Bethany Bell/BBCThree Austrian nuns in their 80s who ran away from the old people’s home where they were placed have been told they can stay in their former convent “until further notice”.
However, Church authorities say they can only stay if they stop posting on social media.
Sister Bernadette, 88, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Rita, 82, are the last nuns at the Kloster Goldenstein convent in Elsbethen, near Salzburg.
In a statement released in their name, they said they were willing to reach an agreement in principle but their legitimate claims and needs would have to be taken seriously.
They indicated they were not entirely happy with the Church’s offer, saying it had the “character of a gagging contract”.
The three nuns say they were taken out of the convent against their will in December 2023.
In September, they moved back in with the help of former students and a locksmith, angering Church officials.
The nuns’ superior, Provost Markus Grasl from Reichersberg Abbey, called on them to return to the care home, saying their decision to return to the convent was “completely incomprehensible”.
The nuns’ story sparked worldwide interest. Supporters helped them with food, electricity and social media, posting videos of the nuns’ daily lives.
These feature the nuns at prayer or at lunch, and include Sister Rita’s exercise workouts. She was recently given a pair of boxing gloves.
The Goldenstein nuns have amassed almost 100,000 followers on Instagram and several thousand on Facebook.
Now after almost three months of standoff, a spokesman for the Provost, Harald Schiffl, has told Austrian Press Agency APA that the nuns can stay for now.
It follows a meeting earlier this week, where a proposed solution to the standoff was suggested.
The nuns could stay at the Kloster Goldenstein, Harald Schiffl told APA, but only under certain conditions. These include giving up their social media activities.
Church officials also want the nuns to ensure that the enclosed part of the convent will no longer be accessible to people who do not belong to the order.
In return, they will be allowed to stay and be provided with medical care and spiritual support from a priest.
BBC/Bethany Bell“Now it’s up to the sisters,” Harald Schiffl told APA.
According to the statement released on Friday, the three sisters would have no future recourse to advice from lawyers and the requirement for them and their helpers to cease their social media activity had “no legal basis and… would deprive the sisters of their only remaining protection from the interested public”.
The three nuns have spent much of their lives at Schloss Goldenstein, a castle which has been a convent and a private girls’ school since 1877. The school, which started accepting boys in 2017, is still functioning.
Sister Bernadette attended the school herself, arriving as a teenager in 1948. One of her fellow students was Austrian actress Romy Schneider, one of the world’s biggest film stars of the 1960s and 70s.
Sister Regina arrived at the convent in 1958 and Sister Rita in 1962.
All three nuns went on to work at the school as teachers for many years. Sister Regina was headmistress.
But the numbers of nuns dwindled. In 2022, the building was taken over by the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Reicherberg Abbey, an Augustinian monastery.
Provost Markus Grasl from Reichersberg Abbey became the nuns’ superior and the community was officially dissolved at the beginning of 2024.
The remaining nuns were granted lifelong right of residence, as long as their health and mental capacity allowed.
In December 2023, the decision was made to transfer them to a Catholic care home, where they felt unhappy.
At the beginning of September, Sister Bernadette, Sister Rita and Sister Regina moved back, helped by a group of former students.
The nuns told the BBC at the time that they were determined to stay.
“Before I die in that old people’s home, I would rather go to a meadow and enter eternity that way,” said Sister Bernadette.
