<![CDATA[The Catacombs - Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/ Mon, 26 Oct 2026 04:08:30 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Pope Leo XIV appoints anti-Traditionalist scholars to Vatican theological body]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8821 Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:50:33 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8821 Pope Leo XIV appoints anti-Traditionalist scholars to Vatican theological body
The 24 new members include a critic of the SSPX who questioned Church teaching on baptism, 
as well as advocates of progressive approaches to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

[Image: shutterstock_2685081201.jpg]

Pope Leo XIV
Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock

Gaetano
Masciullo
Oct 20, 2026
This article was updated on October 21, 2026

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed 24 new members to a key Vatican theological advisory body, including theologians who have challenged traditional teachings on baptism, attacked the Society of St. Pius X, and advanced progressive approaches to Catholic doctrine.

On October 19, the Holy See Press Office announced the appointment of 24 new members to the International Theological Commission for the five year 2026-2031 cycle. The new appointees were selected from a list presented by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and include Austrian dogmatist Jan-Heiner Tück; Islamic dialogue specialist Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan; and progressive theologians such as Fathers Khaled Anatolios and Tiago de Fraga Gomes.

“Can the old doctrine of the necessity of baptism for salvation be maintained so strictly after the Shoah and Vatican II? Can concern over eternal loss of salvation be cited as a theological argument for keeping the canon that allows children in danger of death to be baptized against their parents’ will today?” Professor Jan-Heiner Tück asked in a 2023 interview.

On September 8, 2023, Professor Jan-Heiner Tück publicly urged Pope Francis to revise Canon 868 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, which explicitly says that “an infant of Catholic parents or even of non-Catholic parents is baptized licitly in danger of death even against the will of the parents.”

Aligning himself with liberal and Jewish criticism, according to which consent is morally superior to the meaning of the sacraments, Tück openly questioned whether the Catholic Church can continue to teach that baptism is strictly necessary for eternal salvation following the Second Vatican Council. He urged Rome to abandon traditional sacramental dogma to avoid offending non-Catholic sensibilities.

Tück also conducted a campaign against the Society of St. Pius X. He publicly labeled the SSPX’s canonical position a “schismatic act” and a “parallel church,” demanding that the Vatican force traditionalists into unconditional submission to Vatican II’s decrees on ecumenism, religious liberty, and interreligious dialogue. Rejecting any partial recognition of the council, Tück warned of an “osmotic permeability” between traditionalist circles and right-wing political groups.

Media outlets frequently describe Tück as a “conservative” theologian because he defended male-only ordination against radical German Synodal Way proposals, opposed the posthumous rehabilitation of notorious heretic Hans Küng, and criticized the lack of clarity in Pope Francis’s responses to the well-known dubia submitted by Cardinals Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Burke, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Robert Sarah, and Joseph Zen.

However, Tück’s theological positions suggest that what now passes for “conservatism” is often little more than a hollow label applied to forms of progressivism that have merely fallen out of fashion. While maintaining a veneer of traditional terminology on isolated institutional points, Tück fully embraces the core tenets of neo-modernism: he demands absolute submission to Vatican II’s ecumenism, attacks the Traditional Latin Mass, seeks to alter canon law, and dismisses defenders of Catholic moral dogma.

Another problematic appointment concerns Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan, dean of the Theological Faculty of the Institut catholique de Paris. She is the first layperson dean of the local Theologicum and is a prominent advocate of interreligious dialogue with Islam and Eastern non-Catholic confessions. Having directed the University’s institute for Islamic encounter and ecumenical studies, Vivier-Muresan’s published academic work focuses on “opening up to the other believer” and advancing synodal governance, actively replacing Catholic missionary conversion with pan-religious dialogue.

Father Khaled Anatolios, a Melkite Greek Catholic priest and theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, publicly lauded Pope Francis’s “hermeneutics of mercy” as his most constructive legacy.

Anatolios argued that pastoral compassion should override objective moral norms, providing academic justification for the systematic dilution of Catholic moral theology under the guise of pastoral accompaniment. “Even those who would fault [Pope Francis] for what they consider to be misapplications of this hermeneutic should give him credit for his passionate articulation of it,” he claimed.

Spanish theologian Father Ángel Cordovilla Pérez celebrated the new appointment as an opportunity to enshrine synodality, integral ecology, and the 10th anniversary of Amoris laetitia into official papal documents.

In a 2025 academic research project, Brazilian Father Tiago de Fraga Gomes explicitly promoted the “nouvelle théologie,” the heterodox evolutionist cosmology of Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and a “misericordious” pastoral paradigm that replaces fixed natural law with subjective discernment for couples in “irregular” unions.

A “fundamental theological movement that preceded the Second Vatican Council was the nouvelle théologie, of which French theologians were the main representatives, among them Jean Daniélou, Henri de Lubac, Maurice Blondel, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, seen … as inspirations,” Gomes’s research reads. In particular, “Pierre Teilhard de Chardin made the attempt to reconcile faith and science; with an evolutionary positioning of the world and humanity, he inspired a new and broader intelligibility of the human condition, even in its religious dimension.”

Speaking about Amoris laetitia and Francis’s willingness to introduce divorced and “remarried” couples to Holy Communion, the research also states: “The logic that the Pope understands is that of the ecclesial capacity to adopt mercy as the sole and essential pastoral paradigm, since its source is the Gospel and the practice of Jesus. On the other hand, it is true that alongside this paradigm … there is also that of stricter pastoral care, founded on a set of convincing and objective answers to human dramas, the fruit of a cold office morality.… Here lies the possibility of integration into ecclesial life, whether through participation in groups and activities, or even sacramentally. It is necessary to look at the subjectivity of the person, to draw them closer to, and never distance them from, salvation in Christ.”

Established by Pope Paul VI in 1969 to institutionalize collaboration between bishops and theologians following the Second Vatican Council, the International Theological Commission consists of a maximum of 30 scholars appointed for five-year terms to conduct specialized studies for the pope and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Far from safeguarding Traditional Catholic doctrine and morality, the commission has repeatedly served as an engine for doctrinal innovation. Notably, on August 21, 2026, the commission published “Caring for Our Common Home: A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Trinitarian God,” a theological document that legitimized Teilhardian evolutionism and “panentheism,” the heretical belief that God and the created universe interpenetrate and evolve together.]]> Pope Leo XIV appoints anti-Traditionalist scholars to Vatican theological body
The 24 new members include a critic of the SSPX who questioned Church teaching on baptism, 
as well as advocates of progressive approaches to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

[Image: shutterstock_2685081201.jpg]

Pope Leo XIV
Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock

Gaetano
Masciullo
Oct 20, 2026
This article was updated on October 21, 2026

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed 24 new members to a key Vatican theological advisory body, including theologians who have challenged traditional teachings on baptism, attacked the Society of St. Pius X, and advanced progressive approaches to Catholic doctrine.

On October 19, the Holy See Press Office announced the appointment of 24 new members to the International Theological Commission for the five year 2026-2031 cycle. The new appointees were selected from a list presented by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and include Austrian dogmatist Jan-Heiner Tück; Islamic dialogue specialist Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan; and progressive theologians such as Fathers Khaled Anatolios and Tiago de Fraga Gomes.

“Can the old doctrine of the necessity of baptism for salvation be maintained so strictly after the Shoah and Vatican II? Can concern over eternal loss of salvation be cited as a theological argument for keeping the canon that allows children in danger of death to be baptized against their parents’ will today?” Professor Jan-Heiner Tück asked in a 2023 interview.

On September 8, 2023, Professor Jan-Heiner Tück publicly urged Pope Francis to revise Canon 868 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, which explicitly says that “an infant of Catholic parents or even of non-Catholic parents is baptized licitly in danger of death even against the will of the parents.”

Aligning himself with liberal and Jewish criticism, according to which consent is morally superior to the meaning of the sacraments, Tück openly questioned whether the Catholic Church can continue to teach that baptism is strictly necessary for eternal salvation following the Second Vatican Council. He urged Rome to abandon traditional sacramental dogma to avoid offending non-Catholic sensibilities.

Tück also conducted a campaign against the Society of St. Pius X. He publicly labeled the SSPX’s canonical position a “schismatic act” and a “parallel church,” demanding that the Vatican force traditionalists into unconditional submission to Vatican II’s decrees on ecumenism, religious liberty, and interreligious dialogue. Rejecting any partial recognition of the council, Tück warned of an “osmotic permeability” between traditionalist circles and right-wing political groups.

Media outlets frequently describe Tück as a “conservative” theologian because he defended male-only ordination against radical German Synodal Way proposals, opposed the posthumous rehabilitation of notorious heretic Hans Küng, and criticized the lack of clarity in Pope Francis’s responses to the well-known dubia submitted by Cardinals Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Burke, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Robert Sarah, and Joseph Zen.

However, Tück’s theological positions suggest that what now passes for “conservatism” is often little more than a hollow label applied to forms of progressivism that have merely fallen out of fashion. While maintaining a veneer of traditional terminology on isolated institutional points, Tück fully embraces the core tenets of neo-modernism: he demands absolute submission to Vatican II’s ecumenism, attacks the Traditional Latin Mass, seeks to alter canon law, and dismisses defenders of Catholic moral dogma.

Another problematic appointment concerns Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan, dean of the Theological Faculty of the Institut catholique de Paris. She is the first layperson dean of the local Theologicum and is a prominent advocate of interreligious dialogue with Islam and Eastern non-Catholic confessions. Having directed the University’s institute for Islamic encounter and ecumenical studies, Vivier-Muresan’s published academic work focuses on “opening up to the other believer” and advancing synodal governance, actively replacing Catholic missionary conversion with pan-religious dialogue.

Father Khaled Anatolios, a Melkite Greek Catholic priest and theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, publicly lauded Pope Francis’s “hermeneutics of mercy” as his most constructive legacy.

Anatolios argued that pastoral compassion should override objective moral norms, providing academic justification for the systematic dilution of Catholic moral theology under the guise of pastoral accompaniment. “Even those who would fault [Pope Francis] for what they consider to be misapplications of this hermeneutic should give him credit for his passionate articulation of it,” he claimed.

Spanish theologian Father Ángel Cordovilla Pérez celebrated the new appointment as an opportunity to enshrine synodality, integral ecology, and the 10th anniversary of Amoris laetitia into official papal documents.

In a 2025 academic research project, Brazilian Father Tiago de Fraga Gomes explicitly promoted the “nouvelle théologie,” the heterodox evolutionist cosmology of Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and a “misericordious” pastoral paradigm that replaces fixed natural law with subjective discernment for couples in “irregular” unions.

A “fundamental theological movement that preceded the Second Vatican Council was the nouvelle théologie, of which French theologians were the main representatives, among them Jean Daniélou, Henri de Lubac, Maurice Blondel, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, seen … as inspirations,” Gomes’s research reads. In particular, “Pierre Teilhard de Chardin made the attempt to reconcile faith and science; with an evolutionary positioning of the world and humanity, he inspired a new and broader intelligibility of the human condition, even in its religious dimension.”

Speaking about Amoris laetitia and Francis’s willingness to introduce divorced and “remarried” couples to Holy Communion, the research also states: “The logic that the Pope understands is that of the ecclesial capacity to adopt mercy as the sole and essential pastoral paradigm, since its source is the Gospel and the practice of Jesus. On the other hand, it is true that alongside this paradigm … there is also that of stricter pastoral care, founded on a set of convincing and objective answers to human dramas, the fruit of a cold office morality.… Here lies the possibility of integration into ecclesial life, whether through participation in groups and activities, or even sacramentally. It is necessary to look at the subjectivity of the person, to draw them closer to, and never distance them from, salvation in Christ.”

Established by Pope Paul VI in 1969 to institutionalize collaboration between bishops and theologians following the Second Vatican Council, the International Theological Commission consists of a maximum of 30 scholars appointed for five-year terms to conduct specialized studies for the pope and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Far from safeguarding Traditional Catholic doctrine and morality, the commission has repeatedly served as an engine for doctrinal innovation. Notably, on August 21, 2026, the commission published “Caring for Our Common Home: A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Trinitarian God,” a theological document that legitimized Teilhardian evolutionism and “panentheism,” the heretical belief that God and the created universe interpenetrate and evolve together.]]> <![CDATA[Rome Rediscovers the Heresy Condemned by St. Pius X]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8798 Fri, 16 Oct 2026 12:36:53 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8798 The Modernist Gospel of Lived Experience: Rome Rediscovers the Heresy Condemned by St. Pius X
At Leo XIV’s Vatican, theology is now said to emerge from people’s experiences.
St. Pius X exposed this inversion of Catholic faith 119 years ago.

Chris Jackson via Hiraeth in Exile | October 16, 2026

The Modernists Are Finally Saying It Out Loud

Sometimes the Modernists make their intentions so obvious that one wonders why they bother dressing them up in theological jargon.

During the October 14 Vatican press conference marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, Fr. Stanislaus Chu Ilo, a Nigerian theologian at DePaul University, offered this remarkable explanation of the theological revolution currently underway:

“There is a paradigm shift or a methodological shift that we see now of theology listening, and emerging from the experiences of people.”

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...2x596.jpeg]

There it is.

Theology emerging from the experiences of people. A paradigm shift. A methodological shift. And the Vatican presents this spectacle to the Catholic world as though it represents some wonderful development in the Church’s understanding of divine Revelation.

St. Pius X must be turning over in his grave.

On September 8, 1907, the saintly pontiff published Pascendi Dominici Gregis, his devastating encyclical against Modernism. Among the errors he condemned was the doctrine of vital immanence, the theory that religion originates within man himself, arising from religious consciousness and experience rather than from an objective Revelation communicated by God.

The resemblance to the language now being celebrated in Rome is extraordinary.

Chu Ilo’s precise formulation deserves close attention. He is describing a shift in theological method. Theology is to listen and emerge from people’s experiences.

What becomes of the revealed truths that theology is supposed to explain, defend, and transmit? Where do Scripture, Tradition, and the definitions of the Church enter this wonderful new arrangement? Do they govern the interpretation of experience, or must they themselves be reinterpreted in response to whatever contemporary experience produces?

Those questions go directly to the heart of the Modernist controversy.


Latin Mass Banner and Trad Nun Excommunicator Bishop Michael Olson Agrees!

On March 3, 2014, Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth appeared on American Religious Town Hall, an ecumenical television program featuring representatives of different religious denominations.

Olson was explaining the Catholic understanding of faith.

During the broadcast (which was quickly deleted after being exposed), he said:

“Faith begins by a lived experience of God…”

He then described believers articulating their experiences and sharing them with others who had similar experiences.

The video continues with an especially revealing phrase:

“…which we form Doctrine…”


Olson then describes believers returning to their lived faith and reflecting further as it develops among people.

Read those statements alongside paragraphs 11 through 13 of Pascendi.

Experience comes first. Believers communicate their experiences. Those experiences become the occasion for formulating doctrine. The doctrine is subsequently reconsidered as the religious life of the community develops.

This is precisely the sort of progression Pius X identified as central to the Modernist understanding of dogma.

