NEWS
of the Benedictine Confederation
and the Cistercian Family

7 March 2026 Fr. Stefan Geiger OSB Preside Pontifical Institute of Liturgy Sant'Anselmo Ateneo Some time ago, Bishop Aldo Berardi, Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, requested a continuing education course for his clergy from the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy. Now we have arrived—and for the time being, we cannot leave. Together with our Guestmaster, Fr. Benoit Alloggia OSB, I traveled to Kuwait for this course; an additional three days in Bahrain were planned. However, as

Abbot Javier Aparicio Suárez OSB Abbot President Congregation of Sankt Ottilien News of Cuba has been flooding the newspapers for weeks. Following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that “the next country to fall will be the Cuban regime”. There is no doubt that life for Cubans has become even more difficult since then, if that is possible... But if they fall, it will not be “from very high”, as the situation in recent

In my homeland, Carnival is quite important; in Rome, it plays no role, and even in the Holy Land, where I spent last weekend, Valentine's Day seems to be more important across religious lines than our Catholic pre-Lenten traditions. My days in Israel were intense. I met with the seven Benedictine communities and the Trappist monks. Five monasteries have a French background, two a German one, and then there are the Benedictine nuns from the Philippines – so English and French

On 14 February, Richard Moth was installed as Archbishop of Westminster, England. He is an Oblate of Pluscarden (Subiaco Cassinese Congregation). On 2 February, Abbot Primate Jeremias Schröder established an International Secretariat for the Benedictine Secular Oblates and appointed Dr. Roberto Lomolino, Oblate of Sant’Anselmo, as its Secretary General. He works closely with Abbot Jean-Pierre Longeat, the Abbot Primate's Delegate for the Oblates. The Secretariat's main tasks

On the afternoon of Ash Wednesday, 18 February 2026, the Primatial Abbey of Sant’Anselmo welcomed Pope Leo to the Aventine Hill to begin the Church’s “campaign of Christian service.” Received by Abbot Primate Jeremias Schröder OSB and the Prior of Sant’Anselmo, Brendan Coffey OSB, the Holy Father joined the two major religious communities residing in Rome for the commencement of the Statio prayers. In the late afternoon, the assembly began its penitential procession to the B

The annual pre-Lenten “Abbots Workshop” was held at Tepeyac Abbey in Mexico City. From 2-6 February, 25 superiors of monastic communities met to hear presentations by David Schellenberger, president and chief executive of the Saint John Vianney Behavioral Health Center in Pennsylvania on “Caring for Yourself as You Care for Your Brothers”. Mr. Schellenberger provided a series of presentations that engaged those present on perspectives regarding the care of spirit, mind and bo

Dear Oblates, Dear brothers and sisters in the Benedictine family, Warm greetings from Rome! For us monks, the last few decades have been outwardly quite stable. Among the Benedictine nuns, however, there have been significant developments, and we expect further steps toward consolidation in the near future. The oblate movement also has developed considerably. Impressive oblate communities have emerged in Asia and Africa, and five World Congresses since 2005 have fostered an

On Sunday, 15 February 2026, on the anniversary of the dedication of the church of the monastery of Our Lady of Koubri (Burkina Faso), Sister Nok-Wende Judith Maria Laetitia will make her solemn profession during the Eucharist presided over by Archbishop Prosper Kontiebo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Ouagadougou, at 9 a.m.

The monastic community and the metropolitan city of Turin are celebrating the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Novalesa Abbey (Italy). It was on 30 January 726, in the middle of winter, when Abbone launched the foundation of the abbey: 1300 years have passed, and the Benedictine monastery has experienced periods of varying importance in the history of the Alps, until 1972, when the province of Turin bought it from Convitto Umberto I in order to prevent it from falling i

The monastic community of São Geraldo Abbey in São Paulo, Brazil, has elected Dom Geraldo González y Lima, OSB, as its fourth abbot. The election took place on 15 January 2026, coinciding with the liturgical memorial of Saints Maurus and Placid, the first disciples of Saint Benedict. Dom Geraldo succeeds to the abbatial chair of this community, a member of the Hungarian Congregation, after two decades of distinguished service to the wider confederation in Rome. Born in Hava

