Francis Appoints Lay Monk as Montecassino Abbot

[Stone]

Perhaps more Vatican II-esque equalizing/elevating the laity over the priests?


From gloria.tv | January 9, 2023

Francis Appoints Lay Monk as Montecassino Abbot

Francis has appointed Brother Antonio Luca Fallica, 63, hitherto prior of Dumenza Monastery, Italy, near the Swiss border, as Abbot of the famous Montecassino Monastery.

Highly unusual: Fallica is not a priest.

Last autumn, Francis rejected Father Mauritius Wilde, 56, who the monks of Montecassino had elected as their abbot. The Vatican gave some excuses, e.g. that Wilde was not an Italian.



I could be mistaken but the Catholic Encyclopedia (1907&1912) notes that an abbot must be a priest. Perhaps this too changed after Vatican II:

According to the present legislation, the Abbot is elected for life by the secret suffrages of the community’s professed members in sacris. To be eligible he must have all the qualifications required by the canons of the Church. It is furthermore necessary that he should be a priest, a professed member of the order, of legitimate birth, and at least twenty-five years of age. The election, to be valid, must be held in the manner prescribed by the common law of the Church (d. “Quia propter.-De elect.,” I, 6; and Conc. Trid., sess. XXV, c. vi, De reg.), and as determined in the statutes or constitutions of each congregation.


... The Council of Poitiers (1078) finally obliged all Abbots under pain of deprivation to receive priest’s orders. (Thomassin, Pt. I, I, iii, passim.)

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Future Abbot Ordained a Deacon – in Private

gloria.tv | February 20, 2023

Brother Luca Fallica, who belongs to the diocesan Holy Trinity Monastery of Dumenza, Italy, was ordained a deacon on Tuesday February 14, SilereNonPossum.it writes (February 19).

Fallica, who is not a Benedictine, was imposed by Francis – without any “synodality” – as the abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Montecassino whose first abbot was Saint Benedict himself.

The rite was presided in Dumenza by Auxiliary Bishop Franco Agnesi, Vicar General of Milan Archdiocese, with the participation of only a few people contrary to Canon Law. Not even the Apostolic Administrator of Montecassino was present.

It is unclear whether Fallica will also have to undergo Benedictine formation and to profess solemn vows in the Benedictine Order.