And remember the circumstances.

This was a Catholic bishop explaining Catholic faith to representatives of other religions. If there were ever an occasion to distinguish supernatural faith from the merely human experience of religion, that was it.

Instead, the explanation sounded precisely like the theory condemned by Pius X.

That video was made more than twelve years before Chu Ilo’s Vatican appearance.

There is nothing novel about the underlying theological dispute. What has changed is how casually and openly these formulations now circulate within the Catholic establishment.


Vital Immanence: The Heresy Returns in Synodal Clothing

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...9x1369.png]

In paragraph 7 of Pascendi, St. Pius X explains how Modernist theology begins by removing the supernatural foundation of religion.

Having rejected external Revelation, the Modernist seeks the explanation of religion within man. Religious sentiment, arising from man’s perceived need for the divine, becomes the foundation of faith.

The process continues in paragraph 8. Religious consciousness assumes the role properly belonging to Revelation. The subjective experience of the divine becomes the basis upon which theological claims are made.

By paragraph 10, Pius X describes the logical consequence: religious experience becomes the germ from which religious doctrines develop.

Think about that.

Under this system, faith effectively arises from below. Human experience generates religious consciousness; religious consciousness produces theological formulations; those formulations change as humanity develops new experiences.

The direction of authority has been reversed.

Catholicism begins with God revealing Himself to man. The Church receives and safeguards that Revelation. The faithful assent to it through the supernatural virtue of faith, assisted by grace.

Modernism begins with man and his consciousness. Religious formulations arise through the internal development of that consciousness and acquire their authority from their relationship to religious experience.

Two radically different understandings of religion are at stake.

And here comes a Vatican theologian speaking about a paradigm shift in which theology emerges from the experiences of people.

Perhaps Chu Ilo would insist that he accepts divine Revelation and merely wants theologians to pay greater attention to the circumstances of contemporary families. His single sentence cannot establish that he embraces every philosophical proposition condemned in Pascendi.

Then let him explain precisely what emerges from these experiences.

Does theology discover better ways to communicate immutable Catholic teaching? Or does it discover moral judgments previously excluded by that teaching?

The answer is key because Rome has spent the last decade conducting precisely this experiment.


When Human Experience Becomes the Measure of Doctrine

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...x1350.jpeg]

Consider the controversy surrounding Amoris Laetitia.

Traditional Catholic doctrine teaches the indissolubility of a valid consummated sacramental marriage. A Catholic living in an adulterous relationship must repent and abandon sinful conduct. The Church has no authority to declare adultery morally permissible because the people involved experience affection, suffering, or sincere personal commitment.

Yet the controversy following Amoris Laetitia concerned precisely the possibility of permitting certain divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments while continuing relationships traditionally understood to involve adultery.

Pastoral circumstances and subjective culpability became central to arguments for changing sacramental practice.

Now Rome commemorates that document by promoting a theological methodology centered upon listening to experience.

One hardly needs a doctorate from the Gregorian University to recognize the danger.

If experience acquires practical authority over the application of moral doctrine, the commandments of God risk becoming ideals to be negotiated rather than laws to be obeyed.

The adulterer has an experience. So does the person involved in a homosexual relationship. Every moral transgression can be accompanied by a narrative of suffering, emotional attachment, personal sincerity, and difficult circumstances.

Christ already knew the complexity of the human condition when He commanded men to repent.

His moral law requires no revision to accommodate the twenty-first century’s impressive collection of excuses.

Catholic charity demands patience toward sinners, understanding of personal circumstances, and a sincere desire for their salvation. None of these duties authorizes a theologian to treat human experience as a source of new moral truth.


The Other Half of Pascendi: When Authority Comes from Below

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...9x800.webp]

St. Pius X had more to say about Modernism than its corruption of faith and dogma. He also explained how the same principles would eventually transform the Church’s understanding of her own authority.

In paragraph 23 of Pascendi, Pius X describes the Modernist theory that the Church develops from the collective religious consciousness of believers. Under this system, ecclesiastical authority ultimately derives from that consciousness and must adapt itself to the evolving demands of the community.

And who better to illustrate this than Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, one of Francis’s principal advisers?

img=325x225]https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4BIi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d57fb0e-fd7a-45e5-8313-155669e150b5_640x479.jpeg[/img]

In an October 2013 address at the University of Dallas Ministry Conference, Maradiaga announced that Vatican II had effectively brought the conflict between the Church and Modernism to an end.

He subsequently explained his understanding of the hierarchy:

“The hierarchy has no purpose in itself and for itself, but only in reference and subordination to the community.”

Now compare that with Pius X’s description of the condemned Modernist theory in paragraph 23:

“Authority therefore, like the Church, has its origin in the religious conscience…”

The similarity in language is astonishing.

A hierarchy serving the faithful is perfectly Catholic. Our Lord Himself washed the feet of His Apostles. The problem begins when service is transformed into subordination to a community whose changing religious consciousness determines what the hierarchy must teach.

Maradiaga’s speech contains an even more revealing statement. He described the new thinking of Vatican II as having been “slowly brewing in the Christian conscience” before finally receiving its public articulation.

Brewing in the Christian conscience!

This is precisely the language that should send any reader of Pascendi reaching for the encyclical.

In paragraph 27, Pius X describes the condemned Modernist mechanism of doctrinal evolution. Religious developments begin within individual consciences, spread into the collective consciousness, and eventually exert pressure upon ecclesiastical authorities. A compromise is reached, and the authorities subsequently give institutional expression to what has developed from below.

The implications are enormous.

Under this theory, the hierarchy gradually becomes the instrument through which the changing religious consciousness of the community acquires official recognition.

Consider what Maradiaga was saying in 2013. New ecclesiastical thinking had been developing within the consciousness of Christians, and Vatican II finally articulated it. The Council itself was presented as ending the historic conflict with Modernism.

Now jump forward to October 2026.

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...2x596.jpeg]

Fr. Stanislaus Chu Ilo sits before the Vatican press corps and celebrates a methodological shift toward theology emerging from people’s experiences.

Apparently, we are meant to admire this as a great theological discovery.

The disturbing possibility is that we are witnessing two parts of the same intellectual system: an account of faith and doctrine rooted increasingly in human experience, accompanied by an understanding of ecclesiastical authority increasingly responsive to the collective consciousness of the faithful.

One provides the theological content. The other supplies the means by which that content receives ecclesiastical approval.

This is why the contemporary enthusiasm for synodality deserves far more scrutiny than it receives from the conservative Catholic establishment. Endless consultations, listening sessions, and appeals to lived experience can become mechanisms for elevating contemporary preferences into demands for doctrinal change.

The decisive question is whether the deposit of faith governs that entire process or whether the process itself becomes an engine for reshaping Catholic teaching.

Pius X foresaw the danger in extraordinary detail.

And the consequences reach well beyond questions of homosexuality, Communion for adulterers, or women preaching at Mass.

They concern the very constitution of the Catholic Church.

Did Christ establish a teaching authority charged with preserving and transmitting His Revelation? Or does religious authority ultimately serve to ratify theological conclusions emerging from the evolving consciousness of the faithful?

Catholic Tradition has always maintained the former.

The Modernists condemned by Pius X embraced the latter.

Maradiaga’s 2013 speech, Olson’s 2014 definition of faith, and Chu Ilo’s 2026 remarks deserve to be read together, with Pascendi open beside them. Their language raises precisely the questions that Pius X regarded as fundamental to the survival of Catholic doctrine.


Leo XIV Presides Over the Same Theological Revolution

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...9x775.jpeg]

Leo XIV convened the Vatican gathering to examine the legacy of Amoris Laetitia and consider the Church’s pastoral response to families.

His administration has given institutional prominence to a process in which listening to personal experiences is presented as essential to discerning future pastoral directions.

The Vatican’s October 2 preparatory presentation even emphasized that the meeting would generate an account of what participants had recognized through listening and discernment, with further processes expected to follow.

Meanwhile, theologians such as Chu Ilo publicly describe the method in language disturbingly reminiscent of the intellectual system condemned by Pius X.

How much clearer must the resemblance become before Catholics recognize the theological danger?

The Modernists of 1907 were accused of attempting to transform Catholicism from within. They remained among the clergy and Catholic intellectual establishment while promoting theories that ultimately subjected dogma, ecclesiastical authority, and religious practice to historical development and human consciousness.

Today, ideas inviting comparison with those condemned theories are discussed openly at Vatican press conferences.

The tragedy is that countless Catholics have become accustomed to hearing this language. Terms that would once have provoked immediate theological scrutiny now pass almost without comment.

There is nothing particularly mysterious about the old Catholic understanding. God revealed the truth. Christ established His Church. The Church was entrusted with preserving and transmitting the deposit of faith.

Human beings must conform themselves to that truth, however painful the necessary conversion may prove.

The Modernist temptation is to reverse the arrangement, allowing the experiences of modern man to determine what religion must become.

St. Pius X understood the consequences in 1907.

The spectacle unfolding under Leo XIV gives Catholics ample reason to revisit his warning.]]> The Modernist Gospel of Lived Experience: Rome Rediscovers the Heresy Condemned by St. Pius X
At Leo XIV’s Vatican, theology is now said to emerge from people’s experiences.
St. Pius X exposed this inversion of Catholic faith 119 years ago.

Chris Jackson via Hiraeth in Exile | October 16, 2026

The Modernists Are Finally Saying It Out Loud

Sometimes the Modernists make their intentions so obvious that one wonders why they bother dressing them up in theological jargon.

During the October 14 Vatican press conference marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, Fr. Stanislaus Chu Ilo, a Nigerian theologian at DePaul University, offered this remarkable explanation of the theological revolution currently underway:

“There is a paradigm shift or a methodological shift that we see now of theology listening, and emerging from the experiences of people.”

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...2x596.jpeg]

There it is.

Theology emerging from the experiences of people. A paradigm shift. A methodological shift. And the Vatican presents this spectacle to the Catholic world as though it represents some wonderful development in the Church’s understanding of divine Revelation.

St. Pius X must be turning over in his grave.

On September 8, 1907, the saintly pontiff published Pascendi Dominici Gregis, his devastating encyclical against Modernism. Among the errors he condemned was the doctrine of vital immanence, the theory that religion originates within man himself, arising from religious consciousness and experience rather than from an objective Revelation communicated by God.

The resemblance to the language now being celebrated in Rome is extraordinary.

Chu Ilo’s precise formulation deserves close attention. He is describing a shift in theological method. Theology is to listen and emerge from people’s experiences.

What becomes of the revealed truths that theology is supposed to explain, defend, and transmit? Where do Scripture, Tradition, and the definitions of the Church enter this wonderful new arrangement? Do they govern the interpretation of experience, or must they themselves be reinterpreted in response to whatever contemporary experience produces?

Those questions go directly to the heart of the Modernist controversy.


Latin Mass Banner and Trad Nun Excommunicator Bishop Michael Olson Agrees!

On March 3, 2014, Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth appeared on American Religious Town Hall, an ecumenical television program featuring representatives of different religious denominations.

Olson was explaining the Catholic understanding of faith.

During the broadcast (which was quickly deleted after being exposed), he said:

“Faith begins by a lived experience of God…”

He then described believers articulating their experiences and sharing them with others who had similar experiences.

The video continues with an especially revealing phrase:

“…which we form Doctrine…”


Olson then describes believers returning to their lived faith and reflecting further as it develops among people.

Read those statements alongside paragraphs 11 through 13 of Pascendi.

Experience comes first. Believers communicate their experiences. Those experiences become the occasion for formulating doctrine. The doctrine is subsequently reconsidered as the religious life of the community develops.

This is precisely the sort of progression Pius X identified as central to the Modernist understanding of dogma.

And remember the circumstances.

This was a Catholic bishop explaining Catholic faith to representatives of other religions. If there were ever an occasion to distinguish supernatural faith from the merely human experience of religion, that was it.

Instead, the explanation sounded precisely like the theory condemned by Pius X.

That video was made more than twelve years before Chu Ilo’s Vatican appearance.

There is nothing novel about the underlying theological dispute. What has changed is how casually and openly these formulations now circulate within the Catholic establishment.


Vital Immanence: The Heresy Returns in Synodal Clothing

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...9x1369.png]

In paragraph 7 of Pascendi, St. Pius X explains how Modernist theology begins by removing the supernatural foundation of religion.

Having rejected external Revelation, the Modernist seeks the explanation of religion within man. Religious sentiment, arising from man’s perceived need for the divine, becomes the foundation of faith.

The process continues in paragraph 8. Religious consciousness assumes the role properly belonging to Revelation. The subjective experience of the divine becomes the basis upon which theological claims are made.

By paragraph 10, Pius X describes the logical consequence: religious experience becomes the germ from which religious doctrines develop.

Think about that.

Under this system, faith effectively arises from below. Human experience generates religious consciousness; religious consciousness produces theological formulations; those formulations change as humanity develops new experiences.

The direction of authority has been reversed.

Catholicism begins with God revealing Himself to man. The Church receives and safeguards that Revelation. The faithful assent to it through the supernatural virtue of faith, assisted by grace.

Modernism begins with man and his consciousness. Religious formulations arise through the internal development of that consciousness and acquire their authority from their relationship to religious experience.

Two radically different understandings of religion are at stake.

And here comes a Vatican theologian speaking about a paradigm shift in which theology emerges from the experiences of people.

Perhaps Chu Ilo would insist that he accepts divine Revelation and merely wants theologians to pay greater attention to the circumstances of contemporary families. His single sentence cannot establish that he embraces every philosophical proposition condemned in Pascendi.

Then let him explain precisely what emerges from these experiences.

Does theology discover better ways to communicate immutable Catholic teaching? Or does it discover moral judgments previously excluded by that teaching?

The answer is key because Rome has spent the last decade conducting precisely this experiment.


When Human Experience Becomes the Measure of Doctrine

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...x1350.jpeg]

Consider the controversy surrounding Amoris Laetitia.

Traditional Catholic doctrine teaches the indissolubility of a valid consummated sacramental marriage. A Catholic living in an adulterous relationship must repent and abandon sinful conduct. The Church has no authority to declare adultery morally permissible because the people involved experience affection, suffering, or sincere personal commitment.

Yet the controversy following Amoris Laetitia concerned precisely the possibility of permitting certain divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments while continuing relationships traditionally understood to involve adultery.

Pastoral circumstances and subjective culpability became central to arguments for changing sacramental practice.

Now Rome commemorates that document by promoting a theological methodology centered upon listening to experience.

One hardly needs a doctorate from the Gregorian University to recognize the danger.

If experience acquires practical authority over the application of moral doctrine, the commandments of God risk becoming ideals to be negotiated rather than laws to be obeyed.

The adulterer has an experience. So does the person involved in a homosexual relationship. Every moral transgression can be accompanied by a narrative of suffering, emotional attachment, personal sincerity, and difficult circumstances.

Christ already knew the complexity of the human condition when He commanded men to repent.

His moral law requires no revision to accommodate the twenty-first century’s impressive collection of excuses.