Twice a year, three Benedictine finance experts meet in Rome to oversee and evaluate Sant’Anselmo's financial situation, offering feedback and recommendations. On 2 February, the outgoing Finance Commission met with the new members and our in-house administrative staff. Abbot emeritus Norberto Villa of Praglia (Italy) and Br. Ansgar Stüfe of Münsterschwarzach (Germany) took their leave after many years of service on the commission. Fr. Luke Turner of Atchison (USA) will remai

On behalf of the Benedictine Confederation, Abbot Primate Jeremias Schröder congratulates Bishop Manuel Nin Güell on his appointment as Exarch of the Territorial Abbey of Grottaferrata. Grottaferrata is the only monastery of the Order of Basilian Monks in Italy. It is a territorial abbey and an exarchical monastery—that is, the superior holds episcopal rank. The monks follow the Rule of Saint Basil the Great, who was greatly admired and quoted by Saint Benedict. Pope Leo XIII

On 12 and 13 January 2026, the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila (Philippines) celebrated the centenary of the consecration of its abbey church. The solemn Mass on Tuesday 13 January was presided over by the Abbot President, Father Ignaci M. Fossas. https://www.benedettinisublacensicassinesi.org/ https://montserratmanila.org/

With great joy, shortly before Christmas, we learned that the Italian abbess Noemi Scarpa OSB of the Abbey of Bastia Umbra was appointed on 15 December as Pontifical Commissioner for the monastery of Tor de’ Specchi. Tor de’ Specchi is the monastery of the *Oblates of Saint Frances of Rome*, a Benedictine foundation established by the saint in 1433. The previous pontifical commissioner had shown little understanding of Benedictine tradition and most recently, in September, ex

I am writing these lines on the feast of the Epiphany. The Holy Year ended today, and at the same time a gathering of cardinals is beginning here in Rome, at which Pope Leo will presumably discuss some guiding ideas of his pontificate. We are quite eager to see what emerges. The political events of recent days have once again made it clear that we are living at a turning point in history. What will the role of us Catholics be? Everywhere we are loyal citizens of our states, b

Following discussions during the extraordinary canonical visit currently underway in the Flemish-Dutch Province, Thomas Quartier requested and obtained dispensation from his monastic vows and diaconal obligations. Therefore, the Abbot President of the Congregation no longer has any jurisdiction in this matter. https://www.benedettinisublacensicassinesi.org/comunicati/

Bulletin of Abbot Primate The biggest event – not just of the past month but really for a long time – was the visit of Pope Leo XIV here at Sant’Anselmo on 11 November. The occasion was the 125th anniversary of the dedication of our abbey church in 1900. At that time, Pope Leo XIII surely would have wanted to be there, but as the Roman question, i.e., the relationship between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy, had not yet been resolved, he couldn’t leave the Vatican. We t

• On 19 November, Fr. Laurentius Eschlböck of Schottenstift in Vienna, of the Austrian Congregation, was reappointed as vice-rector of Sant’Anselmo Atheneum, a function he held already earlier. • On 4 November, the General Chapter of the Slav Congregation re-elected Abbot Jeronim Marin of Cocovac in Croatia as Abbot President, for another four-year term. The Chapter coincided with the 80th anniversary of the Congregation, established in 1945. • On 27 October, the Benedictine

On 1 November 2025, All Saints' Day, During the celebration presided over by Bishop Dom Celso Antônio Marchiori at 10 a.m., the community of Benedictine nuns at the monastery of Encontro (Mandirituba, Brazil) will have the joy of celebrating the 60th anniversary of the monastery's foundation and the golden jubilee of Mother Teresa Paula Dias Perdigão's monastic profession. The Encontro community is part of the Benedictine congregation ‘Queen of Apostles’. It was founded in 19

Great joy for the Sisters of the Servants of the Poor in Brive-la-Gaillarde (France): On 16 September 2025, Bishop Eric Bidot of Tulle came to bless the first stone of the chapel! After three years in Brive-la-Gaillarde, this blessing further roots the Servants of the Poor in this beautiful diocese of Tulle. They give thanks to God and pray with great gratitude for the benefactors who made the construction of this chapel possible. In addition to the members of the clergy who