Vatican expels ‘rebel nuns’ for refusing to leave Italian monastery

Anthony Zara — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 16:49:46 +0000

Two nuns told they ‘disobeyed the church’ by trying to stay at seven-centuries-old site in Ravello

^{Massimiliana Panza, left, and Angela Maria Punnackal. Photograph: Emiliano Amato/Quotidiano Costiera}

The Guardian – The Vatican has expelled two cloistered sisters from the nunhood after the pair disobeyed a request to leave a seven-centuries-old monastery along Italy’s Amalfi coast.

Known in the clifftop town of Ravello as “the rebel nuns”, Massimiliana Panza and Angela Maria Punnackal left the Santa Chiara monastery on Saturday after receiving a letter signed by Pope Francis telling them they were being relieved of “the obligations of sacred ordination”.

^{For the past decade, the monastery and its cloistered community – described as representing an important slice of Ravello’s history – has been home to only three nuns. Photograph: Emiliano Amato/Quotidiano Costiera}

For the past decade, the monastery and its cloistered community – described as representing an important slice of Ravello’s history – has been home to only three nuns: Panza, Punnackal and Maria Cristina Fiore, a 97-year-old sister who has lived there since 1955.

The three were asked to transfer to another monastery or convent after the Vatican conducted an inspection of its various properties and concluded that there were too few residents at Santa Chiara to warrant the community being maintained.

ravello - Panoram Italia

Vatican expels ‘rebel nuns’ for refusing to leave Italian monastery