The Dispatch: More from CWR...

Bianchi and the lost identity of the community of Bose

Built upon the hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture, the ecumenical community in Italy is not an authentic monastic community.

Pope Francis meets with Enzo Bianchi, founder and former prior of the ecumenical Monastery of Bose, at the Vatican in this Jan. 12, 2019, file photo. Following an apostolic visitation of the northern Italian monastery, the Vatican ordered Bianchi and three other members to leave the community. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

What has happened to the community of Bose since April of last year?

As of January 30, 2022, after the general council, the monastic community of Bose has elected a new prior, Sabino Chialà, who has been with the community since 1989. Br. Chialà is a scholar of Hebrew and Syriac and a specialist of the Christian orient of the first centuries and of the Desert Fathers, and is the author of numerous articles and conference papers. In a recent interview, the new prior—only the second prior, following the founder, Br. Enzo Bianchi—when asked what he thinks of contemporary monasticism, religious life in general, and the rapidly shrinking number of religious, responded:

Often, we talk about the “crisis” of monasticism or of religious life, and we think of the decreasing numbers. Instead, I believe, that the real crisis is that of identity.

This invites the question: Will the new prior bring a new identity to Bose and be in line with the millennia-old Catholic monastic tradition? The crisis of Bose is indeed a crisis of identity. Will the new prior bring peace and unity to this experimental mixed monastic community? Will the election of the new prior end the two-year-long turmoil which has put the community and its founder Bianchi on the spot?

Bose’s founder, Bianchi, who was ordered by a Pontifical Decree (May 13, 2020) to permanently leave the community of Bose, has purchased and is now renovating a farmhouse and a large piece of land in Albiano of Ivrea, in the province of Turin, about eight miles from Bose. The house is of considerable size and monetary value; it has eighteen rooms, a courtyard, and seven hectares of land, and it is easily accessible from the highway so that the founder of Bose can continue to serve all who need hospitality, as Bianchi writes in a recent tweet while displaying his freshly baked stuffed peppers: “Come and have lunch you will find tasty dishes and we will converse in peace.”

There is no information as to who will be living with Bianchi in the restructured farmhouse. Is this a new Bose, a new community? Will Albiano be a refuge for all those brothers and sisters who might leave Bose? And where is the money for such an investment is coming from? Bose’s Rule (22) on Poverty prescribes:

You [brothers and sisters] will know poverty, [in the] first place, by placing your possessions and the remunerations of your work in total communion with others. You will hand over your salary/earnings to the brother appointed by the council, and so the earnings will no longer be yours, but the community’s. The Gospel is harsh and demanding on this point: sharing of goods, including the mantle is a prime and rudimentary requirement to follow Jesus.

Bianchi has not explained the financial sources of this new and substantial investment. One of Bianchi’s supporters and a former Bose member explains that monies have been provided:

It was done [purchased] thanks to the help of many friends, seeding the good and helping in his/her turn thousands of people for over fifty years.

Could this new investment cause a fresh scandal for Bianchi and Bose? Potentially.

Sabino Chialà is the new prior—not abbot—of Bose. St. Benedict in his rule uses prior several times. Prior is definitively a contentious position for St. Benedict, especially relating to those priors who think of themselves to be second abbot and exempt from the authority of the abbot, thus causing conflict in the community. St. Benedict uses strong language against priors; for St. Benedict, having a prior is not a good idea as all community members should obey the abba-father/abbot as adopted sons.

However, Bose does not have an abbot because it is not an authentic monastic community. Instead, it has a prior, who is:

…not greater than the others, neither a chief nor a father, neither a teacher nor a director as all these titles and functions belong to Christ alone (rule 29)

Benedict’s abbot is a father, which in Hebrew means generator, and a teacher of right doctrine; his teaching never deviates from the Lord’s instructions. Everything that he teaches is like leaven of divine justice, and like a father he bears the blame for his children. The role of prior is under that of abbot; the prior is elected by the community but has more practical, day-to-day tasks, including the economic and organizational management of a monastery. Several large abbeys still have both an abbot and a prior, with the abbot having priority.

“Monastery” Bose is a novel, post-Vatican II interpretation of monasticism which is very far from the monastic ideals of classic monasticism. Over fifty years, Bose’s has turned into a confused form of monasticism with no true monastic identity, let alone Catholic identity. Bose has contributed to post-Vatican II confusion and novel interpretations of the council’s documents. Over the years, it became a proponent of “discontinuity” and rupture with tradition; for Bose, Church tradition started with Vatican II, which gave impetus to a new Church. Bianchi, even after the two-year turmoil, is still a member of the Administrative Council of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences (Bologna School) founded by Giuseppe Alberigo, listed as:

professor emeritus of San Raffaele University of Milan, founder and former prior of the monastery of Bose and a life member of the Board of Directors.

Bianchi and Bose continued to differentiate between the ecumenical councils and the general councils, indicating that Vatican II was the start of the new Church. Bose and Bianchi became loud and popular followers of the Bologna School and of the hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture.

The confusion and danger is serious. According to Pope Benedict XVI’s December 22, 2005 address to the Roman Curia:

[The hermeneutic of discontinuity] risks ending in a split between the pre-conciliar Church and the post-conciliar Church. It asserts that the texts of the Council as such do not yet express the true spirit of the Council.

