Consequences of Khamenei’s Remarks on Religious Minorities: Iran Expels Italian Nun

Vatican’s official media has stated that Islamic Republic officials have asked an Italian Catholic nun who has served nearly three decades at a leper hospital in Tabriz to leave Iran.

Vatican News, which covers official news of the Catholic Church, reported that Sister Giuseppina Berti, 75 years old, who has worked for 26 years at the Tabriz leper hospital, will be forced to leave Iran due to visa non-renewal.

This nun is a member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. Members of this group dedicate their lives to helping others. The congregation was founded in 1633 and has been active in Iran since before the revolution.

According to Vatican News, this Catholic nun currently resides in Isfahan and has been told she must leave the country.

The residency permit of another nun named Fabiola Weiss, 77 years old and Austrian, has been renewed for another year. She has spent the past 38 years working at the leper hospital.

According to Vatican News, these two nuns have been forced to leave the residence that was built for them in 1937.

This group of nuns in Isfahan had dedicated themselves for years to educating and nurturing young people.

They had managed a school in Isfahan which was confiscated after the Islamic Revolution. According to Vatican News, these nuns have had no activities in recent years so as not to be accused of attempting to convert people to Christianity.

Vatican News stated that visa non-renewal for Catholic clergy and church staff in Iran has precedent.

The Catholic Church had previously expressed concern about the situation of Catholics in Iran.

In November 2010, Benedict XVI, then leader of Catholics worldwide, in a letter to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then president of Iran, called for the establishment of a bilateral commission between Iran and the Vatican to examine the legal status of the Catholic Church in Iran.

Benedict XVI also at that time called for freer movement of Christian clergy in Iran “to serve the religious needs of believers.”

The Catholic Church has several thousand followers in Iran, but it is reported that they face a shortage of clergy, and the reason is that Iran does not issue visas to new clergy.

The Islamic Republic’s constitution recognizes Twelver Shia Islam as the official religion of the country but also recognizes Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians as “People of the Book” and officially acknowledges their religions. These religious minorities are allowed to perform their religious and ceremonial rites within the framework of the law and have representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

At the same time, Islamic Republic authorities have dealt severely with evangelical Christians and particularly Christian converts, and have imprisoned dozens of Christian converts.

In numerous cases, “house churches” of converts in Iran have been targeted by security forces.