Farewell to Enzo Bianchi, monk and essayist, founder of the Bose community

He has died at the age of 83 Enzo Bianchi, the founder of the monastic community of Bose, established in 1965 in the Biella area. A monk, prolific essayist, expert in the Holy Scriptures and founder of Edizioni Qiqajon, Bianchi had stepped down as prior of the monastic community in 2017. Since then, he had gradually withdrawn from public life, partly due to health problems. Born in 1943 in Castel Boglione, in the Asti area, he was a spiritual guide for entire generations.

A leading figure in the post-Vatican II era, recognised as a man of prayer and peace, Bianchi had last appeared in public last May when, in Turin, he presented a book by Father Antonio Spadaro, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and former editor of *Civiltà Cattolica*. In recent times, he had addressed, amongst other topics, the issue of the Mass according to the traditional rite, engaging in debate with other theologians and Church historians whilst consistently maintaining positions in defence of the Council and its reforms.

In 2017, he had suffered greatly as a result of the conflict that had arisen with Pope Francis, who wanted a natural change in the leadership of the Community to avoid what Bergoglio considered to be an excessive concentration of power. After a long period of back-and-forth, he finally decided to obey the Pope and went on to found a new community, the Casa di Madia in Albiano d’Ivrea, whilst remaining a leading figure in the progressive Church through numerous contributions to the media, particularly in the daily newspaper *La Stampa*.