Departures of note

Enzo Bianchi was an Italian Christian monk and essayist, born in Castel Boglione, who founded the ecumenical Bose Monastic Community in 1965. After studying economics at the University of Turin, he withdrew to a farmhouse in the hamlet of Bose near Magnano, where he lived in solitude for three years before others joined him in 1968 to form a mixed community of Catholic and Protestant men and women living in celibacy, prayer, and work. He served as the community's first prior until his resignation in 2017.

A prolific writer, Bianchi authored more than three hundred books on spirituality, Scripture, and contemporary religious life, and wrote for major Italian and French publications including La Stampa, la Repubblica, L'Osservatore Romano, and La Croix. He was appointed an expert to assemblies of the Synod of Bishops in 2008, 2012, and 2018, and in 2014 Pope Francis named him a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

In 2020, following an apostolic visitation, the Holy See ordered Bianchi and three other members to separate from the Bose community. He later founded the Casa della Madia fraternity and continued writing, preaching, and engaging in interreligious dialogue until his death at age 83 in Turin.