Monastery of San Bernardo in Salta, Argentina / Photo credit: AICA
The Discalced Carmelite sisters of the monastery of San Bernardo in Salta, Argentina, signed an agreement with the local archbishop, Mario Antonio Cargnello, on August 27 in response to the conflict caused by alleged Marian apparitions and a complaint by the nuns against the prelate, which the archdiocese denies, accusing him of gender violence.
Cardinal Joo Braz De Aviz, prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said in a statement published on September 3 that the agreement “is the fruit of the spirit of conciliation that the parties have shown in responding to the call of the Holy Father Francis made through Dr. D. Javier Belda Iniesta.”
The Holy Father appointed Father Belda Iniesta as his delegate “to help restore fraternal dialogue between the two institutions, always respecting the autonomy of the secular world and the powers that belong to the bishop, the competent dicastery, and the prioress of the community.”
Belda Iniesta is the canon lawyer representing the bishop emeritus of Oran, Gustavo Zanchetta, who was convicted of sexual assault and is now serving his sentence in a convent in Argentina while under house arrest.
In the agreement, the parties accept the delegate as guarantor of the decisions adopted, for which the dicastery suspended “the decision to appoint an Apostolic Assistant until April 1, 2023, the date on which the guarantor will report on the effective fulfilment of the signed agreements.”
Among the principal conditions of the agreement is that the archbishop will select a delegate for the election of the prioress or superior of the monastery, who will then recommend a priest for approval by the archbishop as chaplain.
In addition, the agreement stipulates that the monastery would publish an annual financial report and that each sister will be permitted to “practice the particular devotions that she wishes,” always bearing in mind “the obligation to preserve communion with the Church and promote its common good.”
On April 26, the apostolic nunciature in Buenos Aires announced the conclusion of the apostolic visit or investigation, which had been properly conducted by Martn De Elizalde, the retired bishop of Santo Domingo, and the Reverend Sister Isabel Guiroy at the San Bernardo convent, according to a Vatican statement at the time.
The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life determined that the Carmelite Sisters of Salta “should not in any way become involved in activities linked to the so-called spiritual work ‘I am the Immaculate Mother of the Divine Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and I am the Most Sacred Eucharistic Heart of Jesus’ and support this activity.’”
The aforementioned spiritual “work,” also known as the “Virgin of the Hill,” relates to the supposed apparitions of the Mother of God and Jesus Christ to the parishioner of Salta, Mara Livia Galliano de Obeid, since 1990 and which continue, according to legend.
The Church does not recognise these claimed apparitions.
The dicastery subsequently stated that “it awaits the bishop of the place, or through him the competent Congregation of the Apostolic See, to discern the veracity of (the apparitions) and authorize the (devotional) practices in this context.”
The statement issued by the Vatican on September 3 did not address the veracity of the apparitions.
On April 12, three Discalced Carmelite nuns from Salta filed a formal complaint with the Office of Family and Gender Violence with the Salta Judiciary against Cargnello for allegedly committing “gender violence” and harassment against the prioress and the sisters.
In response to the allegation, a local court ordered the presence of police outside the monastery, a ruling that is now invalid.
At that time, Eduardo Jess Romani, an attorney for the archdiocese, said to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency, that the complaint filed with the Family and Gender Violence Court No. 3 “is generic and none of the facts constitute gender violence.”
“Moral and economic violence is foisted on (Archbishop Cargnello). Clearly this situation does not exist nor is it documented in the file,” he stated.
The lawyer explained that the complaint would have had as “background the relationship with the so-called ‘Virgin of the Hill,’” the alleged Marian apparitions that are not approved by the Church.