Two years have passed since the decree issued by the Vatican which led to the removal from Bose of Enzo Bianchi and new details reveal how on the former prior of the Community – now married in a new farmhouse a few kilometers from Bose – the ax of the Holy See also concerns his activity as a lecturer around the Italian dioceses. A letter from the Vatican secretary of state Pietro Parolin sent to the Italian bishops, dated January 2020 and published by Tomorrowin fact, it contains an explicit invitation to consider whether Bianchi’s presence in diocesan training and preaching initiatives is appropriate.
The decree with which the Holy See had expelled Bianchi from his community explained that “after his spontaneous resignation from the office of prior” Bianchi himself “showed that he had not actually renounced the government, interfering in various ways, continuously and seriously on the management of the same community and causing a serious division in fraternal life “. And again: “he placed himself above the rule of the community and the evangelical needs required by them, exercising his own moral authority in an improper, disrespectful and unseemly way towards the brothers of the community, causing scandal”. But in his letter, Parolin goes further, stating that “in the time that has elapsed from the singular decree to date, further testimonies and documents have reached the secretariat of state which have made it possible to have an overall picture of the management of authority and behavior in various areas of Br. Enzo Bianchi, even more serious than what already occurred during the apostolic visit “. Exactly what are the most serious behaviors, however, is not specified.
Only a few days ago Bianchi announced his definitive move to a farmhouse in Albiano d’Ivrea to “live as a cenobite monk and not a hermit”. He explained: “After a little less than two years of exile from the community I started and in which I lived for fifty-five years and not being able to return to Bose to finish my days as a monk in fraternal life, I bought with the help of friends and through a ten-year mortgage a farmhouse in the municipality of Albiano, where I can live the last years of my life in peace “. And again: “Once the necessary renovations have been completed in order to make it habitable, this farmhouse will be a house that will welcome those who want to live with me, friends and guests who will look for a place of silence, dialogue and hospitality”.
Bianchi, who in recent months has toured some Italian dioceses for conferences, explained the meaning of the opening of this new house: “Whoever gives birth to a child cannot regenerate him or make him be born again,” he said. And again: “Each child is in a certain sense unique and I do not intend to remake the community that began with me, nor to found a new canonically recognized religious community. I just want to live as a cenobite monk and not a hermit as I have always lived. as we do we will see what the Lord has in store for us and what the Holy Spirit will suggest to us “.
Certainly Parolin’s letter admits no doubts about what the Vatican thinks about its immediate future. The hope of the Holy See seems to be for a substantially hermit retreat, far from the long-pursued activity of a lecturer esteemed by the bishops and loved by many faithful.