Catholic charity demands patience toward sinners, understanding of personal circumstances, and a sincere desire for their salvation. None of these duties authorizes a theologian to treat human experience as a source of new moral truth.


The Other Half of Pascendi: When Authority Comes from Below

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...9x800.webp]

St. Pius X had more to say about Modernism than its corruption of faith and dogma. He also explained how the same principles would eventually transform the Church’s understanding of her own authority.

In paragraph 23 of Pascendi, Pius X describes the Modernist theory that the Church develops from the collective religious consciousness of believers. Under this system, ecclesiastical authority ultimately derives from that consciousness and must adapt itself to the evolving demands of the community.

And who better to illustrate this than Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, one of Francis’s principal advisers?

img=325x225]https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4BIi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d57fb0e-fd7a-45e5-8313-155669e150b5_640x479.jpeg[/img]

In an October 2013 address at the University of Dallas Ministry Conference, Maradiaga announced that Vatican II had effectively brought the conflict between the Church and Modernism to an end.

He subsequently explained his understanding of the hierarchy:

“The hierarchy has no purpose in itself and for itself, but only in reference and subordination to the community.”

Now compare that with Pius X’s description of the condemned Modernist theory in paragraph 23:

“Authority therefore, like the Church, has its origin in the religious conscience…”

The similarity in language is astonishing.

A hierarchy serving the faithful is perfectly Catholic. Our Lord Himself washed the feet of His Apostles. The problem begins when service is transformed into subordination to a community whose changing religious consciousness determines what the hierarchy must teach.

Maradiaga’s speech contains an even more revealing statement. He described the new thinking of Vatican II as having been “slowly brewing in the Christian conscience” before finally receiving its public articulation.

Brewing in the Christian conscience!

This is precisely the language that should send any reader of Pascendi reaching for the encyclical.

In paragraph 27, Pius X describes the condemned Modernist mechanism of doctrinal evolution. Religious developments begin within individual consciences, spread into the collective consciousness, and eventually exert pressure upon ecclesiastical authorities. A compromise is reached, and the authorities subsequently give institutional expression to what has developed from below.

The implications are enormous.

Under this theory, the hierarchy gradually becomes the instrument through which the changing religious consciousness of the community acquires official recognition.

Consider what Maradiaga was saying in 2013. New ecclesiastical thinking had been developing within the consciousness of Christians, and Vatican II finally articulated it. The Council itself was presented as ending the historic conflict with Modernism.

Now jump forward to October 2026.

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...2x596.jpeg]

Fr. Stanislaus Chu Ilo sits before the Vatican press corps and celebrates a methodological shift toward theology emerging from people’s experiences.

Apparently, we are meant to admire this as a great theological discovery.

The disturbing possibility is that we are witnessing two parts of the same intellectual system: an account of faith and doctrine rooted increasingly in human experience, accompanied by an understanding of ecclesiastical authority increasingly responsive to the collective consciousness of the faithful.

One provides the theological content. The other supplies the means by which that content receives ecclesiastical approval.

This is why the contemporary enthusiasm for synodality deserves far more scrutiny than it receives from the conservative Catholic establishment. Endless consultations, listening sessions, and appeals to lived experience can become mechanisms for elevating contemporary preferences into demands for doctrinal change.

The decisive question is whether the deposit of faith governs that entire process or whether the process itself becomes an engine for reshaping Catholic teaching.

Pius X foresaw the danger in extraordinary detail.

And the consequences reach well beyond questions of homosexuality, Communion for adulterers, or women preaching at Mass.

They concern the very constitution of the Catholic Church.

Did Christ establish a teaching authority charged with preserving and transmitting His Revelation? Or does religious authority ultimately serve to ratify theological conclusions emerging from the evolving consciousness of the faithful?

Catholic Tradition has always maintained the former.

The Modernists condemned by Pius X embraced the latter.

Maradiaga’s 2013 speech, Olson’s 2014 definition of faith, and Chu Ilo’s 2026 remarks deserve to be read together, with Pascendi open beside them. Their language raises precisely the questions that Pius X regarded as fundamental to the survival of Catholic doctrine.


Leo XIV Presides Over the Same Theological Revolution

[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...9x775.jpeg]

Leo XIV convened the Vatican gathering to examine the legacy of Amoris Laetitia and consider the Church’s pastoral response to families.

His administration has given institutional prominence to a process in which listening to personal experiences is presented as essential to discerning future pastoral directions.

The Vatican’s October 2 preparatory presentation even emphasized that the meeting would generate an account of what participants had recognized through listening and discernment, with further processes expected to follow.

Meanwhile, theologians such as Chu Ilo publicly describe the method in language disturbingly reminiscent of the intellectual system condemned by Pius X.

How much clearer must the resemblance become before Catholics recognize the theological danger?

The Modernists of 1907 were accused of attempting to transform Catholicism from within. They remained among the clergy and Catholic intellectual establishment while promoting theories that ultimately subjected dogma, ecclesiastical authority, and religious practice to historical development and human consciousness.

Today, ideas inviting comparison with those condemned theories are discussed openly at Vatican press conferences.

The tragedy is that countless Catholics have become accustomed to hearing this language. Terms that would once have provoked immediate theological scrutiny now pass almost without comment.

There is nothing particularly mysterious about the old Catholic understanding. God revealed the truth. Christ established His Church. The Church was entrusted with preserving and transmitting the deposit of faith.

Human beings must conform themselves to that truth, however painful the necessary conversion may prove.

The Modernist temptation is to reverse the arrangement, allowing the experiences of modern man to determine what religion must become.

St. Pius X understood the consequences in 1907.

The spectacle unfolding under Leo XIV gives Catholics ample reason to revisit his warning.]]> <![CDATA[Is the Synod Redefining Papal Infallibility?]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8793 Wed, 14 Oct 2026 13:48:46 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8793 Is the Synod Redefining Papal Infallibility?

[Image: papal-infallibility-under-attack.jpg]

By: Gaetano Masciullo [Emphasis - The Catacombs] | October 9, 2026

A proposed revision to Canon 749 raises a fundamental question: who determines the truth of Catholic doctrine? Gaetano Masciullo examines the Synod’s vision of infallibility, the expansion of lay authority, and what these changes could mean for the Church’s teaching office and Sacred Tradition.

Today in the Vatican it is possible to identify a plurality of centers of power, operating within a complex dialectic between strategic convergence and internal tensions. Bergoglio acted as several sovereigns and emperors of the past did, that is, he concentrated power in his own hands during his lifetime, even going beyond what is granted to a Pope by divine law, while at the same time preparing a deliberate fragmentation of this very power that would explode at the moment of his death, precisely to prevent a single successor from monopolizing it and changing its direction.


Tetrarchy in the Vatican?

This is the technique employed by great emperors of the past, such as Genghis Khan or (perhaps a more fitting example in our case) Diocletian, the Roman emperor who prepared the Tetrarchy, that is, a system with four emperors in order to preserve the political project and to prevent the fate of the entire Empire from depending on the will of a single successor.

Paradoxically, the Pope has become, among these four new major centers of power, the least “influential” of them all, although on paper he remains the summit of the Church from every point of view; and he certainly remains so, because the Church is of divine institution, which no one can modify according to his own arbitrary will.

In addition to the Pope, among these centers of power we find the Secretariat of State, which retains control over the most delicate international dossiers (such as the secret agreements with China and multilateral dialogue) and exercises pervasive control over the bureaucratic machinery through offices such as that of the Substitute (a role formerly held by the controversial Edgar Peña Parra), but above all through its influence over episcopal appointments in synergy with the Secretariat of the Dicastery for Bishops.

The third tetrarch is the Roman Curia as a whole. Once at the service of the Pope, over the last twelve years it has become a revolutionary bureaucratic and doctrinal apparatus that dictates to the Pope the agenda to be followed.

Leo XIV himself said at the beginning of his pontificate: “Popes pass, the Curia remains”: an announcement that appeared revealing and programmatic. The Bergoglian Curia now acts by seeking to preserve the acceleration initiated by its founding father and finds its nerve centers in the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, a true sounding board for the environmentalist agenda and a privileged interface with the Popular Movements and the UN; in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, until now led by Cardinal Fernández; and in the Dicastery for Divine Worship, which intends to pursue a precise agenda of liturgical reform (aka demolition).

There is a fourth and final center of power that Bergoglio established during his years of rule, namely the Secretariat of the Synod. Led by Cardinal Mario Grech and including key figures from the progressive world such as Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich (who is its General Rapporteur), the Secretariat of the Synod is not merely an organizational body, but the driving force of the ecclesiological engineering of the post-conciliar Church. A laboratory that realized the dream of many revolutionary Jesuits of the last century.

The Secretariat collects, synthesizes, and often steers the impulses coming from local Churches and the more “advanced” European episcopates (such as the German and Belgian ones), serving as a buffer between the most radical reform proposals and the authority of the Pope.


A Proposal to Amend Canon Law

On September 29, the Secretariat of the Synod published the final report of the canonical commission, led by Filippo Iannone, the Prefect for Bishops chosen by Leo XIV, and by Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Bergoglio’s leading canonist and architect of some of the most important legislative reforms carried out by the Argentinian.

This report proposes restructuring the Latin Code of Canon Law to make it more consistent with the new “needs” of the synodal Church. The main reform proposals mostly include granting laypeople – both men and women – governmental, judicial, and liturgical roles that until now have been reserved to the ordained clergy.

For example, the reform of canon 1425 §4, which would provide for the possibility of a layperson (man or woman) serving as a “sole judge” in first-instance trials involving serious sanctions such as dismissal of a priest from the clerical state and the declaration or imposition of excommunication; the reform of canon 463 §1, which would provide for the requirement that laypeople constitute the majority of members in diocesan synods; the reform of 512 §4, which would allow the appointment to diocesan pastoral councils of Christians belonging to “Churches not in full communion with the Catholic Church”; the reform of canons 230 §3 and 1112 §1, delegating to laypeople (men or women) the authority to assist at marriages without the need for prior authorization from the Holy See and even to lead the liturgical prayers proper to this sacrament.

According to statements by Cardinal Grech and the Commission, the purpose of this reform would be to convert into binding legal norms the ecclesiology that “emerged from the synodal journey.” Canon law is understood as the juridical expression of the Church’s perception of herself, necessary so that theological reflection on so-called “co-responsibility” does not remain purely theoretical.


The Reinterpretation of the Dogmatic Concept of Infallibility

Understandably, many analysts focused on this aspect of the canonical reform proposed by the Synod, namely the extension of governance to laypeople. Less attention, however, has been given to another proposal by the same commission, in my view more serious and important, although it is specular and directly connected to the one that received greater attention.

Among the proposed amendments, in fact, the rewriting of canon 749 §1 reinterprets the concept of infallibility. This is not a minor amendment, since infallibility is a very important theological and dogmatic concept for Catholic doctrine.

Infallibility, traditionally restricted to the Supreme Pontiff and, in a subordinate sense, to the College of Bishops under specific conditions, is now extended to the entire body of the faithful.

The proposal for the new canon states that the totality of the baptized, having received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, “cannot err in matters of faith.” Such infallibility would manifest itself through universal consensus. In this way, the “supernatural sense of faith of the entire people… from the bishops down to the last of the lay faithful” would become the new measure (at least apparently) of truth.

Note the usual lexical manipulation, typical of neo-modernism. “Sense,” that is, feeling, elevated to a criterion. Catholic Tradition always regarded the sensus fidei, that is, the people’s sentiment of faith, with great respect, but it has never considered it a measure of truth, also because, in the past, there have been several moments in which the majority of baptized faithful – laity and clergy – believed in erroneous doctrines: consider the Arian crisis or the great diffusion of Protestant and related ideas between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Every feeling is a sign of something real, but this does not mean that it is necessarily a sign of truth. It certainly has an important experiential dimension worthy of consideration, but it is not an autonomous source of Revelation – as some modernist theologians would have it – precisely because a feeling cannot be authoritative.

Some great theologians of the past, such as St. Vincent of Lérins, St. Robert Bellarmine, and John of St. Thomas, taught that the con-sensus of the faithful is worthy of consideration because it is a privileged witness to Tradition, that is, to the transmission of the same doctrine from the time of the Apostles.

St. Vincent of Lérins coined the famous maxim: quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus (“everywhere, always, by everyone”). When one considers history and sees that a certain doctrine has been continuously transmitted and believed, especially at the liturgical level, then that doctrine is worthy of belief. Therefore, the sensus fidei is the reflection in the people of God of the faith preached by the teaching Church and is what confirms Tradition, without judging it.

One could also say that, traditionally, the People of God must be listened to in order to understand how the faith is lived, not to establish what is true. It may also happen, and it has often happened in the history of the Church, that because of a crisis of authority the People of God live the faith badly. In such a case, the People of God must not be indulged, but admonished and corrected.


A New Conception of Power in the Church?

The proposal for canonical reform reverses this traditional vision. It stands in continuity with a theological tendency of recent times that seeks to reform the traditional concept of the power of governance in the Church, according to which authority arises from God through charism. We will return to this shortly.

Traditionally speaking, in the Church there are two parallel hierarchies, united but distinct: the hierarchy of order and the hierarchy of jurisdiction. The first has the bishop at its summit, who possesses the fullness of Holy Orders; the second has the Pope at its summit, who possesses direct, universal, and absolute jurisdiction over ecclesiastical laws.

Over the centuries, various schools of thought have arisen to study, deepen, and understand to what extent the bond between these two hierarchies should exist, but the majority of authoritative theologians have always held that consecration, and episcopacy in particular, makes the subject especially “suited” to receiving the power of governance, while the two hierarchies – as stated – remain formally distinct and are not confused with one another.

This is, moreover, fitting to the very nature of the Church, which is not only hierarchical but also sacral in its foundations, in which the teaching Church and the learning Church must remain clearly distinct for proper functioning, and where the munus docendi (“office of teaching”) is traditionally considered part of the munus regendi (“office of governance”). Only those who govern also have teaching authority: the Pope above all, and then the bishops united to him. Teaching, in fact, is the noblest act of governance, because it guides the will not through coercion, but through conviction.

Moreover, it is fitting that the power of governance should not derive immediately and automatically from Holy Orders (this too being a tendency of thought that spread in the post-Council period, especially in conservative circles), also in order to avoid the presumption that merely being consecrated is sufficient to govern legitimately.

The two hierarchies must nevertheless remain tendentially united (although there have always been cases in history of laypeople to whom jurisdiction was delegated), both to maintain the unity of the three munera, that is, the offices of Christ (to sanctify, govern, and teach), and because the Church is neither merely a juridical society nor merely a sacramental reality: it is both.

Now, if governance is distributed horizontally, teaching also becomes horizontal, and the one who teaches is also the one who learns. Thus we witness the democratization and, ultimately, the relativization of Dogma. Exactly what the modernists want: to modify attitudes, while perhaps leaving doctrine intact on the pages of catechisms.

