“Monks have been involved in politics throughout history,” said Vázquez, in an interview with Religion Digital. “St Bernard, who is the teacher of the Cistercian order, was a man who always had a lot of interest in transforming the situation so that people’s lives should be improved, and I believe that this is the desire of a monk: the monastic life in reality is a school for connecting a person with his heart, with compassion; and, in some way, politics reminds us of this.”