The Vatican says it no longer recognizes an Arlington monastery at the center of a bitter feud with the Fort Worth bishop over allegations the head nun violated her vow of chastity with a priest.

The Vatican says it no longer recognizes an Arlington monastery at the center of a fiery dispute with the Fort Worth bishop.

The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, known as a group within the Catholic Church that oversees matters relating to religious orders, issued a decree of suppression to the monastery Nov.

The Vatican issued the statement on Thursday, Nov. 28, a month after the nuns were dismissed from religious life because they are in “schism” with the church and refused to be under the authority of the Carmelite Association of Christ the King, which was appointed by the Vatican to oversee the nuns and their daily lives at the monastery.

The decree, issued Nov. 28 by the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, stated that the monastery "is extinct."

For nearly 19 months, a dispute between the bishop of Fort Worth and seven women who are members of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington, Texas, a Latin Mass religious community, has played out in court papers and public statements.