Police on Wednesday evicted a band of rebellious expelled nuns from a Polish convent they had occupied illegally since rejecting a Vatican order in 2005 to replace their mother superior, a charismatic leader who had reportedly been having religious visions.
A locksmith opened the gate to the walled compound, and police then pushed their way in and arrested the mother superior, Jadwiga Ligocka, as well as a former Franciscan friar who had locked himself away with the nuns.
Hours later, after mild resistance and insults from the nuns and the intervention of psychologists, about 65 defeated nuns, escorted by policewomen, walked out calmly in their black habits -- some carrying guitars, others a tambourine or small drums -- and boarded buses that took them away.
The women had taken over the building in a rebellion against the Vatican, which had ordered the replacement of Mother Jadwiga two years ago.
The Vatican formally expelled the women from their Sisters of Bethany order last year, but has revealed almost nothing about the dispute.
About 150 police in riot gear entered the compound and found the nuns singing religious songs and playing their instruments.
Several nuns -- many of whom appeared to be in their 20s -- screamed at the police officers, calling them "servants of Satan," captured on police video footage.
The church has refused to give details about the rebellion two years ago, but Polish news media have reported that Mother Jadwiga was a charismatic figure who had had religious visions, and was attempting to transform the convent into a contemplative order.
The Lublin diocese hinted at that in a statement on its Web site, which said that "Mother Jadwiga's private revelations and the fact that she made it a guideline to stick by them caused unease to the Congregation."
When the Vatican formally expelled the nuns last year, they refused to leave the building, cutting themselves off from the world.
The church eventually sought legal action to remove them, and a court in nearby Pulawy ordered the eviction -- a step the nuns had previously refused to comply with. The convent's electricity was cut off earlier this year, but local residents sympathized with the nuns and secretly funneled them food in the night.
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