Pope Leo authorizes bishops to remove superiors of autonomous monasteries

(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday issued a new regulation allowing a diocesan bishop to dismiss the major superior of an autonomous monastery.

The Vatican rescript, signed by Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, grants the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life “the authority to authorize the competent diocesan Bishop to issue the decree of dismissal,” according to the document Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi.

Catholic podcaster Ryan Grant called it “one the most revolutionary changes in the history of the Church.”

Fellow traditional Catholic podcaster Dr. Taylor Marshall called it “wild.”

The rescript notes that Pope Francis had already expressed support for the change to canon law. 

The new allowance is issued under canon 699 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, regarding “the decree of dismissal from an institute, for a grave cause, of a temporarily or perpetually professed member.”

In 2022, Pope Francis modified Can. 699 §2 so that the power to dismiss a member of an autonomous monastery was relegated to the monastery’s major superior rather than the local bishop.

The new rule could have momentous consequences for independent monasteries, especially for traditional ones, given that diocesan bishops are not infrequently ill-disposed toward traditional Catholic practices, such as the Traditional Latin Mass. 

This month, in the U.K., the Priests of the Association of the Family of Mary Immaculate and St. Francis, better known as the Marian Franciscans, a traditional community, will be dissolved following pushback from their local bishop. Andrew McKenzie, who was ordained Bishop of Dunkeld on August 10, 2024, informed the friars in February 2025 that they would need to leave the diocese. 

Grant believes the purpose of the document is to “remove [the] canonical process which defends the rights of religious orders so as to crush the remnants of the contemplative orders.”

He also believes the rescript was issued to fulfill the wishes of Pope Francis.