“This decision of ecclesiastical closure is carried out as a result of an internal administrative process of the Church, which originated in a pastoral visit to the Monastery; this being done in accordance with the powers conferred by the Code of Canon Law, whose result and conclusions were endorsed by the Congregation for the Institutes of Religious Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in Rome,” the Diocese of Cartago said in a statement.
Monasterio San José was founded eight years ago under the leadership of Bishop José Francisco Ulloa Rojas, who retired in 2017. The monks charged that the current bishop, Bishop Mario Enrique Quirós Quirós, has “persecuted them for years to ‘eliminate’ their ‘presence’ in the diocese and take from them their monastery grounds,” according to the report.
