From Italian website Silere non Possum - excerpts:
"Just a few days ago, a letter was sent from Piazza Pio XII to the Cistercian community of Heiligenkreuz, the historic Austrian abbey which today represents one of the few authentic examples of monastic renewal in Europe. The letter announces an Apostolic Visitation by the Dicastery — a strong and clear signal, behind which looms the shadow of Mauro Giuseppe Lepori.
"Behind this move by the Dicastery lies the controversial figure of Mauro Giuseppe Lepori, Abbot General of the Cistercian Order, who has long pursued a personal and obstinate crusade against those within his own religious family who dare to walk paths different from his own. Well known for his ties to Communion and Liberation circles, his thinly-veiled ambition to become a bishop, and his tireless participation in conferences, Lepori has done everything in his power to place under commissionership those religious communities that do not reflect his model — even without concrete evidence or accusations. ...
"Heiligenkreuz is a clear example: a flourishing, youthful community, deeply rooted in liturgy and monastic life, with a real impact on families, students, and the faithful. In an age of vocational desertification, such an abbey should be imitated and admired, not persecuted.
...
"But the issue here is not just Lepori. The real problem is that the Dicastery is now led by two women who embrace and promote a suspicious, homogenising vision towards any form of success in religious life — especially where fidelity to tradition is joined to pastoral vitality.
"The Brambilla-Merletti duo risks turning the Dicastery into an instrument of ideological repression, where Apostolic Visitations are not tools of discernment but political weapons used to demolish what doesn’t conform.
"In a Church that all too often takes refuge in abstraction or compromise, abbeys like Heiligenkreuz are uncomfortable beacons. Too much liturgy? Too much Latin? Too many young men in habits? For some, perhaps yes. Maybe that's exactly why Heiligenkreuz is under attack." [source]
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This is grave for what it reveals: that the Dicastery for Religious plans to continue the ideological persecution of traditional foundations. Is Leo XIV behind this, as Francis was? Or is it the lingering of Francis' ideas? Or is it supposed to be a “positive” development?…
We will know it soon, and we will let you know.