From this perspective, the munus docendi tends progressively to transform from an act of governance into an act of consultation; the Magisterium ceases to be conceived primarily as the objective criterion and sole legitimate interpreter of the twofold source of Revelation (Sacred Scripture and Tradition), and instead becomes the interpreter of a faith presumed already to be present and widespread among the people of God.

The charismatic vision of ecclesiastical authority was mentioned. Under the pontificate of Francis (and in the reflection of many cardinals close to him), the idea has emerged of completely severing the power of governance from the power of order, in order to anchor it in the transversal dignity of Baptism: two hierarchies no longer distinct but united, but neither confused with each other as certain conservative theologians would have it, but rather distinct and independent. A sort of ecclesiological Nestorianism.

On February 16, 2026, for example, Cardinal Marc Ouellet defended the lay appointments made by Francis, calling them a prophetic shift and proposing the development of an even more “charismatic” vision of Church governance. According to Ouellet, it would be Baptism – not the sacrament of Holy Orders – that makes the faithful “suited” to participate in a stable and proper manner in ecclesiastical governance.

Even earlier, in November 2025, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio suggested in one of his books modifying canon law precisely in order to stabilize and structure lay participation in the governance of the Church according to this “charismatic” vision. With this proposal from the Synod’s canonical commission, this project reached a greater degree of concretization.


The Tetrarchies of the Past Always Collapsed

In conclusion to this brief analysis, I would like to propose a reflection on Bergoglio’s strategy of dividing centers of power in order to preserve control of the Church’s direction along the path he had undertaken. Bergoglio’s strategy, as we said at the beginning, is not a new strategy in history.

Yet history itself teaches us that tetrarchies, or more generally systems of collegial government among several formally equal sovereigns, tend to fail for a structural reason: supreme authority is by its nature difficult to share stably.

This happens because every complex organization sooner or later requires a definitive decision. What the neo-modernists refuse to understand out of ideological obstinacy is that reality is by nature monarchical: this fact cannot be evaded.

In the event of conflict, when there is no truly common superior, the dispute inevitably tends to turn into internal struggle. Moreover, successors do not necessarily share the founder’s project. Sooner or later someone may arise who begins to ask himself: why be one of four when I can be the only one? And the experience of the post-conciliar Church teaches us that personalism is not exactly an unlikely temptation for bishops…

Furthermore, the nature of the human being means that people tend to attach themselves to personality more than to structures. If there are four centers of power, four patronage networks inevitably arise and end up competing with one another. In reality, of all these limitations, this is perhaps the one of which Bergoglio was most aware.

Indeed, as is gradually emerging throughout the world, Francis created in the Vatican a veritable “society of mutual blackmail”: key roles entrusted to prelates burdened by serious allegations or by affairs that have never been entirely clarified, who are guaranteed protection in exchange for absolute loyalty to the line of government. Those who belong to the entourage of power thus feel protected by the higher authority or by the other converging centers of power as long as they remain aligned with the power agenda. As soon as conformity is betrayed, the existence of a judicial case or a complaint is revealed through the media. Consider the unfortunately well-known “McCarrick network” in the United States or the “Lute case” in Peru.

This gives us further hope, in truth, in the fact that modernists do not have a long life. As the Gospel says, “do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, nor secret that will not be made known” (Matthew 10:26). The proposal of the Secretariat of the Synod to redefine infallibility and democratize the Church is part of a deliberate strategy of fragmenting authority, but this strategy is already structurally destined to fail. The Church will rise again through those who have known how to preserve the true Catholic Tradition.]]> Is the Synod Redefining Papal Infallibility?

[Image: papal-infallibility-under-attack.jpg]

By: Gaetano Masciullo [Emphasis - The Catacombs] | October 9, 2026

A proposed revision to Canon 749 raises a fundamental question: who determines the truth of Catholic doctrine? Gaetano Masciullo examines the Synod’s vision of infallibility, the expansion of lay authority, and what these changes could mean for the Church’s teaching office and Sacred Tradition.

Today in the Vatican it is possible to identify a plurality of centers of power, operating within a complex dialectic between strategic convergence and internal tensions. Bergoglio acted as several sovereigns and emperors of the past did, that is, he concentrated power in his own hands during his lifetime, even going beyond what is granted to a Pope by divine law, while at the same time preparing a deliberate fragmentation of this very power that would explode at the moment of his death, precisely to prevent a single successor from monopolizing it and changing its direction.


Tetrarchy in the Vatican?

This is the technique employed by great emperors of the past, such as Genghis Khan or (perhaps a more fitting example in our case) Diocletian, the Roman emperor who prepared the Tetrarchy, that is, a system with four emperors in order to preserve the political project and to prevent the fate of the entire Empire from depending on the will of a single successor.

Paradoxically, the Pope has become, among these four new major centers of power, the least “influential” of them all, although on paper he remains the summit of the Church from every point of view; and he certainly remains so, because the Church is of divine institution, which no one can modify according to his own arbitrary will.

In addition to the Pope, among these centers of power we find the Secretariat of State, which retains control over the most delicate international dossiers (such as the secret agreements with China and multilateral dialogue) and exercises pervasive control over the bureaucratic machinery through offices such as that of the Substitute (a role formerly held by the controversial Edgar Peña Parra), but above all through its influence over episcopal appointments in synergy with the Secretariat of the Dicastery for Bishops.

The third tetrarch is the Roman Curia as a whole. Once at the service of the Pope, over the last twelve years it has become a revolutionary bureaucratic and doctrinal apparatus that dictates to the Pope the agenda to be followed.

Leo XIV himself said at the beginning of his pontificate: “Popes pass, the Curia remains”: an announcement that appeared revealing and programmatic. The Bergoglian Curia now acts by seeking to preserve the acceleration initiated by its founding father and finds its nerve centers in the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, a true sounding board for the environmentalist agenda and a privileged interface with the Popular Movements and the UN; in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, until now led by Cardinal Fernández; and in the Dicastery for Divine Worship, which intends to pursue a precise agenda of liturgical reform (aka demolition).

There is a fourth and final center of power that Bergoglio established during his years of rule, namely the Secretariat of the Synod. Led by Cardinal Mario Grech and including key figures from the progressive world such as Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich (who is its General Rapporteur), the Secretariat of the Synod is not merely an organizational body, but the driving force of the ecclesiological engineering of the post-conciliar Church. A laboratory that realized the dream of many revolutionary Jesuits of the last century.

The Secretariat collects, synthesizes, and often steers the impulses coming from local Churches and the more “advanced” European episcopates (such as the German and Belgian ones), serving as a buffer between the most radical reform proposals and the authority of the Pope.


A Proposal to Amend Canon Law

On September 29, the Secretariat of the Synod published the final report of the canonical commission, led by Filippo Iannone, the Prefect for Bishops chosen by Leo XIV, and by Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Bergoglio’s leading canonist and architect of some of the most important legislative reforms carried out by the Argentinian.

This report proposes restructuring the Latin Code of Canon Law to make it more consistent with the new “needs” of the synodal Church. The main reform proposals mostly include granting laypeople – both men and women – governmental, judicial, and liturgical roles that until now have been reserved to the ordained clergy.

For example, the reform of canon 1425 §4, which would provide for the possibility of a layperson (man or woman) serving as a “sole judge” in first-instance trials involving serious sanctions such as dismissal of a priest from the clerical state and the declaration or imposition of excommunication; the reform of canon 463 §1, which would provide for the requirement that laypeople constitute the majority of members in diocesan synods; the reform of 512 §4, which would allow the appointment to diocesan pastoral councils of Christians belonging to “Churches not in full communion with the Catholic Church”; the reform of canons 230 §3 and 1112 §1, delegating to laypeople (men or women) the authority to assist at marriages without the need for prior authorization from the Holy See and even to lead the liturgical prayers proper to this sacrament.

According to statements by Cardinal Grech and the Commission, the purpose of this reform would be to convert into binding legal norms the ecclesiology that “emerged from the synodal journey.” Canon law is understood as the juridical expression of the Church’s perception of herself, necessary so that theological reflection on so-called “co-responsibility” does not remain purely theoretical.


The Reinterpretation of the Dogmatic Concept of Infallibility

Understandably, many analysts focused on this aspect of the canonical reform proposed by the Synod, namely the extension of governance to laypeople. Less attention, however, has been given to another proposal by the same commission, in my view more serious and important, although it is specular and directly connected to the one that received greater attention.

Among the proposed amendments, in fact, the rewriting of canon 749 §1 reinterprets the concept of infallibility. This is not a minor amendment, since infallibility is a very important theological and dogmatic concept for Catholic doctrine.

Infallibility, traditionally restricted to the Supreme Pontiff and, in a subordinate sense, to the College of Bishops under specific conditions, is now extended to the entire body of the faithful.

The proposal for the new canon states that the totality of the baptized, having received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, “cannot err in matters of faith.” Such infallibility would manifest itself through universal consensus. In this way, the “supernatural sense of faith of the entire people… from the bishops down to the last of the lay faithful” would become the new measure (at least apparently) of truth.

Note the usual lexical manipulation, typical of neo-modernism. “Sense,” that is, feeling, elevated to a criterion. Catholic Tradition always regarded the sensus fidei, that is, the people’s sentiment of faith, with great respect, but it has never considered it a measure of truth, also because, in the past, there have been several moments in which the majority of baptized faithful – laity and clergy – believed in erroneous doctrines: consider the Arian crisis or the great diffusion of Protestant and related ideas between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Every feeling is a sign of something real, but this does not mean that it is necessarily a sign of truth. It certainly has an important experiential dimension worthy of consideration, but it is not an autonomous source of Revelation – as some modernist theologians would have it – precisely because a feeling cannot be authoritative.

Some great theologians of the past, such as St. Vincent of Lérins, St. Robert Bellarmine, and John of St. Thomas, taught that the con-sensus of the faithful is worthy of consideration because it is a privileged witness to Tradition, that is, to the transmission of the same doctrine from the time of the Apostles.

St. Vincent of Lérins coined the famous maxim: quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus (“everywhere, always, by everyone”). When one considers history and sees that a certain doctrine has been continuously transmitted and believed, especially at the liturgical level, then that doctrine is worthy of belief. Therefore, the sensus fidei is the reflection in the people of God of the faith preached by the teaching Church and is what confirms Tradition, without judging it.

One could also say that, traditionally, the People of God must be listened to in order to understand how the faith is lived, not to establish what is true. It may also happen, and it has often happened in the history of the Church, that because of a crisis of authority the People of God live the faith badly. In such a case, the People of God must not be indulged, but admonished and corrected.


A New Conception of Power in the Church?

The proposal for canonical reform reverses this traditional vision. It stands in continuity with a theological tendency of recent times that seeks to reform the traditional concept of the power of governance in the Church, according to which authority arises from God through charism. We will return to this shortly.

Traditionally speaking, in the Church there are two parallel hierarchies, united but distinct: the hierarchy of order and the hierarchy of jurisdiction. The first has the bishop at its summit, who possesses the fullness of Holy Orders; the second has the Pope at its summit, who possesses direct, universal, and absolute jurisdiction over ecclesiastical laws.

Over the centuries, various schools of thought have arisen to study, deepen, and understand to what extent the bond between these two hierarchies should exist, but the majority of authoritative theologians have always held that consecration, and episcopacy in particular, makes the subject especially “suited” to receiving the power of governance, while the two hierarchies – as stated – remain formally distinct and are not confused with one another.

This is, moreover, fitting to the very nature of the Church, which is not only hierarchical but also sacral in its foundations, in which the teaching Church and the learning Church must remain clearly distinct for proper functioning, and where the munus docendi (“office of teaching”) is traditionally considered part of the munus regendi (“office of governance”). Only those who govern also have teaching authority: the Pope above all, and then the bishops united to him. Teaching, in fact, is the noblest act of governance, because it guides the will not through coercion, but through conviction.

Moreover, it is fitting that the power of governance should not derive immediately and automatically from Holy Orders (this too being a tendency of thought that spread in the post-Council period, especially in conservative circles), also in order to avoid the presumption that merely being consecrated is sufficient to govern legitimately.

The two hierarchies must nevertheless remain tendentially united (although there have always been cases in history of laypeople to whom jurisdiction was delegated), both to maintain the unity of the three munera, that is, the offices of Christ (to sanctify, govern, and teach), and because the Church is neither merely a juridical society nor merely a sacramental reality: it is both.

Now, if governance is distributed horizontally, teaching also becomes horizontal, and the one who teaches is also the one who learns. Thus we witness the democratization and, ultimately, the relativization of Dogma. Exactly what the modernists want: to modify attitudes, while perhaps leaving doctrine intact on the pages of catechisms.

From this perspective, the munus docendi tends progressively to transform from an act of governance into an act of consultation; the Magisterium ceases to be conceived primarily as the objective criterion and sole legitimate interpreter of the twofold source of Revelation (Sacred Scripture and Tradition), and instead becomes the interpreter of a faith presumed already to be present and widespread among the people of God.

The charismatic vision of ecclesiastical authority was mentioned. Under the pontificate of Francis (and in the reflection of many cardinals close to him), the idea has emerged of completely severing the power of governance from the power of order, in order to anchor it in the transversal dignity of Baptism: two hierarchies no longer distinct but united, but neither confused with each other as certain conservative theologians would have it, but rather distinct and independent. A sort of ecclesiological Nestorianism.

On February 16, 2026, for example, Cardinal Marc Ouellet defended the lay appointments made by Francis, calling them a prophetic shift and proposing the development of an even more “charismatic” vision of Church governance. According to Ouellet, it would be Baptism – not the sacrament of Holy Orders – that makes the faithful “suited” to participate in a stable and proper manner in ecclesiastical governance.

Even earlier, in November 2025, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio suggested in one of his books modifying canon law precisely in order to stabilize and structure lay participation in the governance of the Church according to this “charismatic” vision. With this proposal from the Synod’s canonical commission, this project reached a greater degree of concretization.


The Tetrarchies of the Past Always Collapsed

In conclusion to this brief analysis, I would like to propose a reflection on Bergoglio’s strategy of dividing centers of power in order to preserve control of the Church’s direction along the path he had undertaken. Bergoglio’s strategy, as we said at the beginning, is not a new strategy in history.

Yet history itself teaches us that tetrarchies, or more generally systems of collegial government among several formally equal sovereigns, tend to fail for a structural reason: supreme authority is by its nature difficult to share stably.

This happens because every complex organization sooner or later requires a definitive decision. What the neo-modernists refuse to understand out of ideological obstinacy is that reality is by nature monarchical: this fact cannot be evaded.

In the event of conflict, when there is no truly common superior, the dispute inevitably tends to turn into internal struggle. Moreover, successors do not necessarily share the founder’s project. Sooner or later someone may arise who begins to ask himself: why be one of four when I can be the only one? And the experience of the post-conciliar Church teaches us that personalism is not exactly an unlikely temptation for bishops…

Furthermore, the nature of the human being means that people tend to attach themselves to personality more than to structures. If there are four centers of power, four patronage networks inevitably arise and end up competing with one another. In reality, of all these limitations, this is perhaps the one of which Bergoglio was most aware.

