Rorate Caeli

Pope suppresses abbey of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

The Cistercian abbey linked to the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), the Sessorian Basilica, one of the seven most relevant basilicas in Rome, has been suppressed by a decree of the Congregation for Religious (Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), approved by the Holy Father, following the results of an Apostolic Visitation - which itself was a result of years of serious problems, including significant liturgical abuses. (Source: multiple reports - see G.Galeazzi; A.Tornielli.) The former abbot and other monks had already been removed two years ago (see M. Tosatti); the remaining Cistercians will be relocated to different abbeys.

We hope this is only the beginning of the resolution of the extremely relevant problems in religious houses around the world.

The Cistercians had been at Santa Croce for nearly five centuries.