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Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, This AIM newsletter announces internal developments within AIM: new statutes, new committees, etc., as well as some news from the communities. Two projects supported by AIM are presented to demonstrate its concrete support for the communities. Newsletters on the website: https://www.aimintl.org/en/communication/newsletters

The 104th Assembly of Major Superiors was held in Rome from 26 to 28 November 2025. The theme of the assembly was: ‘Connected Faith: Living Prayer in the Digital Age’. All documents are available on the USG website: https://www.usgroma.org/en/

Father Martin Neyt, a monk at Clerlande Monastery (Congregation of the Annunciation, Belgium), passed away during the night of 25 November 2025. Monk since 1963, he was president of AIM from 1997 to 2013. Father Martin was appointed president of the AIM in 1997, at a time when the new Abbot Primate, Marcel Rooney, was restructuring the AIM to better adapt it to the international service that this organisation is called upon to provide. His secretary general was Father Jacques Côté (Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Quebec), followed by Sister Gisela Happ (Eibingen, Germany) (2001-2016); Sister Placid Dolores Luz joined the Secretariat in 2005 (2005-2020). The Secretariat grew and became an effective tool at the service of the foundations that continued to spring up and develop. Several facets of AIM gradually developed and became organised: the International Team, formation, the newsletter, visits to monasteries, and regional, national and international entities. 50th anniversary of the AIM celebrated at Ligugé Abbey. Father Martin had the joy of organising the 50th anniversary of the AIM in 2011. Throughout his time as president of the AIM, Father Martin paid particular attention to the newsletter. Starting with the 2000 issues, the newsletter featured in-depth articles on various monastic themes written by different authors: Lectio, government, formation, as well as chronicles of monasteries and various news items related to monastic life and the life of the Church and the world. Meeting in 2006 to prepare the AIM Bulletin. The AIM website was set up under Father Martin's presidency. The Jean XXIII Centre, founded in 2005 at the monastery of Vanves and now closed, long welcomed nuns for their theological studies in Paris. The AIM therefore owes a great deal to Father Martin. On the 50th anniversary of the AIM, he wrote: ‘Tie your boat to the ships of your Fathers,’ repeated a Father from Egypt living in Gaza. The challenges of our time cause every monk or nun, every community, to undergo serious trials, specific to the human condition and often amplified by the media of our time: sexual deviance and paedophilia, violence that can lead to genocide, the cruel gap between rich and poor, the export of young vocations to other continents, the temptation to use monasteries for self-fulfilment through studies or other activities, and the appeal of religious status complete the list of deadly sins. Life processes are there to distance oneself from the turmoil of the world, to welcome others in a fair and respectful manner, to transcend the compartmentalised perspectives of social or cultural identity. The trials of communities today are as formidable as those of the past, although very different. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Building together the Body of Christ and making mutual love a school of service to the Lord are unmistakable signs. But the road is long, and AIM, like the Good Samaritan, accompanies, discerns, takes risks, and constantly recalls the heart of the monastic tradition. The communities have to earn their daily bread, seek guidance and advice from competent people, and work together to sell monastic products. There are many challenges to be met and new tasks to be accomplished: the long journey of self-discovery, right relationships with others, building on a human scale (rather than grandiose and costly projects), welcoming the poor and needy, and supporting the development of the population surrounding the monastery. Thus, humbly, AIM was created and is developing in a changing world where each community does not choose its context, but seeks to forge its identity as best it can. It is there to contribute to the construction of a new world. Multiplying local contacts, it takes up the first words of the Benedictine Rule: ‘Listen, my son, to the precepts...’. Listening remains essential; it encourages the discovery of others, removes ambiguities and misunderstandings in communication, establishes genuine dialogue, and aims to create an alliance while respecting each person's autonomy.” May he rest in peace and reap the fruits of his labour. See also: https://osb.org/2025/12/02/obituary-father-martin-neyt-osb-former-president-of-aim/

