The inspection took place between October 29 and November 6 and was not free of controversy, including the fact that, following the constitution from 1990, the nuns are not allowed to have conversations without being accompanied by another sister. Since Elizalde was there trying to ascertain if there were undue psychological influences being exerted by the prioress, it was agreed that only one sister would be in the room, but the interviews were filmed.
The complaint says that, during the first three interviews with the papal envoy, they suffered “verbal abuse,” and accuses Elizalde of having acted “in a bad way” and without “objectivity.”
Yet the complaint fails to mention Guiroy, which the defense argues was so that they could press for gender violence.
A transfer, prevented
The spark that lit the fire, however, was struck on April 7, when Carganello appeared in the convent accompanied by Spaniard Loyola Pinto y de Sancristóval, ecclesiastical judge of the archdiocese of Salta. They asked for Sister María Magdalena to be authorized to go to the archdiocesan offices to meet with the prelate and a witness with the purpose of analyzing the transfer of the sister to a convent of Mendoza.
Argentina’s daily La Nacion reconstructs that, according to the ecclesiastical judicial records, Cargnello had received two letters during the summer in which the nun asked him to facilitate her transfer to a cloister near her family and under the less stringent 1991 rules.
But the prioress did not authorize this departure, arguing that Maria Magdalena was not well: she said that, in any case, the interview should take place in the convent so as not to break the rule of enclosure.
Three days later, the archbishop phoned the convent, announcing that, together with Elizalde, they would be going to the convent April 11. On this date, the prioress refused to receive them, saying that she was ill. The following day, the 18 nuns, including the sister who asked to return to her home state, presented the allegation against both bishops.
Argentina’s “Medjugorje,” at the center of the conflict
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock every year to Bosnia-Herzegovina to go to Medjugorje, a small town where the Virgin Mary has allegedly been appearing to a group of six visionaries for decades. Though the Vatican seems to be shifting to a more positive attitude towards this pilgrimage site, the phenomenon continues to be unrecognized by the Church.
The situation in Salta is relatively new compared to Medjugorje, but is not dissimilar. In Argentina’s case, the claim is that the Virgin, under the title of the “Immaculate Mother of the Divine Eucharistic Heart of Christ,” has been appearing to Maria Livia Galliano de Obeid, known to friends and foes as “Maria Livia.”
Every Saturday, with the exception of two months during the summer, Maria Livia leads a “prayer of intercession” at the top of a hill, which is considered a “shrine.” There’s a small chapel at the top of the hill, where the image of the Virgin sits at the center, and where pilgrims have left thousands of rosaries.
Since the mid-1990s, the nuns have maintained a close relationship with Maria Livia Galliano and her family and with the devotion to the “Madonna del Cerro.” They are founding members of the two institutions that administer and organize the activities related to it, and they are named in the deed of the land where the apparitions allegedly happen, which was donated to Galliano by the then-owner.
The alleged apparitions began just as Cargnello was arriving in Salta. The archdiocese has criticized the nuns for not complying with the charism of the Carmelites and for associating themselves so closely with a visionary whose claims have not been accepted by the Vatican.
The archdiocese argues that the alleged visionary acts as if she were the superior and that the nuns believe absolutely everything Galliano says, without question.
The defense’s denial
Though the two bishops and the priest named in the complaint have remained silent, the communications office of the archdiocese of Salta released a statement on Wednesday, saying that the Vatican’s embassy to Argentina had informed both the archbishop and the Carmelite sisters of the decree of completition of the apostolic visitation.
Dated March 30, the decree says that the visit “was carried out in an adequate, correct and competent manner, and that the Visitators exhaustively fulfilled the assignment given to them.”
The statement also shares the indications issued by the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
The congregation reminded the nuns that even though they enjoy autonomy, they are still “under the supervision of the diocesan bishop whose authority and action are established by law.” They are also asked not to get involved in apostolic activities such as the ones arising from the alleged Marian apparition until “the local bishop or the competent Congregation of the Apostolic See discern its veracity and authorize the practices of worship in this context.”
After reminding them that their religious community “is bound to the strict observance” of the norms, including monastic enclosure, an objection is raised against the involvement of the monastery in an initiative that goes “against the will of the bishop and the priests of the diocese, leading to a division of the local Church community and to conflicts.”
“The monastery, allowing the ‘visionary’, Mrs. Maria Livia Galiano de Obeid, to live in its own premises and allocating some spaces for pilgrims near this context, is clearly fully involved in this work, against the will of the local Church,” the Vatican’s decree warns.
“It is necessary to strongly point out that the community of the Discalced Carmelites of Salta must live fully the Carmelite charism, not a work that consequently leads to situations of tension,” says the decree. “For this reason, it is also recommended a renewed formation in the spirit of the Rule and according to the Carmelite tradition, observing its own tradition of monastic life. In dialogue with the local bishop, a stable form of regular meetings should be instituted, which would serve to confront problematic situations in a continuous way.”
The archbishop is expected to testify in the case on May 3.
Follow Inés San Martín on Twitter: @inesanma
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