At their General Chapter held in Assisi, Italy, the the abbots and abbesses of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists) from around the world elected Dom Bernardus Peeters of Tilberg Abbey in Belgium as their new Abbot General.

Dom Bernardus succeeds Dom Eamon Fitzgerald of Mt. Melleray Abbey in Ireland in the post.  Dom Bernardus was born in Heerlen (The Netherlands) in 1968 & entered Tilburg in 1986. He was Abbot of Tilburg and President of the NED Region.  There are 160 monasteries of the Order located on six continents.