Elderly Austrian nuns who broke back into their convent will be allowed to stay. But there are conditions

By Issy Ronald and Nadine Schmidt, CNN

(CNN) — When three octogenarian nuns fled their nursing home and broke back into their former convent in Salzburg, Austria, they became overnight stars.

Almost every major news outlet covered them. They gained 100,000 followers on Instagram, where they posted their daily routines – a combination of praying, meeting with the community, and, more surprisingly, boxing to keep fit.

And now, three months later, the local diocese has confirmed that Sister Regina, 86, Sister Rita, 81, and Sister Bernadette, 88, will be allowed to stay at Schloss Goldenstein – but only if they agree to certain conditions.

The nuns will have to close their social media accounts, return to a more secluded monastic life, and will be put on the waiting list back at the nursing home for when they cannot be cared for at the convent.

In the meantime, they will be provided with 24-hour care medical care, and spiritual guidance from a priest, according to a statement released by their superior, Provost Markus Grasl, on Friday.

The nuns returned to Schloss Goldenstein – the Alpine convent and girls’ school where they had spent most of their lives – on September 4, after several of their former students helped them flee their nursing home and arranged for a locksmith to let them back into the building.

That came after an almost two-year-long dispute between the sisters and Grasl, which began at the end of 2023, when the nuns say they were removed from the convent against their will.

In August, the dispute further escalated when the nuns made several allegations against Grasl and the Archdiocese of Salzburg in the Austrian press.

At first glance, Friday’s proposal seems to resolve that dispute, allowing the nuns to stay in their beloved home under terms acceptable to the Catholic Church.

But the conditions are so restrictive, according to the lawyer representing the women, that he said he would not advise them to accept the offer, CNN affiliate ORF reported. CNN has contacted the nuns for comment.

Ever since the nuns returned to the monastery, they have become the focus of a community effort to keep them there. Their Instagram account shares footage of workers installing stairlifts in the monastery, which the nuns say were removed when they were at the nursing home, the sisters making candles with their former students and taking part in whistling classes.

In his statement, Grasl thanked the nuns’ helpers but said their efforts were no longer required. He also suggested that the donations the nuns had received could be given to a mission project, instead.

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