The community of Rougemont (Canada), in thanksgiving, celebrated the solemn profession of Brother Joseph-Aimé , which took place on Sunday, November 16, 2025. Surrounded by many young friends, our community immersed itself in this beautiful liturgy of monastic consecration, which renews each of us in the great yes to Christ, the ideal of the monk. We also take this opportunity to thank each and every one of those who held our community and our Abbot in prayer during his convalescence. Once again, we have witnessed the power of prayer in his almost miraculous recovery. May you all be blessed. Youtube 1: https://youtu.be/obBW3Xaox6o Youtube 2: https://youtu.be/oXKdKD1PDbE ocist.org https://abbayederougemont.org/

On November 24th, 2025 during a solemn Mass, celebrated by the Most Reverend Bishop Lee, the diocesan bishop, and in the presence of Dom Francisco Yoshimoto Kunihiko, Abbot of Phare and Father Immediate, the simple priory of Sujong (Rep. of Korea) was officialy elevated as an abbey , according to the decision of the General Chapter 2025. Mother Emmanuel Hong was elected the first Abbess of the Community on 26th November 2025 for a term of six years. Mother Emmanuel was born in 1966 in Jeju (Republic of Korea), entered Sujong in 1994 and made solemn profession in 2001. She was titular prioress of the community from 2020 until now. ocso.org

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/

On November 22, 2025, on the eve of Solemnity of Christ the King, Sister Helene Amblaye made solemn profession at the monastery of Mvanda (RD of Congo). Sister Helene was born in 1980 in Bokoro (RD of Congo). She entered Mvanda in 2015 and made her first profession in 2018. ocso.org

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 thought that his namesake Pope Leo XIV might take things up and invited him – and to our great surprise and joy he accepted. We had two months or so to prepare, and prepare we did, by fixing a few features of Sant’Anselmo, preparing a dignified Benedictine liturgy, sprucing up our sacristy and remembering what the Popes have meant for our house in the past. Pope Leo XIV stopped here on the way back from a day of rest at Castel Gandolfo. He appeared relaxed and in a very good mood, as befitted our liturgy, which, in the best Benedictine manner, was solemn but without the rigidity some invariably associate with Papal Masses. This may well have been the first time that a Roman Pontiff celebrated Mass at Sant’Anselmo. We know that John XXIII and John Paul II came to the house, but they did not preside over a Eucharist. The Mass was transmitted live on several channels and can still be found on YouTube. I would like to highlight two elements from the homily delivered by Pope Leo XIV on 11 November that touched me in a particular way. The first is the image of the heart. The Pope spoke of Sant’Anselmo as “a reality that should aspire to become a beating heart in the great body of the Benedictine world.” To be honest, I would not have dared to express it in that way, for two reasons. The first has to do with Benedictine sensitivity. At first, the foundation of Sant’Anselmo and of the Benedictine Confederation did not meet enthusiasm everywhere. Not long ago, the archivist of Göttweig showed me correspondence from 1913 in which several abbots hoped that the imminent death of Abbot Primate de Hemptinne might provide an opportunity to “dismantle” a Confederation they considered an un-Benedictine enterprise. History took another direction, and today the existence of both the Confederation and our house in Rome is regarded almost everywhere as a blessing. Yet we should never obscure a simple fact: Real Benedictine life takes place in the monasteries themselves, in the large abbeys and the small priories, in communities scattered across so many regions of the world. My second hesitation comes from a warning frequently given by Pope Francis. The late Pope often cautioned us against developing a “headquarters mentality,” urging us instead to look toward the peripheries. I always found this very helpful. In any centre of governance — perhaps even here in the Roman Curia — there is a temptation to imagine that what happens there is what truly matters. In the world of politics this may be the case in Washington, Paris, or Palazzo Chigi, but the Church lives in its members, not in a headquarters. The real centre is Christ, not Rome. For these reasons I listened to Pope Leo’s words with some apprehension. And yet, the Pope did speak them, and they are beautiful words, valuable words. He himself linked the image of the heart with the biblical image of the temple from which living waters flow, bringing life and fruitfulness. There is truth in this, I thought, and we should not hide the light of Sant’Anselmo. Sure, we are not an international headquarters in a military or administrative sense. But we are a place of encounter and experience, a place where relationships are woven, where ideas born in our Benedictine world can be shared and disseminated. The image of the heart evokes the circulation of blood: a shared vitality, an energy that does not exhaust itself but can reach even the most remote parts of the Benedictine world. In this sense, I want to affirm with joy and enthusiasm what Pope Leo said a week ago. A second element of the homily struck me deeply: the Pope’s phrase that from its origins, monasticism has been “a frontier reality.” He wrote: “Indeed, men and women have always been pushed by their monastic vocation to plant centres of prayer, work, and charity in the most remote and difficult places, often transforming desolate regions into fertile and flourishing landscapes, agriculturally, economically, and above all spiritually”. For me, this resonated with Pope Francis’s theme of the periphery. Pope Leo expressed this in terms of “frontiers”. It reminded me of the German-American philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich. He himself was a Grenzgänger, one who lives on the frontier, and he developed the theological concept of Grenzüberschreitung, the crossing or overcoming of boundaries. For Tillich, the human being always lives at the boundary between the finite and the infinite, the conditioned and the unconditioned, time and eternity, the self and the Other. The boundary is not a wall but a theological place, where human finitude encounters the divine. Revelation itself is the supreme boundary-crossing: God transcends the distance toward humanity, and humanity is made capable of transcending toward God. The Incarnation is the decisive moment when the boundary between divine and human is traversed. In Christ, Tillich sees the “New Being,” in whom all essential boundaries are crossed: between Creator and creation, heaven and earth, eternity and time, sacred and profane, pure and impure, the chosen people and the nations. The Resurrection is the crossing of the final frontier, death itself. The Church, for Tillich, is the community that continues this movement beyond all boundaries — geographical, linguistic, cultural, political, religious. As you know, I come from the tradition of the Missionary Benedictines, and this reflection has been deeply meaningful for us when considering our missionary vocation. Pope Leo’s words now also made me rethink monastic life itself in the light of this boundary-crossing. Community life is already a movement beyond the isolation of the individual; our monastic vows express this even more clearly: Obedience means transcending self-will; stability is going beyond inner agitation and unrest; poverty is going beyond the security we want to construct for ourselves; and chastity means to overcome our impulse to possess the other. In this sense, the description of monasticism as a frontier reality is incredibly rich. Thank you, Pope Leo! Dom Jeremias Schröder, Abbot primate © Vatican Media.