In Bose the Eucharist is not celebrated daily; the Eucharistic species are not in the tabernacle—for fear of offending the non-Catholic members of the community. The same with Eucharistic Adoration, which is absent in Bose. The same goes for the Church’s teaching about Original Sin, which is absent in Bianchi’s thinking. Catholic doctrine, according to Bianchi, does not teach or mention Original Sin. In contrast, the statements of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (390) on Original Sin are clear and precise. It sayhs that although the Fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, Genesis affirms:

a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parent

Because of these problems and others, one wonder how Bianchi and Bose continue to spread non-truth, pontificating with full support of the media machine and Roman pontiffs, from John Paul II to Benedict XVI to Pope Francis? Bianchi’s mastery of using the slogans of the day, along with his charisma, has camouflaged his secular theology, making him mostly untouchable for fifty years.

But is there any hope for Bose? As the newly elected prior has said, we must look to the concept of identity, returning to the roots of authentic monasticism. Monks must start being monks, under the structures of the Church. Authentic monasticism, as it has done in the past, has the potential to assist the Church to come out of profound crisis. If the monks return to being monks, they will illuminate the present Church with the vitality of the Church in the first millennium where the Church was strong.

Meanwhile, more than twenty brothers and sisters have left Bose since the scandal of the founder. But numbers are secondary. It is authenticity and Catholicity that matters, as Father Joseph Ratzinger prophesied in 1968: “From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge — a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning.”

Authenticity, credibility, and faith are most significant in building and fortifying the Church of tomorrow. For now, Bose is lacking in all counts.


If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.


About Ines Angeli Murzaku 29 Articles
Ines Angeli Murzaku (http://academic.shu.edu/orientalia/) is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, Director of Catholic Studies Program and the Founding Chair of the Department of Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University. She earned a doctorate of research from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome part of the Pontifical Gregorian University Consortium and has held visiting positions at the Universities of Bologna and Calabria in Italy and University of Münster in Germany. She is a regular commentator to media outlets on religious matters. She has worked for or collaborated with the Associated Press, CNN, Catholic World Report, National Catholic Register, Voice of America, Relevant Radio, The Catholic Thing, Crux, The Record, The Stream, Vatican Radio (Vatican City), and EWTN (Rome). Dr. Murzaku is currently writing a book on St. Mother Teresa entitled Mother Teresa: The Saint of the Peripheries who Became Catholicism’s Center Piece to be published by Paulist Press in 2020.

6 Comments

      • The headline, contra Crnugent, gives an idea of what follows – in accord with widely accepted headline rules. Also, you seem to want to have everything explained before everything. Reading thoughtfully requires a degree of patience.

  1. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/02/18/what-happened-to-st-maximilian-kolbes-beard-the-answer-may-surprise-you/

    Providential that the article highlighting the foundational error of denying the original sin in the community is brought to light along with the article about the relic of St.Maximilian , who was devoted to The Immaculate Conception -Feast Day this month , on 2/11 , also anniv. of resignation of the Pope Emer .; Feast of Chair of St.Peter – 2/22 ..the Pope Emer. having likely acknowledged the need for double the prayer power , in hiddenness , for The Chair , amidst the flood waters of carnal tides , its confusions and misunderstandings …
    The warmth of the smile of innocence of the Holy Father in the above , he likely having been also unaware of issues of the community at the time , conveying as his habitual goodness , the joy in trust in The Lord and His Mother as to how they can bring good out of difficult situations/ persons , thus witnessing in person his recent exhortation to overcome evil with good …

    ‘ The spark to prepare the world for the Second Coming will come from Poland ‘ – Lord’s words to St.Faustina ; St.Maximilian too from Poland , along with St.John Paul 11 – preparing the world to be set free for the Reign of The Divine Will – as Triumph of The Immaculate Heart , our hearts to be in oneness with the Divine Will that reigned in Adam and Eve before The Fall .
    The Immaculate Conception that was free of the effects of the rebellion in self will , blessing The Mother to sacrifice her will at every moment to serve the Divine Will , its blessings granted to us through the Sacraments .
    The TOB message through the preserved relic of the beard of St.Maximilian also speaking to us – Adam and Eve said to have been clothed in Light , hairs like beams of light , children to have been brought forth in holiness , its order and peace in the Divine Will , free of carnal passions ..
    interesting how our bodies depict some of the roles – facial hair of men – reminiscent of the role for Adam to have been speaking in The Word , in The Divine Will , thanking and praising The Father for the gift of creation , casting out the rebellious spirits around , tilling and guarding ..our priests fulfilling that role when speaking in Persona Christi , the Words of Consecration ..
    Eve , long hair on the head ,its beams to have likely also served as covering , to help hide the beauty as well as the glory of the motherhood role she was to be given from the envious hated filled eyes hiding around in darkness .. helping Adam in his mission to till and guard .. .
    The Holy Father ‘s concerns about the effects of our rebellion in creation , including in the Amazon , the native who came to attend the invitation , trusting that he would know the goodness in their hearts , not unlike that brother who threw the beard of St.Maximilain into the unlit stove .. the simplicity in gratitude as well as their grieving over the destruction of nature – wanting to share same with the rest of the world , for invoking deeper oneness in the desire to be caring and protective of the goodness in and around us ..
    https://www.miamiarch.org/CatholicDiocese.php?op=Article_Es-Dios-la-pachamama

    ‘ Bring them to Me ..’ message of the Vilnius Icon of Mercy ;
    Moscow – at a straight arrow distance from Vilnius ..
    May the gaze from His compassionate eyes help us all , to overcome all sorts of unneeded fears and its evils with the goodness in the Heart of The Mother ..

    O Mary conceived without sin , pray for us all !

Leave a Reply to Ann of Ohio Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*