gladly assure you of the prayers of my Community for you and your ministry. May Our Lord bless you and draw you ever closer to Himself.
  In Jesus and Mary,

  Sr. Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.
  Carmel of Mary Immaculate and St. Mary Magdalen

  October 4th, 2021
  Feast of St. Francis and Anniversary of the
  Death of St. Teresa of Jesus

• kiwiinamerica ha detto:

  2 Ottobre 2021 alle 17:38

  Everything you say is true, Abp Vigano. May God bless you as we attempt to resist the faithless scoundrel Bergoglio.

• Slave of JMJ ha detto:

  1 Ottobre 2021 alle 21:48

  Shame on the deep-state Pontius Pilate Vatican for killing the nuns’ peace and spiritually by ambushing them in a militarized, prefabricated psych-operation! Cowards! You belong in jail!

  “Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. [22] But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. [23] And thou Capharnaum, shalt thou be exalted up to heaven? thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day. [24] But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. [25] At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones.” DRBO.ORG