Mother Paola Pavoletti, abbess of Humocaro (Archdiocese of Barquisimeto, Venezuela) since 2008, having reached the retirement age mentioned in ST 40.A of the Constitutions, presented her resignation to the Abbot General. The Abbot General, with the consent of his Council, accepted the resignation, which became effective on 1 November 2025. On 22 November 2025, the community elected Sister Sonia Timaure Rodríguez as abbess for a six-year term. Mother Sonia was born in 1964 in Venezuela. She entered Humocaro in 1996 and made her solemn profession in 2002. At the time of her election, she was the prioress of the community. ocso.org

On November 23, 2025, Solemnity of Christ the King, Sister Emily Mostajo made solemn profession at the monastery of Matutum (Philippines). Sister Emily was born in 1970 in Urdaneta, Pangasinan (Philippines). She entered Matutum in 2017 and made her first profession in 2020. ocso.org

• 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 Congregation of Austria celebrated its 400-year anniversary. The Congregation was started by the abbeys themselves, against fierce resistance from bishops and others. The monasteries – some of the oldest continuously inhabitated ones in the entire order – have learned resilience. Ad multos annos! • On Oct 17, Abbot Marcus Voss of Saint Bernard’s Abbey in Cullman, Alabama (American Cassinese Congregation) resigned. Prior Br. Brendan Seipel has taken over the leadership for the time being. osb.org Die Äbte der Österreichischen Kongregation. Cf. osb.org

An initiative inspired by a meeting between the Sisters of Matutum and M. Eleanor Campion during her 2024 visit: https://colloquium.trappistinesmatutum.org/ ocso.org