Indeed, as is gradually emerging throughout the world, Francis created in the Vatican a veritable “society of mutual blackmail”: key roles entrusted to prelates burdened by serious allegations or by affairs that have never been entirely clarified, who are guaranteed protection in exchange for absolute loyalty to the line of government. Those who belong to the entourage of power thus feel protected by the higher authority or by the other converging centers of power as long as they remain aligned with the power agenda. As soon as conformity is betrayed, the existence of a judicial case or a complaint is revealed through the media. Consider the unfortunately well-known “McCarrick network” in the United States or the “Lute case” in Peru.

This gives us further hope, in truth, in the fact that modernists do not have a long life. As the Gospel says, “do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, nor secret that will not be made known” (Matthew 10:26). The proposal of the Secretariat of the Synod to redefine infallibility and democratize the Church is part of a deliberate strategy of fragmenting authority, but this strategy is already structurally destined to fail. The Church will rise again through those who have known how to preserve the true Catholic Tradition.]]> <![CDATA[Catholic clergy participate in First Nations ritual in Ottawa cathedral]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8773 Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:53:00 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8773 Catholic clergy participate in First Nations ritual in Ottawa cathedral
A purification ritual involving smoke, sacred plants, an indigenous hymn, and prayers to the four directions preceded a Mass at Ottawa’s Notre-Dame Basilica.

[Image: smudgingg-e1791305595685.jpg]

OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — The Notre-Dame Basilica in Ottawa marked Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation last week with a special Mass that included an indigenous purification ceremony and other pagan practices.

After the procession and opening hymn of the September 30 Mass, celebrated by Father Daryold Winkler, a woman offered a “land acknowledgment,” followed by a purification ritual that involved fanning smoke over those present as an indigenous hymn was recited before the four directions prayer.

The subsequent four directions prayer used “sacred plants,” including sweet grass, cedar, sage, and tobacco, to “purify” the space with a prayer facing each of the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, west) of the 19th-century cathedral.

The Catholic clergy present each participated in these pagan rituals before the Mass officially began.


While the Catholic Church has always sought to bring people of all cultures together, it has also always condemned the concept of syncretism, or the blending of pagan and other non-Catholic rituals, such as indigenous purification ceremonies, with Catholic practices.

“As we begin this evening’s celebration, let us take a moment to acknowledge the sacred land on which we gather. We recognize and honor the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin … whose stewardship of this land continues to inspire our journey toward truth and reconciliation,” the unidentified laywoman said during the leftist “land acknowledgment.

In recent years, the Canadian Church has incorporated pagan indigenous rituals into Catholic Masses as well as given in to leftist narratives about the country’s residential schools.

Perhaps most notably, during Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in 2022, the 266th pontiff attended a “healing dance” in Maskwacis, Alberta, that appeared to direct worship to “Mother Earth.”

Before the event, the master of ceremonies explained that a “healing dance” was about to occur while outlining that the drum involved is “the heartbeat of Mother Earth, the drum is life.” During the pagan ritual, Indigenous people gathered in a circle around a large tree branch, chanting and playing the drum as others dressed in feathers and other traditional outfits began dancing.

Francis, along with four Indigenous chiefs donning traditional headdresses and garb, sat on a stage slightly above the dance, giving them a view of the happenings.]]> Catholic clergy participate in First Nations ritual in Ottawa cathedral
A purification ritual involving smoke, sacred plants, an indigenous hymn, and prayers to the four directions preceded a Mass at Ottawa’s Notre-Dame Basilica.

[Image: smudgingg-e1791305595685.jpg]

OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — The Notre-Dame Basilica in Ottawa marked Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation last week with a special Mass that included an indigenous purification ceremony and other pagan practices.

After the procession and opening hymn of the September 30 Mass, celebrated by Father Daryold Winkler, a woman offered a “land acknowledgment,” followed by a purification ritual that involved fanning smoke over those present as an indigenous hymn was recited before the four directions prayer.

The subsequent four directions prayer used “sacred plants,” including sweet grass, cedar, sage, and tobacco, to “purify” the space with a prayer facing each of the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, west) of the 19th-century cathedral.

The Catholic clergy present each participated in these pagan rituals before the Mass officially began.


While the Catholic Church has always sought to bring people of all cultures together, it has also always condemned the concept of syncretism, or the blending of pagan and other non-Catholic rituals, such as indigenous purification ceremonies, with Catholic practices.

“As we begin this evening’s celebration, let us take a moment to acknowledge the sacred land on which we gather. We recognize and honor the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin … whose stewardship of this land continues to inspire our journey toward truth and reconciliation,” the unidentified laywoman said during the leftist “land acknowledgment.

In recent years, the Canadian Church has incorporated pagan indigenous rituals into Catholic Masses as well as given in to leftist narratives about the country’s residential schools.

Perhaps most notably, during Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in 2022, the 266th pontiff attended a “healing dance” in Maskwacis, Alberta, that appeared to direct worship to “Mother Earth.”

Before the event, the master of ceremonies explained that a “healing dance” was about to occur while outlining that the drum involved is “the heartbeat of Mother Earth, the drum is life.” During the pagan ritual, Indigenous people gathered in a circle around a large tree branch, chanting and playing the drum as others dressed in feathers and other traditional outfits began dancing.

Francis, along with four Indigenous chiefs donning traditional headdresses and garb, sat on a stage slightly above the dance, giving them a view of the happenings.]]> <![CDATA[Cupich: Advocacy for immigrants ‘is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship’]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8768 Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:05:43 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8768 Cupich: Advocacy for immigrants ‘is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship’
Cardinal Blase Cupich called immigrant advocacy an 'act of divine worship' while urging immigration reform and condemning enforcement
 without distinguishing legal from illegal immigration.

[Image: GettyImages-975957924.jpg]

Cardinal Blase Cupich
Scott Olson/Getty Images


Oct 5, 2026
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Heterodox Cardinal Blase Cupich told Catholics gathered for a “City of Welcome” event that advocacy for immigrants “belongs to every single disciple of Jesus, and it is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship,” again collapsing legal and illegal immigration into a single moral claim.

The October 3 homily at the Archdiocese of Chicago celebration titled “Celebrating a City of Welcome, where Catholic Solidarity and the Journey of Migration Meet,” praised Chicago as a city “woven from the courageous journeys” of earlier immigrants, African American migrants, and more recent Latino and Asian communities.

Cupich then said the “spirit of welcome” has been “greatly diminished,” repeating the U.S. bishops’ November language about a “climate of fear,” “profiling,” “inhumane immigration enforcement,” “vilification of immigrants,” detention conditions, loss of legal status, and “the separation of children from their parents.” He said the bishops “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and called “significant immigration reform” the “only road ahead.”

As in his earlier defenses of migrants against the Trump administration, Cupich made no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. He identified Christ with “undocumented workers” who “are exploited because they lack legal protection,” and he treated the journey of a mother who “walks thousands of miles with her children” as an encounter with the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. Citing Matthew 25 and St. John Chrysostom, he pointed out that indifference to the stranger is a “fundamental breakdown of eucharistic logic,” and that serving immigrants is “eucharistic discipleship” rather than “mere social work.”

The cardinal’s practical demands followed the same line: legislators must pass “significant and common-sense immigration reform”; law enforcement must “humanely carry out their work,” with accountability for those who “wantonly violate human rights”; clergy must have access to detainees; and parishes should expand efforts to “feed, clothe, house, and educate those in need.” The homily closed by repeating that advocacy for immigrants is “an act of divine worship.”


Nations may regulate borders, not obliged to admit all

Cupich’s message failed to mention the heinous crimes committed by gang members and others who have entered the United States illegally or how those crimes violate the human dignity of citizens and of other migrants.

The heterodox cardinal also ignored the Church’s perennial teaching that political authority may regulate borders and that migrants are obliged to obey the just laws of the country that receives them.

Nations are not obliged to admit everyone who wishes to enter. Equating opposition to enforcement with worship obscures that distinction and conflates a prudential policy dispute into a test of Eucharistic faith.

The homily fits a pattern LifeSiteNews has reported since President Donald Trump returned to office. In February, Cupich was to celebrate an Ash Wednesday Mass and procession “in solidarity” with migrants in Melrose Park. Earlier that month, he thanked Chicago priests for their defense of migrants, writing that deportation policy had created “a great crisis,” that families were separated, children traumatized, and asylum seekers treated “inhumanely.”


Cupich compares immigration crisis to Holocaust

After last January’s tragic killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota — for which it is possible to be appalled while still recognizing America’s immigration problem — Cupich compared the escalation between protesters and ICE with the events of World War II: “The Holocaust didn’t begin when they opened concentration camps. It began with words.”

In November 2025 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its first “Special Message” in over a decade to criticize what it called “indiscriminate mass deportation.” The Vatican under Popes Francis and Leo has likewise denounced efforts to curb mass immigration.

Pope Leo has said the faithful will be judged for how they “receive the foreigner,” and he has suggested that that supporting the purported “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” calls into question whether someone is pro-life. Cupich has said he often borrows that language.

Bishop Strickland charges pope, USCCB with indifference to crime by illegal immigrants
Other bishops, such as Bishop Joseph Strickland, have called out the majority of U.S. bishops and the Vatican for disregarding the crimes of illegal aliens.

“You harm the little ones when you promote lawlessness and turn a blind eye to the rapes, the murders and the attacks of nefarious criminals who waltz across open borders,” the bishop said.

“Some of the little ones are caught up in these mass migrations and trampled upon as they seek a better life. Some of the little ones find their homes and towns invaded as shepherds say ‘we must welcome the stranger,’ and then allow marauders and criminals free rein,” he added.]]> Cupich: Advocacy for immigrants ‘is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship’
Cardinal Blase Cupich called immigrant advocacy an 'act of divine worship' while urging immigration reform and condemning enforcement
 without distinguishing legal from illegal immigration.

[Image: GettyImages-975957924.jpg]

Cardinal Blase Cupich
Scott Olson/Getty Images


Oct 5, 2026
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Heterodox Cardinal Blase Cupich told Catholics gathered for a “City of Welcome” event that advocacy for immigrants “belongs to every single disciple of Jesus, and it is, in its truest sense, an act of divine worship,” again collapsing legal and illegal immigration into a single moral claim.

The October 3 homily at the Archdiocese of Chicago celebration titled “Celebrating a City of Welcome, where Catholic Solidarity and the Journey of Migration Meet,” praised Chicago as a city “woven from the courageous journeys” of earlier immigrants, African American migrants, and more recent Latino and Asian communities.

Cupich then said the “spirit of welcome” has been “greatly diminished,” repeating the U.S. bishops’ November language about a “climate of fear,” “profiling,” “inhumane immigration enforcement,” “vilification of immigrants,” detention conditions, loss of legal status, and “the separation of children from their parents.” He said the bishops “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and called “significant immigration reform” the “only road ahead.”

As in his earlier defenses of migrants against the Trump administration, Cupich made no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. He identified Christ with “undocumented workers” who “are exploited because they lack legal protection,” and he treated the journey of a mother who “walks thousands of miles with her children” as an encounter with the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. Citing Matthew 25 and St. John Chrysostom, he pointed out that indifference to the stranger is a “fundamental breakdown of eucharistic logic,” and that serving immigrants is “eucharistic discipleship” rather than “mere social work.”

The cardinal’s practical demands followed the same line: legislators must pass “significant and common-sense immigration reform”; law enforcement must “humanely carry out their work,” with accountability for those who “wantonly violate human rights”; clergy must have access to detainees; and parishes should expand efforts to “feed, clothe, house, and educate those in need.” The homily closed by repeating that advocacy for immigrants is “an act of divine worship.”


Nations may regulate borders, not obliged to admit all

Cupich’s message failed to mention the heinous crimes committed by gang members and others who have entered the United States illegally or how those crimes violate the human dignity of citizens and of other migrants.

The heterodox cardinal also ignored the Church’s perennial teaching that political authority may regulate borders and that migrants are obliged to obey the just laws of the country that receives them.

Nations are not obliged to admit everyone who wishes to enter. Equating opposition to enforcement with worship obscures that distinction and conflates a prudential policy dispute into a test of Eucharistic faith.

The homily fits a pattern LifeSiteNews has reported since President Donald Trump returned to office. In February, Cupich was to celebrate an Ash Wednesday Mass and procession “in solidarity” with migrants in Melrose Park. Earlier that month, he thanked Chicago priests for their defense of migrants, writing that deportation policy had created “a great crisis,” that families were separated, children traumatized, and asylum seekers treated “inhumanely.”


Cupich compares immigration crisis to Holocaust

After last January’s tragic killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota — for which it is possible to be appalled while still recognizing America’s immigration problem — Cupich compared the escalation between protesters and ICE with the events of World War II: “The Holocaust didn’t begin when they opened concentration camps. It began with words.”

In November 2025 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its first “Special Message” in over a decade to criticize what it called “indiscriminate mass deportation.” The Vatican under Popes Francis and Leo has likewise denounced efforts to curb mass immigration.

Pope Leo has said the faithful will be judged for how they “receive the foreigner,” and he has suggested that that supporting the purported “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” calls into question whether someone is pro-life. Cupich has said he often borrows that language.

Bishop Strickland charges pope, USCCB with indifference to crime by illegal immigrants
Other bishops, such as Bishop Joseph Strickland, have called out the majority of U.S. bishops and the Vatican for disregarding the crimes of illegal aliens.

“You harm the little ones when you promote lawlessness and turn a blind eye to the rapes, the murders and the attacks of nefarious criminals who waltz across open borders,” the bishop said.

“Some of the little ones are caught up in these mass migrations and trampled upon as they seek a better life. Some of the little ones find their homes and towns invaded as shepherds say ‘we must welcome the stranger,’ and then allow marauders and criminals free rein,” he added.]]> <![CDATA[Raleigh bishop allows pagan prayer ritual in Catholic church]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8765 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:51:16 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8765 Raleigh bishop allows pagan prayer ritual in Catholic church
A pagan 'smudging' ceremony and 'prayer in the four directions' took place in a Catholic Church 
under the watch of the bishop of Raleigh during a celebration of 'multiculturalism.'

[Image: shutterstock_1782050000.jpg]

Shutterstock

Oct 2, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — It has come to light that the bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina presided over a shamanistic “smudging” ceremony to celebrate St. Catherine “Kateri” Tekakwitha, who rejected her native Mohawk religion.

Pascua Taqui tribe member Richard Duran led the congregation of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Durham in a “smudging” ceremony in July, according to an archived page of North Carolina Catholics, a diocesan publication. Smudging is a shamanic ritual that involves burning herbs and resins to “cleanse” a space of negative energy and “brin(g) in good spirits,” according to a Native American site. The smoke is “shared with people as an act of prayer and spiritual connection,” NC Catholics reported.

“Father David Miller, who is chaplain to the Native American Catholic Community in the diocese and has ancestral ties to the Shawnee, Lenape and Cherokee tribes of his home state of Oklahoma, offered a traditional prayer in the four directions,” the report stated.

