Aleteia notes that the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life announces a new document regulating canonical and other Catholic hermits. The document titled “Ponam in Deserto Viam” was issued in September 2021 but is announced now in February 2022.
The document is not so much regulation as guidelines. It emphasizes the psychological status of the hermit, assuming the hermit’s religious motives. It counsels an organization of daily life, recommends work, regularity to food (versus extremes), and cautions that a life of solitude should not be “too isolated” from others. The hermitage should provide subsistance, and approximation to medical and other resources. The life of the hermit represents a radical vision, states the document, but one that silently demonstrates to others “that it is beautiful to dwell in God alone.”
URL: https://fr.aleteia.org/2022/02/22/pour-la-premiere-fois-rome-donne-des-orientations-aux-ermites/