Pope Leo has granted the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life new powers allowing it to authorise diocesan bishops to dismiss the superiors of monasteries under canon law in cases involving serious disciplinary matters.
The new faculty was confirmed in a Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi approved by the Pope on 25 March and published on 28 May. The decree, signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, stated that the measure had also enjoyed the favour of Pope Francis before his death.
The rescript concerns cases under canon 699 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, which governs the dismissal of professed religious from institutes of consecrated life for grave causes. Under the new arrangement, the Dicastery for Religious may now permit the competent diocesan bishop to issue a decree dismissing a professed religious who is himself the major superior of a monastery.
The text stated: “The Supreme Pontiff Leo XIV… granted the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life the faculty to authorise the competent diocesan Bishop to issue the decree of dismissal referred to in canon 699 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, in the case in which the professed member to be dismissed is the Major Superior of the monastery.”
The measure came into force immediately upon publication and will later appear in the official Acta Apostolicae Sedis following publication in L’Osservatore Romano.
The Dicastery for Religious, headed by Sister Simona Brambilla as prefect and Sister Tiziana Merletti as secretary, oversees religious orders and institutes throughout the Catholic Church. The rescript is likely to be viewed as part of a broader Vatican effort to streamline disciplinary procedures involving religious communities, particularly in cases where governance disputes or allegations against superiors have created institutional paralysis.
Canon 699 allows for the dismissal of religious who are judged guilty of “grave external violations” of ecclesiastical law or religious obligations. In ordinary cases, dismissal procedures are handled internally by the institute itself, with decrees requiring confirmation from the Holy See. Cases involving the superior of a monastery, however, have often proved more legally complex because of the superior’s authority within the community and the lack of a higher internal authority capable of executing disciplinary measures directly.
The rescript also appeared to clarify procedures connected to the laicisation of religious through petition, an issue that has become increasingly prominent in recent years as the Vatican has sought clearer canonical mechanisms for handling disciplinary and governance crises within religious institutes.
The publication of the decree follows several years of Vatican intervention in monasteries and religious communities across Europe and the Americas amid allegations ranging from financial mismanagement to spiritual abuse and failures of governance.
Under Pope Francis, the Holy See increasingly relied on apostolic visitations, commissaries and direct intervention by Vatican dicasteries to address internal disputes within contemplative and religious communities.