The prayer in the four directions is a pagan prayer traditionally understood to be directed to the Creator but also calls upon “spirits” associated with the North, South, East and West.

Despite its pagan origins, a version of the Prayer to the Four Directions is promoted by the Catholic Tekakwitha Conference. As shared by a Native American website, the prayer states, “Man did not create the web of life, but he is a strand in it. Whatever man does to the web, he does to himself.”

Ryan Dial of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina also introduced three Native traditional dances, performed by his wife, his sister, and another Native American. After lunch, Dial delivered a presentation on “colonization, false dichotomies, native religion and how to become an ally.”

Renée Fisher, an African Ancestry Ministry and Evangelization Network (AAMEN) and Native American Church (NAC) administrative assistant, encouraged those present to “embrace the whole world that surrounds them” while also treating traditions with reverence and remaining attuned, for example, to both the Church and Indigenous peoples.  The idea that one should treat a pagan, Native tradition with reverence is contrary to the Catholic faith, since the honor and worship of false idols in pagan religions is an offense to God.

Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama of Raleigh earlier addressed the attendees, joking that he would dance “with his heart and not his body” during the celebration, NC Catholics said.

A flyer for the “multicultural celebration” reads “Sacred Earth, Sacred Unity: Walking Together with St. Kateri Tekakwitha,” and features an image of the saint superimposed on a cross.

St. Catherine “Kateri” Tekakwitha, who was renamed Catherine after St. Catherine of Siena, was a Mohawk Native American who converted to Catholicism at the age of 19 after coming into contact with French Jesuit missionaries from the age of 11. She took a vow of perpetual virginity and moved to the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, near Montreal.]]> Raleigh bishop allows pagan prayer ritual in Catholic church
A pagan 'smudging' ceremony and 'prayer in the four directions' took place in a Catholic Church 
under the watch of the bishop of Raleigh during a celebration of 'multiculturalism.'

[Image: shutterstock_1782050000.jpg]

Shutterstock

Oct 2, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — It has come to light that the bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina presided over a shamanistic “smudging” ceremony to celebrate St. Catherine “Kateri” Tekakwitha, who rejected her native Mohawk religion.

Pascua Taqui tribe member Richard Duran led the congregation of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Durham in a “smudging” ceremony in July, according to an archived page of North Carolina Catholics, a diocesan publication. Smudging is a shamanic ritual that involves burning herbs and resins to “cleanse” a space of negative energy and “brin(g) in good spirits,” according to a Native American site. The smoke is “shared with people as an act of prayer and spiritual connection,” NC Catholics reported.

“Father David Miller, who is chaplain to the Native American Catholic Community in the diocese and has ancestral ties to the Shawnee, Lenape and Cherokee tribes of his home state of Oklahoma, offered a traditional prayer in the four directions,” the report stated.

The prayer in the four directions is a pagan prayer traditionally understood to be directed to the Creator but also calls upon “spirits” associated with the North, South, East and West.

Despite its pagan origins, a version of the Prayer to the Four Directions is promoted by the Catholic Tekakwitha Conference. As shared by a Native American website, the prayer states, “Man did not create the web of life, but he is a strand in it. Whatever man does to the web, he does to himself.”

Ryan Dial of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina also introduced three Native traditional dances, performed by his wife, his sister, and another Native American. After lunch, Dial delivered a presentation on “colonization, false dichotomies, native religion and how to become an ally.”

Renée Fisher, an African Ancestry Ministry and Evangelization Network (AAMEN) and Native American Church (NAC) administrative assistant, encouraged those present to “embrace the whole world that surrounds them” while also treating traditions with reverence and remaining attuned, for example, to both the Church and Indigenous peoples.  The idea that one should treat a pagan, Native tradition with reverence is contrary to the Catholic faith, since the honor and worship of false idols in pagan religions is an offense to God.

Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama of Raleigh earlier addressed the attendees, joking that he would dance “with his heart and not his body” during the celebration, NC Catholics said.

A flyer for the “multicultural celebration” reads “Sacred Earth, Sacred Unity: Walking Together with St. Kateri Tekakwitha,” and features an image of the saint superimposed on a cross.

St. Catherine “Kateri” Tekakwitha, who was renamed Catherine after St. Catherine of Siena, was a Mohawk Native American who converted to Catholicism at the age of 19 after coming into contact with French Jesuit missionaries from the age of 11. She took a vow of perpetual virginity and moved to the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, near Montreal.]]> <![CDATA[Vatican denies Bishop Schneider Latin Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8629 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:02:39 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8629 Now even a pro-Vatican II Bishop is punished for his part in the promotion of the Traditional Mass...


Vatican denies Bishop Schneider Latin Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica
'It seems very strange that today the so-called LGBT Catholics can obtain a special Mass in St. Peter's 
more easily than Catholics attached to the Church’s Tradition,' a source told LifeSite.


Sep 9, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Traditional Latin Mass will not be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica during this year’s Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage.

On September 9, the organizers of the 15th edition of the traditional Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage at the Tomb of St. Peter released the official program of the event. Unlike last year — and as already happened during Francis’s pontificate — the Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica has been forbidden.

“The Secretariat of State sent the organizers a letter explaining that, at least for this year, permission for the Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica will not be granted,” a source very close to the organization of the traditional pilgrimage told LifeSiteNews. “The real reasons are unknown. It seems very strange that today the so-called LGBT Catholics can obtain a special Mass in St. Peter’s more easily than Catholics attached to the Church’s Tradition.”

Bishop Athanasius Schneider will celebrate the Pontifical Mass at 3 p.m. at the high altar of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

“Despite the bitterness of this prohibition, we were consoled by being contacted by the Archpriest of Saint Mary Major, the Lithuanian cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, who expressed his willingness to welcome us into the important Roman church. This is why the Pontifical Mass will be celebrated there this year. Paradoxically, it is the very same church in which Pope Francis is buried,” said the source.

The pilgrimage itself will still proceed to St. Peter’s, where participants will venerate the tomb of the Apostle Peter at the Altar of the Confession. “The organizers insisted on obtaining at least a moment of prayer in the Basilica, which is the heart of Catholicism,” said the source. “It seemed the bare minimum.”

According to another source consulted by the Catholic outlet Ad Vaticanum, the difficulty in obtaining permission for this year’s Pontifical Mass followed the reaction to last year’s celebration. Pope Leo XIV’s 2025 concession was viewed by the Pope’s “circle” and by staff at St. Peter’s Basilica led by the controversial Cardinal Mauro Gambetti as “gloating.”

“That perception was not well received,” that source said.

The change represents a reversal from the 2025 pilgrimage, when the Traditional Latin Mass was celebrated at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. For several years before that, the pilgrimage had been unable to hold its Pontifical Mass inside the Vatican basilica following the promulgation of Pope Francis’ Traditionis custodes (2021), which placed restrictions on celebrations according to the 1962 Roman Missal.

Last year’s edition even saw Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the progressive head of the Italian bishops, preside over the Pontifical Vespers. At the end of the Mass in St. Peter’s, instead, the Albanian cardinal Ernest Simoni — known for having suffered torture and unjust imprisonment during the Soviet occupation — performed a minor exorcism from the ambo, reciting the long prayer to St. Michael composed by Pope Leo XIII. The 2025 edition of the pilgrimage saw record participation and was perceived by many as a possible sign of openness from Pope Leo XIV toward the traditional rite. [...]]]> Now even a pro-Vatican II Bishop is punished for his part in the promotion of the Traditional Mass...


Vatican denies Bishop Schneider Latin Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica
'It seems very strange that today the so-called LGBT Catholics can obtain a special Mass in St. Peter's 
more easily than Catholics attached to the Church’s Tradition,' a source told LifeSite.


Sep 9, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Traditional Latin Mass will not be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica during this year’s Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage.

On September 9, the organizers of the 15th edition of the traditional Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage at the Tomb of St. Peter released the official program of the event. Unlike last year — and as already happened during Francis’s pontificate — the Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica has been forbidden.

“The Secretariat of State sent the organizers a letter explaining that, at least for this year, permission for the Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica will not be granted,” a source very close to the organization of the traditional pilgrimage told LifeSiteNews. “The real reasons are unknown. It seems very strange that today the so-called LGBT Catholics can obtain a special Mass in St. Peter’s more easily than Catholics attached to the Church’s Tradition.”

Bishop Athanasius Schneider will celebrate the Pontifical Mass at 3 p.m. at the high altar of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

“Despite the bitterness of this prohibition, we were consoled by being contacted by the Archpriest of Saint Mary Major, the Lithuanian cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, who expressed his willingness to welcome us into the important Roman church. This is why the Pontifical Mass will be celebrated there this year. Paradoxically, it is the very same church in which Pope Francis is buried,” said the source.

The pilgrimage itself will still proceed to St. Peter’s, where participants will venerate the tomb of the Apostle Peter at the Altar of the Confession. “The organizers insisted on obtaining at least a moment of prayer in the Basilica, which is the heart of Catholicism,” said the source. “It seemed the bare minimum.”

According to another source consulted by the Catholic outlet Ad Vaticanum, the difficulty in obtaining permission for this year’s Pontifical Mass followed the reaction to last year’s celebration. Pope Leo XIV’s 2025 concession was viewed by the Pope’s “circle” and by staff at St. Peter’s Basilica led by the controversial Cardinal Mauro Gambetti as “gloating.”

“That perception was not well received,” that source said.

The change represents a reversal from the 2025 pilgrimage, when the Traditional Latin Mass was celebrated at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. For several years before that, the pilgrimage had been unable to hold its Pontifical Mass inside the Vatican basilica following the promulgation of Pope Francis’ Traditionis custodes (2021), which placed restrictions on celebrations according to the 1962 Roman Missal.

Last year’s edition even saw Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the progressive head of the Italian bishops, preside over the Pontifical Vespers. At the end of the Mass in St. Peter’s, instead, the Albanian cardinal Ernest Simoni — known for having suffered torture and unjust imprisonment during the Soviet occupation — performed a minor exorcism from the ambo, reciting the long prayer to St. Michael composed by Pope Leo XIII. The 2025 edition of the pilgrimage saw record participation and was perceived by many as a possible sign of openness from Pope Leo XIV toward the traditional rite. [...]]]> <![CDATA[Mass for care of creation ready for US churches after Vatican finalizes translations]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8609 Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:30:17 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8609 We are not of this 'universal religion' as they call it today-this is not the Catholic religion any more. We are not of this Liberal, Modernist religion which has its own worship, its own priests, its own faith, its own catechisms, its own Bible, the 'ecumenical Bible' - these things we do not accept.” (Archbishop Lefebvre, Sermon, July 29, 1976)

“What could be clearer? We must henceforth obey and be faithful to the Conciliar Church, no longer to the Catholic Church. Right there is our whole problem: we are suspended a divinis by the Conciliar Church, the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong! That Conciliar Church is a schismatic church because it breaks with the Catholic Church that has always been. It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new worship… The Church that affirms such errors is at once schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is, therefore, not Catholic. To whatever extent Pope, Bishops, priests, or the faithful adhere to this new church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church.” (Archbishop Lefebvre, Reflections on his suspension a divinis, July 29, 1976)



Mass for care of creation ready for US churches after Vatican finalizes translations

[Image: Vatican_Pope_25190358946398%20RESIZE.jpg]

Pope Leo XIV leads the Mass for the Care of Creation, in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 9, 2025. (Pool Via AP/Yara Nardi)

by Brian Roewe, NCR environment correspondent [Slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original, emphasis The Catacombs] | August 27, 2026


The Mass for safeguarding the environment that Pope Leo XIV first celebrated last summer is now available for Catholic churches in the U.S., just in time for the upcoming ecumenical Season of Creation.

The Vatican's Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments finalized Aug. 4 English and Spanish translations of the Mass "for the care of creation," a new set of prayers and texts the Vatican added to the Roman Missal in June 2025.

The completion of the translations proved providential for the Seattle Archdiocese, which plans to use the new texts (known as a formulary) at a Mass Sept. 2 celebrated by Archbishop Paul Etienne at St. James Cathedral to open its celebration of the Season of Creation. The monthlong period of prayer and actions for God's creation runs from Sept. 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.

"The timing is ideal to be able to celebrate it when it's new and fresh and just start a new tradition, I guess, to do this each year," said Corinna Laughlin, the cathedral's pastoral assistant for liturgy and consultant for the archdiocese's liturgy office.

The Mass for creation joins 17 other "civil needs" formularies in the Roman Missal, among others for particular needs and other circumstances. Several touch on environment-related themes, such as times of harvest and famine along with prayers for good weather.

Vatican officials said its development was in response to requests for a liturgical means to celebrate the messages of Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home." In that papal teaching document, Francis bemoaned the numerous ecological threats facing the planet, including climate change and biodiversity loss, and called on Christians to act.

"At this time it is evident that the work of creation is seriously threatened because of the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods God has endowed to our care," Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the divine worship dicastery, wrote in the decree issuing the new formulary.

The first iteration of the Mass for creation was celebrated in July 2025 by Leo at the Borgo Laudato Si' ecology project in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome. He is set to do so again on Sept. 1. But before it could be used in most churches in the U.S., it first needed to be translated from Latin.

Along with the exemplar originale Latin text, the Vatican released working translations to assist national bishops' conferences in preparing them for use in their native languages. The English translation was led by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which includes the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In June, the U.S. bishops' unanimously approved the translation, which were then sent back to Rome for final confirmation.

A similar process unfolded for the Spanish translation, which was undertaken through a collaboration by the U.S. bishops' conference and the Mexican Episcopal Conference.

Fr. Dustin Dought, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Divine Worship, said the procedure for approving adaptations of liturgical texts was outlined in Francis' 2017 motu proprio ("on his own initiative") Magnum Principium. That document gave bishop conferences responsibility for translating into local languages.

"His insight there was that the conference of bishops is closest to the culture and language that it serves," Dought said.

The new formulary will be included in future editions of the Catholic Lectionary for Mass. In the meantime, the U.S. bishops' conference has posted translations for both the English and Spanish versions of the Mass for the care of creation on its website, as well as bulletin inserts.

Along with creation-themed prayers, the formulary suggests readings for the Liturgy of the Word, including passages from Matthew's Gospel where Jesus calms the sea and where he instructs his disciples to learn from the birds in the air and flowers in the field to trust in God's providence.

Before the Mass for creation was issued, some Catholic churches prepared ecological liturgies at various times, even at the occasion of the first Earth Day in 1970. The practice has grown in the past decade, including with "Green Masses," following Francis' invitation for Catholics to join fellow Christians in marking the Season of Creation.

[Image: 20240625T1334-SUMMER-SOLSTICE-1778579%20RESIZE.jpg]

Tuty Gunawan sings during a prayer service marking the summer solstice and celebrating the beauty of creation at the motherhouse campus of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, N.Y., June 20, 2024. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Having a Mass for the care of creation formally added to the Roman Missal is a major step, said Jesuit Fr. James Hug, who for years has developed liturgical resources for the Season of Creation.

