Italian convent might close due to vaccination refusal

After an Apostolic Visit, an inspection, the Mother Superior was informed that her convent, located in central Italy, would be closed. Since the person who conducted the visitation, Madre Cristiana from Orvieto, did not find anything wrong, the Mother Superior suspects it has something to do with the issue of vaccination. “Even the visitor said that she found nothing wrong, either with the liturgy or with our spiritual formation, and acknowledged that we are economically self-sufficient”, the Mother Superior said in an interview. “The only explanation given to me was that the nuns had not been vaccinated.”

At the moment, five nuns are living in the convent, with a sixth arriving from Brazil soon. None of them, including the abbess, are vaccinated against Covid-19. “We are all in excellent health and are not elderly. Besides, should I have to oblige my sisters to get vaccinated?”

The abbess calls herself a woman of science. “Before taking my vows, I worked in the field of scientific research.” She argues furthermore that, as a secluded monastery, the nuns have very little contact with the public. “The only possible contact would be in the church, which we open to the congregation for Mass, but at those times, we remain behind the grate in our cloistered area.”

The Mother Superior says that she does not know why there was an inspection in the first place. “I found out about it from Cardinal Bassetti, Archbishop of Perugia.” The Mother Superior went to the cardinal to sign a document. There, she was told that she could not do that since her convent was under investigation. “The Cardinal did not know why there was an investigation either.”

The Catholic News Agency reports that the Mother Superior does not think that the possible closure was due to the small number of nuns, although Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic constitution Vultum Dei quaerere encourages small monasteries to close or federate.

In a press release, the archdiocese of Perugia-Città della Pieve noted that at this moment, nothing can be known for certain “about the imminent closure of the monastery, much less on the fact that the reason for a possible closure is due to the non-vaccination of the nuns present there against COVID-19.”

The archdiocese denied “journalistic insinuations” that the nuns were being transferred because they refused to undergo vaccination.

The Vatican is in support of Covid-19 vaccines. Earlier, the Pope defined vaccination as “an act of love” and a “moral obligation”.