"It's official, and that makes it legitimate to use," he said, calling the prayers "lovely" and affirming the Christian mission to care for the world God has created.

That stamp of approval from the Vatican is important, Hug added, for many priests who may have been hesitant to use other creation-centered liturgical resources in the past, whether ones he prepared or from groups like the Catholic Climate Covenant or Laudato Si' Movement.

"It says that this is the concern of the whole church," Laughlin said. "This isn't just a thing we pray about but a really important universal concern."

At Seattle's St. James Cathedral, the new formulary will be used at the Mass with the archbishop as well as a weekend Mass later in the month. Other parishes have also expressed an interest in planning their own liturgies for creation.

Dought said his office has received many inquiries about when the Mass for the care of creation would be available.

Preparations are already in the works in at least a half-dozen dioceses to celebrate the Mass for the care of creation. That includes the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, where Archbishop Bernard Hebda will be the lead celebrant Sept. 6 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Lake St Croix Beach, situated along the St. Croix River in Minnesota.

School Sister of Notre Dame Kathleen Storms, who too for decades has developed creation prayer services, is eagerly anticipating the first use of the new formulary in the Twin Cities region.

[Image: 20220823T1522-SEASON-OF-CREATION-1747047...k=3kVp_I8r]

Sr. Kathleen Storms shows tomatoes grown in a raised garden bed made by her brother with recycled cedar planks at her apartment in West St. Paul, Minn., Aug. 17, 2022. (CNS/The Catholic Spirit/Dave Hrbacek)

"Even with everything we've seen just this summer — with the fires and the floods and the huge hurricanes and all of the rest — sometimes there is no connection between what's going on there and what the church teaches about care for creation," she said.

Storms hopes the new Mass for creation will lead more priests to uplift Catholic social teaching on creation and to preach on environmental concerns. How and when a formulary is used is mostly left to the discretion of the pastor, who weighs it against other feast days and holy dates on the liturgical calendar.

Catholics who have been eagerly anticipating the new formulary see in it the potential to expand awareness of Laudato Si' and other church teachings on creation, as well as cultivate the ecological conversion both Leo and Francis have said is essential to spur the level of collective action needed to address crises like climate change and deforestation.

"The liturgy does something that a lecture can't do. The liturgy does something that a catechism can't do," Dought said.

Laughlin, the liturgical consultant in the Seattle Archdiocese, turned to the church adage "Lex orandi, lex credendi" — how we pray expresses what we believe.

"What we lift up at Mass really shapes our understanding of what church teaching is, even without going to other documents. ... It tells us this is part of what we believe. This is significant enough and substantial enough that this is part of the Mass, which is source and summit.

"So I think planting the seeds there will make a difference, because obviously we need to be praying about this."]]> We are not of this 'universal religion' as they call it today-this is not the Catholic religion any more. We are not of this Liberal, Modernist religion which has its own worship, its own priests, its own faith, its own catechisms, its own Bible, the 'ecumenical Bible' - these things we do not accept.” (Archbishop Lefebvre, Sermon, July 29, 1976)

“What could be clearer? We must henceforth obey and be faithful to the Conciliar Church, no longer to the Catholic Church. Right there is our whole problem: we are suspended a divinis by the Conciliar Church, the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong! That Conciliar Church is a schismatic church because it breaks with the Catholic Church that has always been. It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new worship… The Church that affirms such errors is at once schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is, therefore, not Catholic. To whatever extent Pope, Bishops, priests, or the faithful adhere to this new church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church.” (Archbishop Lefebvre, Reflections on his suspension a divinis, July 29, 1976)



Mass for care of creation ready for US churches after Vatican finalizes translations

[Image: Vatican_Pope_25190358946398%20RESIZE.jpg]

Pope Leo XIV leads the Mass for the Care of Creation, in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 9, 2025. (Pool Via AP/Yara Nardi)

by Brian Roewe, NCR environment correspondent [Slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original, emphasis The Catacombs] | August 27, 2026


The Mass for safeguarding the environment that Pope Leo XIV first celebrated last summer is now available for Catholic churches in the U.S., just in time for the upcoming ecumenical Season of Creation.

The Vatican's Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments finalized Aug. 4 English and Spanish translations of the Mass "for the care of creation," a new set of prayers and texts the Vatican added to the Roman Missal in June 2025.

The completion of the translations proved providential for the Seattle Archdiocese, which plans to use the new texts (known as a formulary) at a Mass Sept. 2 celebrated by Archbishop Paul Etienne at St. James Cathedral to open its celebration of the Season of Creation. The monthlong period of prayer and actions for God's creation runs from Sept. 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.

"The timing is ideal to be able to celebrate it when it's new and fresh and just start a new tradition, I guess, to do this each year," said Corinna Laughlin, the cathedral's pastoral assistant for liturgy and consultant for the archdiocese's liturgy office.

The Mass for creation joins 17 other "civil needs" formularies in the Roman Missal, among others for particular needs and other circumstances. Several touch on environment-related themes, such as times of harvest and famine along with prayers for good weather.

Vatican officials said its development was in response to requests for a liturgical means to celebrate the messages of Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home." In that papal teaching document, Francis bemoaned the numerous ecological threats facing the planet, including climate change and biodiversity loss, and called on Christians to act.

"At this time it is evident that the work of creation is seriously threatened because of the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods God has endowed to our care," Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the divine worship dicastery, wrote in the decree issuing the new formulary.

The first iteration of the Mass for creation was celebrated in July 2025 by Leo at the Borgo Laudato Si' ecology project in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome. He is set to do so again on Sept. 1. But before it could be used in most churches in the U.S., it first needed to be translated from Latin.

Along with the exemplar originale Latin text, the Vatican released working translations to assist national bishops' conferences in preparing them for use in their native languages. The English translation was led by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which includes the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In June, the U.S. bishops' unanimously approved the translation, which were then sent back to Rome for final confirmation.

A similar process unfolded for the Spanish translation, which was undertaken through a collaboration by the U.S. bishops' conference and the Mexican Episcopal Conference.

Fr. Dustin Dought, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Divine Worship, said the procedure for approving adaptations of liturgical texts was outlined in Francis' 2017 motu proprio ("on his own initiative") Magnum Principium. That document gave bishop conferences responsibility for translating into local languages.

"His insight there was that the conference of bishops is closest to the culture and language that it serves," Dought said.

The new formulary will be included in future editions of the Catholic Lectionary for Mass. In the meantime, the U.S. bishops' conference has posted translations for both the English and Spanish versions of the Mass for the care of creation on its website, as well as bulletin inserts.

Along with creation-themed prayers, the formulary suggests readings for the Liturgy of the Word, including passages from Matthew's Gospel where Jesus calms the sea and where he instructs his disciples to learn from the birds in the air and flowers in the field to trust in God's providence.

Before the Mass for creation was issued, some Catholic churches prepared ecological liturgies at various times, even at the occasion of the first Earth Day in 1970. The practice has grown in the past decade, including with "Green Masses," following Francis' invitation for Catholics to join fellow Christians in marking the Season of Creation.

[Image: 20240625T1334-SUMMER-SOLSTICE-1778579%20RESIZE.jpg]

Tuty Gunawan sings during a prayer service marking the summer solstice and celebrating the beauty of creation at the motherhouse campus of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, N.Y., June 20, 2024. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Having a Mass for the care of creation formally added to the Roman Missal is a major step, said Jesuit Fr. James Hug, who for years has developed liturgical resources for the Season of Creation.

"It's official, and that makes it legitimate to use," he said, calling the prayers "lovely" and affirming the Christian mission to care for the world God has created.

That stamp of approval from the Vatican is important, Hug added, for many priests who may have been hesitant to use other creation-centered liturgical resources in the past, whether ones he prepared or from groups like the Catholic Climate Covenant or Laudato Si' Movement.

"It says that this is the concern of the whole church," Laughlin said. "This isn't just a thing we pray about but a really important universal concern."

At Seattle's St. James Cathedral, the new formulary will be used at the Mass with the archbishop as well as a weekend Mass later in the month. Other parishes have also expressed an interest in planning their own liturgies for creation.

Dought said his office has received many inquiries about when the Mass for the care of creation would be available.

Preparations are already in the works in at least a half-dozen dioceses to celebrate the Mass for the care of creation. That includes the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, where Archbishop Bernard Hebda will be the lead celebrant Sept. 6 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Lake St Croix Beach, situated along the St. Croix River in Minnesota.

School Sister of Notre Dame Kathleen Storms, who too for decades has developed creation prayer services, is eagerly anticipating the first use of the new formulary in the Twin Cities region.

[Image: 20220823T1522-SEASON-OF-CREATION-1747047...k=3kVp_I8r]

Sr. Kathleen Storms shows tomatoes grown in a raised garden bed made by her brother with recycled cedar planks at her apartment in West St. Paul, Minn., Aug. 17, 2022. (CNS/The Catholic Spirit/Dave Hrbacek)

"Even with everything we've seen just this summer — with the fires and the floods and the huge hurricanes and all of the rest — sometimes there is no connection between what's going on there and what the church teaches about care for creation," she said.

Storms hopes the new Mass for creation will lead more priests to uplift Catholic social teaching on creation and to preach on environmental concerns. How and when a formulary is used is mostly left to the discretion of the pastor, who weighs it against other feast days and holy dates on the liturgical calendar.

Catholics who have been eagerly anticipating the new formulary see in it the potential to expand awareness of Laudato Si' and other church teachings on creation, as well as cultivate the ecological conversion both Leo and Francis have said is essential to spur the level of collective action needed to address crises like climate change and deforestation.

"The liturgy does something that a lecture can't do. The liturgy does something that a catechism can't do," Dought said.

Laughlin, the liturgical consultant in the Seattle Archdiocese, turned to the church adage "Lex orandi, lex credendi" — how we pray expresses what we believe.

"What we lift up at Mass really shapes our understanding of what church teaching is, even without going to other documents. ... It tells us this is part of what we believe. This is significant enough and substantial enough that this is part of the Mass, which is source and summit.

"So I think planting the seeds there will make a difference, because obviously we need to be praying about this."]]> <![CDATA[Against to Modernity]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8576 Tue, 18 Aug 2026 06:04:41 +0000 Valens83]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8576 <![CDATA[Leo XIV-Appointed Bishop Ends Diocese’s Only Latin Mass After 20 Years]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8553 Sun, 09 Aug 2026 10:42:04 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8553 Leo XIV-Appointed Bishop Ends Diocese’s Only Latin Mass After 20 Years


gloria.tv | August 9, 2026

Bishop Mark A. Eckman, 67, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will bring an end to the traditional Latin Mass at St. Titus Church in Aliquippa after nearly 20-years.

Bishop Eckman was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh in 2021. In June 2025, Leo XIV promoted him to Bishop of Pittsburgh.

In a letter dated 7 August (see below), Monsignor Eckman announced that the final Mass to be held at St. Titus using the 1962 Missal is scheduled for 4 September.

The remaining two traditional Latin Masses in Pittsburgh are offered by the Institute Christ the King in Brighton Heights and by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X in the West End.

Bishop Eckman said his predecessor, Bishop David A. Zubik, received Vatican permission in 2022 to continue the Mass at St. Titus. The initial two-year authorization was extended in September 2024 for another two years.

The Bishop didn't seek another extension, “The permission to celebrate according to the older ritual in a parish church was only ever meant to be temporary,” he wrote.

He added that the Vatican expected Catholics to be brought toward the Novus Ordo.



[Image: xpnjeu210nm8vbenb22d4iwmm3jjx1z1qxuu0ao?...1786439723]

[Image: kapyo6d3xzw9f7piub4b13on0nfusk83oufm1o8?...1786364447]
]]> Leo XIV-Appointed Bishop Ends Diocese’s Only Latin Mass After 20 Years


gloria.tv | August 9, 2026

Bishop Mark A. Eckman, 67, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will bring an end to the traditional Latin Mass at St. Titus Church in Aliquippa after nearly 20-years.

Bishop Eckman was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh in 2021. In June 2025, Leo XIV promoted him to Bishop of Pittsburgh.

In a letter dated 7 August (see below), Monsignor Eckman announced that the final Mass to be held at St. Titus using the 1962 Missal is scheduled for 4 September.

The remaining two traditional Latin Masses in Pittsburgh are offered by the Institute Christ the King in Brighton Heights and by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X in the West End.

Bishop Eckman said his predecessor, Bishop David A. Zubik, received Vatican permission in 2022 to continue the Mass at St. Titus. The initial two-year authorization was extended in September 2024 for another two years.

The Bishop didn't seek another extension, “The permission to celebrate according to the older ritual in a parish church was only ever meant to be temporary,” he wrote.

He added that the Vatican expected Catholics to be brought toward the Novus Ordo.



[Image: xpnjeu210nm8vbenb22d4iwmm3jjx1z1qxuu0ao?...1786439723]

[Image: kapyo6d3xzw9f7piub4b13on0nfusk83oufm1o8?...1786364447]
]]> <![CDATA[Czech Bishop: "Synodality Only Possible with Novus Ordo"]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8533 Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:19:00 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8533 Czech Bishop: "Synodality Only Possible with Novus Ordo"

[Image: 69ljcxg0u7cj0lj5fjk1ai53z2hjxo31v0hnl77?...1785578267]

gloria.tv | July 29, 2026

Society has a thirst for transcendence, but “the old instruments have already fulfilled their purpose and no longer meet the needs of today's people". This claims Bishop Tomáš Holub, 58, of Plzeň, Czech Republic, in a lengthy article about "Synodality and the Novus Ordo Missae" on 21 July on the blog Come se non, run by the Italian theologian Andrea Grillo. Grillo is an opponent of the Roman rite and is considered an influencer of Traditionis Custodes.

According to Bishop Holub, a missionary outlook must be rooted in synodality: "Synodality is not merely a technique of communication, but a way of living the faith... The point is not to hold a synod, but to become a synod."

The Czech bishop goes on that the Novus Ordo provides the appropriate expression of the Church's synodal identity:

"The Novus Ordo makes it possible for this synodality to be applied in the liturgical sphere. Otherwise, this would be very difficult, since the Vetus Ordo is the expression of a Tridentine vision of the Church which no longer responds to present needs."

The bishop also addresses Catholics who attend the Mass in the Roman rite.

"Many [!] faithful, including some in my own diocese, are attracted to traditionalist celebrations and have difficulty accepting the liturgical reform of Vatican II."

Monsignor Holub argues that participation in the older liturgical form reinforces a particular understanding of the Church.

"By participating in these liturgical services, they become convinced of the ecclesiological vision proposed by these rites."

He warns of “division” and threatens a “firm attitude” to enforce “Vatican II as the expression of the true Magisterium... implementing a process of accompaniment, formation and synodal support."]]> Czech Bishop: "Synodality Only Possible with Novus Ordo"

[Image: 69ljcxg0u7cj0lj5fjk1ai53z2hjxo31v0hnl77?...1785578267]

gloria.tv | July 29, 2026

Society has a thirst for transcendence, but “the old instruments have already fulfilled their purpose and no longer meet the needs of today's people". This claims Bishop Tomáš Holub, 58, of Plzeň, Czech Republic, in a lengthy article about "Synodality and the Novus Ordo Missae" on 21 July on the blog Come se non, run by the Italian theologian Andrea Grillo. Grillo is an opponent of the Roman rite and is considered an influencer of Traditionis Custodes.

According to Bishop Holub, a missionary outlook must be rooted in synodality: "Synodality is not merely a technique of communication, but a way of living the faith... The point is not to hold a synod, but to become a synod."

The Czech bishop goes on that the Novus Ordo provides the appropriate expression of the Church's synodal identity:

"The Novus Ordo makes it possible for this synodality to be applied in the liturgical sphere. Otherwise, this would be very difficult, since the Vetus Ordo is the expression of a Tridentine vision of the Church which no longer responds to present needs."

The bishop also addresses Catholics who attend the Mass in the Roman rite.

"Many [!] faithful, including some in my own diocese, are attracted to traditionalist celebrations and have difficulty accepting the liturgical reform of Vatican II."

Monsignor Holub argues that participation in the older liturgical form reinforces a particular understanding of the Church.

"By participating in these liturgical services, they become convinced of the ecclesiological vision proposed by these rites."

He warns of “division” and threatens a “firm attitude” to enforce “Vatican II as the expression of the true Magisterium... implementing a process of accompaniment, formation and synodal support."]]> <![CDATA[Vatican calls for representatives of ‘other religions’ in next phase of synodal implementation]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8524 Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:24:18 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8524 Vatican calls for representatives of ‘other religions’ in next phase of synodal implementation
New Synod guidelines call for representatives of 'other religions' in local ‘assemblies’ and leadership roles for lay Catholics 
as part of an ongoing ‘transformation’ of Church governance.

[Image: D1918A13-2F08-4B67-A80B-2530311D9437_1_1...40446.jpeg]

Cardinal Mario Grech
Michael Haynes

Jul 28, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has issued new guidelines for the next stage of the Synod of Synodality calling on dioceses to involve representatives of other religions, deepen permanent synodal structures, and evaluate broader leadership roles for lay Catholics.

On July 27, the General Secretariat of the Synod published a new 19-page document entitled “Recollecting,” providing bishops and diocesan synodal teams with detailed instructions for preparing local “evaluation assemblies” during the first half of 2027 as part of the implementation of the 2021-2024 synod. The document describes the assemblies not as a one-time consultation but as a stage in an ongoing “transformation” of diocesan life and governance.

“The preparation and conduct of the Assembly do not exhaust the implementation of the Synod by the local Churches: they are simply a moment of assessment within a process that progressively shapes the identity of each local Church, its relationships and its way of life through synodal choices, dynamics, practices and structures,” the document reads.

Published under the authority of the General Secretariat of the Synod, “Recollecting” serves as practical guidance for bishops and diocesan synodal teams. It explains how each diocese is to prepare a narrative report and convene a local “evaluation assembly” before submitting its conclusions to national synodal bodies and ultimately to the Vatican.

Among the provisions drawing particular attention is the recommendation that dioceses consider including non-Catholics in synodal structures. In the section outlining the composition of diocesan synodal teams, the document states that bishops may wish to invite “representatives of other Christian Churches and communities or other religions as observers.”

The same approach appears later in the guidelines governing the diocesan evaluation assemblies. When discussing who should participate, the document says that dioceses should “provide for the participation of representatives of other Churches and Christian Communions or of other religions,” while noting that the precise form of participation “may vary” according to local circumstances and “cultural contexts.”

The new guidance also presents synodality as a lasting feature of Church governance rather than a temporary process. It states that the 2027 assemblies are intended to help local churches continue a process that “progressively shapes the identity of each local Church, its relationships and its way of life through synodal choices, dynamics, practices and structures.”

Elsewhere, the document states that the assemblies are designed to cultivate “a style of listening, co-responsibility and discernment” that local churches are expected to preserve in their normal life after the assemblies conclude.

When describing subjects that dioceses should evaluate in preparing their reports, the document specifically includes “access by lay faithful to leadership roles that do not require the Sacrament of Orders and to other ecclesial responsibilities,” alongside questions concerning synodal decision-making, transparency, accountability, and ecclesial structures.

Local church “narrative reports,” the document avers, should focus on  the “promotion of a synodal spirituality” alongside proposals for new liturgical implementations, so that the Mass or other rites may be reformed in such a way as to be “lived in a synodal key.”

The publication of this document is part of the implementation timetable established after the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality. According to the schedule outlined in the document, diocesan and eparchial assemblies will take place during the first half of 2027, followed by national and regional assemblies later that year, continental assemblies during the first months of 2028, and a final “Ecclesial Assembly” in the Vatican in October 2028.]]> Vatican calls for representatives of ‘other religions’ in next phase of synodal implementation
New Synod guidelines call for representatives of 'other religions' in local ‘assemblies’ and leadership roles for lay Catholics 
as part of an ongoing ‘transformation’ of Church governance.

[Image: D1918A13-2F08-4B67-A80B-2530311D9437_1_1...40446.jpeg]

Cardinal Mario Grech
Michael Haynes

Jul 28, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has issued new guidelines for the next stage of the Synod of Synodality calling on dioceses to involve representatives of other religions, deepen permanent synodal structures, and evaluate broader leadership roles for lay Catholics.

On July 27, the General Secretariat of the Synod published a new 19-page document entitled “Recollecting,” providing bishops and diocesan synodal teams with detailed instructions for preparing local “evaluation assemblies” during the first half of 2027 as part of the implementation of the 2021-2024 synod. The document describes the assemblies not as a one-time consultation but as a stage in an ongoing “transformation” of diocesan life and governance.

“The preparation and conduct of the Assembly do not exhaust the implementation of the Synod by the local Churches: they are simply a moment of assessment within a process that progressively shapes the identity of each local Church, its relationships and its way of life through synodal choices, dynamics, practices and structures,” the document reads.

Published under the authority of the General Secretariat of the Synod, “Recollecting” serves as practical guidance for bishops and diocesan synodal teams. It explains how each diocese is to prepare a narrative report and convene a local “evaluation assembly” before submitting its conclusions to national synodal bodies and ultimately to the Vatican.

Among the provisions drawing particular attention is the recommendation that dioceses consider including non-Catholics in synodal structures. In the section outlining the composition of diocesan synodal teams, the document states that bishops may wish to invite “representatives of other Christian Churches and communities or other religions as observers.”

The same approach appears later in the guidelines governing the diocesan evaluation assemblies. When discussing who should participate, the document says that dioceses should “provide for the participation of representatives of other Churches and Christian Communions or of other religions,” while noting that the precise form of participation “may vary” according to local circumstances and “cultural contexts.”

The new guidance also presents synodality as a lasting feature of Church governance rather than a temporary process. It states that the 2027 assemblies are intended to help local churches continue a process that “progressively shapes the identity of each local Church, its relationships and its way of life through synodal choices, dynamics, practices and structures.”

Elsewhere, the document states that the assemblies are designed to cultivate “a style of listening, co-responsibility and discernment” that local churches are expected to preserve in their normal life after the assemblies conclude.

When describing subjects that dioceses should evaluate in preparing their reports, the document specifically includes “access by lay faithful to leadership roles that do not require the Sacrament of Orders and to other ecclesial responsibilities,” alongside questions concerning synodal decision-making, transparency, accountability, and ecclesial structures.

Local church “narrative reports,” the document avers, should focus on  the “promotion of a synodal spirituality” alongside proposals for new liturgical implementations, so that the Mass or other rites may be reformed in such a way as to be “lived in a synodal key.”

The publication of this document is part of the implementation timetable established after the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality. According to the schedule outlined in the document, diocesan and eparchial assemblies will take place during the first half of 2027, followed by national and regional assemblies later that year, continental assemblies during the first months of 2028, and a final “Ecclesial Assembly” in the Vatican in October 2028.]]> <![CDATA[Pagan Aztec war dance takes over LA Catholic cathedral sanctuary]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8517 Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:06:25 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8517 <![CDATA[Historic First: Two Women to Lead German Deanery]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8511 Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:42:16 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8511 Historic First: Two Women to Lead German Deanery

[Image: q8kcnj1io13kp96voc5wn1kz28hb5e949gdidqt?...1784937124]

gloria.tv | July 22, 2026

Two women will jointly lead the Catholic Deanery of Bremen-Nord, Hildesheim Diocese, for the first time, marking a historic shift in church leadership. The decision was announced on July 21.

Ute Zeilmann is a theologian and will oversee pastoral ministry and the pastoral staff. Agnes Dobrzynski will lead administration. Both have worked in the Bremen-Nord deanery for several years.

To meet canonical requirements, Rev Johannes Pawellek will act as moderating priest, accompanying the new leadership team after his retirement in November 2026.

The pastoral team will also be joined by Rev Pradyut Bahla, an Indian priest currently pursuing doctoral studies in Frankfurt. He will serve in Bremen-Nord for five years.

The two women want “to embrace the global Church's call to synodality: leading together, listening to the Holy Spirit, and moving away from isolated leadership decisions”.

The Diocese of Hildesheim was led by pro-homosexual Bishop Heiner Wilmer until June 2026. He was promoted by Pope Leo XIV as Bishop of Münster on March 26 and was installed there on June 21. Münster is Germany's largest diocese by Catholic population.]]> Historic First: Two Women to Lead German Deanery

[Image: q8kcnj1io13kp96voc5wn1kz28hb5e949gdidqt?...1784937124]

gloria.tv | July 22, 2026

Two women will jointly lead the Catholic Deanery of Bremen-Nord, Hildesheim Diocese, for the first time, marking a historic shift in church leadership. The decision was announced on July 21.

Ute Zeilmann is a theologian and will oversee pastoral ministry and the pastoral staff. Agnes Dobrzynski will lead administration. Both have worked in the Bremen-Nord deanery for several years.

To meet canonical requirements, Rev Johannes Pawellek will act as moderating priest, accompanying the new leadership team after his retirement in November 2026.

The pastoral team will also be joined by Rev Pradyut Bahla, an Indian priest currently pursuing doctoral studies in Frankfurt. He will serve in Bremen-Nord for five years.

The two women want “to embrace the global Church's call to synodality: leading together, listening to the Holy Spirit, and moving away from isolated leadership decisions”.

The Diocese of Hildesheim was led by pro-homosexual Bishop Heiner Wilmer until June 2026. He was promoted by Pope Leo XIV as Bishop of Münster on March 26 and was installed there on June 21. Münster is Germany's largest diocese by Catholic population.]]> <![CDATA[The Other Unauthorized Episcopal Consecration in California]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8498 Tue, 14 Jul 2026 14:06:26 +0000 Stone]]> https://staging.thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=8498 The hypocrisy continues in the Conciliar Church - Tradition is suppressed while every corruption is allowed ...


The Other Unauthorized Episcopal Consecration in California
by Fr. Romano Tommasi, SLD

[Image: Screenshot_20260426_223007_YouTube-2048x1132-1.jpg]

Above: the other recent unauthorised consecration. Photo credit: InfoVaticana.

1P5 | July 1, 2026


The SSPX has now consecrated bishops without a papal mandate. OnePeterFive has noted the comparisons to the Chinese Church situation (see two views on China here and here).

Here I want to quickly note another similar situation that took place quite recently. Joseph V. Brennan, Catholic Bishop of Fresno (California), participated in an unauthorized consecration of an American Episcopalian bishop without an apostolic mandate 18 April 2026.

Despite this, he remains in his see with jurisdiction and no announcement of canonical trial or penalties.

The Episcopalian Church in America still uses the 39 articles of religion from the Church of England (subtracting those naming the monarch as head of the Church), even if they are guideposts and things of honor, not doctrinally binding. (In fact, it would take quite a specialist to understand what indeed binds consciences under sin in today’s Episcopalian Church in the USA.)

Be that as it may, we shall expect that a communicatio in sacris with a religious body, including consecration of their bishop, without papal mandate will show that the CIC 1983 is only selectively operative.

The instance vitiates rule by law in the Vatican prior to the 01 July 2026 SSPX equally unauthorized consecrations.

What is the scandalous difference: The Episcopal Church rejects the extraordinary and universal ordinary magisterium (and the ordinary magisterium of Vatican II), but no penalties will be applied to Brennan, whereas the SSPX only provisionally rejects some limited decrees of post-Vatican II magisterium until they can be reconciled with the Extraordinary and Universal Ordinary Magisterium. Cardinal Müller, as former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, sees no threat in Brennan for Church unity at the Consistory. Somehow unity is preserved in California but gravely threatened at Ecône.

The mistake the Vatican keeps making is to reduce these absurdities as inconsequential to its publicly perceived teaching authority in the ordinary magisterium. In a first-world Catholic Church where many faithful are better educated and more learned than their clergy, the Church looks unserious, and they are not wrong to join with the traditionalists.]]> The hypocrisy continues in the Conciliar Church - Tradition is suppressed while every corruption is allowed ...


The Other Unauthorized Episcopal Consecration in California
by Fr. Romano Tommasi, SLD

[Image: Screenshot_20260426_223007_YouTube-2048x1132-1.jpg]

Above: the other recent unauthorised consecration. Photo credit: InfoVaticana.

1P5 | July 1, 2026


The SSPX has now consecrated bishops without a papal mandate. OnePeterFive has noted the comparisons to the Chinese Church situation (see two views on China here and here).

Here I want to quickly note another similar situation that took place quite recently. Joseph V. Brennan, Catholic Bishop of Fresno (California), participated in an unauthorized consecration of an American Episcopalian bishop without an apostolic mandate 18 April 2026.

Despite this, he remains in his see with jurisdiction and no announcement of canonical trial or penalties.

The Episcopalian Church in America still uses the 39 articles of religion from the Church of England (subtracting those naming the monarch as head of the Church), even if they are guideposts and things of honor, not doctrinally binding. (In fact, it would take quite a specialist to understand what indeed binds consciences under sin in today’s Episcopalian Church in the USA.)

Be that as it may, we shall expect that a communicatio in sacris with a religious body, including consecration of their bishop, without papal mandate will show that the CIC 1983 is only selectively operative.

The instance vitiates rule by law in the Vatican prior to the 01 July 2026 SSPX equally unauthorized consecrations.

What is the scandalous difference: The Episcopal Church rejects the extraordinary and universal ordinary magisterium (and the ordinary magisterium of Vatican II), but no penalties will be applied to Brennan, whereas the SSPX only provisionally rejects some limited decrees of post-Vatican II magisterium until they can be reconciled with the Extraordinary and Universal Ordinary Magisterium. Cardinal Müller, as former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, sees no threat in Brennan for Church unity at the Consistory. Somehow unity is preserved in California but gravely threatened at Ecône.

The mistake the Vatican keeps making is to reduce these absurdities as inconsequential to its publicly perceived teaching authority in the ordinary magisterium. In a first-world Catholic Church where many faithful are better educated and more learned than their clergy, the Church looks unserious, and they are not wrong to join with the traditionalists.]]>