The Catacombs - Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo appoints archbishop who offered Pachamama ritual

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 22:53:13 +0000

Pope Leo appoints archbishop who offered Pachamama ritual
Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera was named coadjutor archbishop of Cusco, Peru, after participating in a Pachamama ritual.

Aug 31, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV named Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, O.S.A, as coadjutor archbishop of Cusco on Saturday, just weeks after Herrera attended a ritual offering to Pachamama.

Per the Vatican daily bulletin on August 29, Pope Leo appointed Bishop Herrera, who had served as the auxiliary bishop of Cusco and as secretary general of the Peruvian bishops’ conference, as coadjutor archbishop, meaning he will become the next ordinary of the archdiocese upon a vacancy.

Earlier this month, during a conference in the same Peruvian city ahead of Leo’s November visit to the country, Herrera attended an Andean ritual dedicated to Pachamama, which involved cocoa leaves, food offerings, and guided breathing exercises.

Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a priest and canon lawyer who serves in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and as papal commissioner for clerical sexual abuse cases, notably took an active part in the August 13 pagan ritual. Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos, Peru, was also in attendance.

Following the ritual, Michael Hichborn reported that the event was also organized “to dialogue, share their demands, and build agreements around human rights and the common good,” drawing together:

Quote:Representatives of social organizations, indigenous and peasant communities, women’s and youth groups, LGBTIQ+ people, people with disabilities, human and environmental rights defenders, relatives of victims of state violence, and faith communities.

“So, in addition to opening the meeting with idolatrous veneration of a pagan deity, the meeting was held in conjunction with LGBT groups to include such in the promotion of ‘human dignity’ and ‘human rights,’” Hichborn stated in his article.

Exactly a week after the ritual, an “unusually powerful” 6.7-magnitude earthquake that struck near Arequipa was felt by about 2.4 million people, including those in Cusco. Thankfully it appeared to have resulted in no deaths and minimal injuries and structural damage.

Earthquakes have historically been associated with God’s divine punishment for sin. And while this earthquake may not have been the result of God’s punishment, the possibility cannot be ignored.

The Catholic Church teaches that as a result of the fall, evil entered the world and affected nature, creating the possibility for natural disasters.

Indeed, in the book of Genesis, we see God punish the world for its grave sins by destroying it through the great flood, or the deluge, sparing only Noah and his family.

Leo XIV adopts Francis’ ecological language in ‘Care of Creation’ message

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:39:40 +0000

Leo XIV adopts Francis’ ecological language in ‘Care of Creation’ message
Leo XIV's message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation continues Pope Francis' environmental framework, linking war to ‘ecological degradation.’

Pope Leo XIV
Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

Aug 21, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV has called the faithful to “an authentic ecological conversion” in his message for the 2026 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

On Thursday, the Holy See Press Office released Leo XIV’s message for the 11th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to be observed on September 1 under the theme, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” from Isaiah 2:4.

In his message, dated August 15 and published August 20, the Pope links war, poverty, and “ecological degradation,” arguing that “where hearts are renewed, new possibilities begin to open.” This renewal, according to Leo, is “the path of an authentic ecological conversion” – echoing core “green” agenda themes of the Francis pontificate, particularly those articulated in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.

“Let us imagine a world in which the energies currently invested in war are directed toward integral human development, to overcoming poverty, protecting human dignity and reconciling divided peoples. Such a vision reflects faith in the coming of God’s Kingdom,” Leo wrote.

The Pope’s message presents war and “social and ecological destruction” as interconnected manifestations of a deeper disorder. “Moreover, the interaction between armed conflicts and environmental degradation often creates a vicious cycle, which destroys ecosystems, contaminates essential resources, such as air and water, and undermines food security. This fuels poverty, inequality, and new social tensions that can contribute to the emergence of further conflicts,” the Pope wrote.

Leo locates the root of these problems within “the human heart.” Referring to [Vatican II's] Gaudium et spes, he describes “violence, injustice, and ecological degradation” as symptoms of “the deeper dichotomy that is rooted in humanity itself.”

“The wounds of war and the degradation of the earth, then, are profoundly linked to the condition of the human heart.… In order to build a peaceful society, therefore, we must not only reform structures but also renew our hearts. The deep-set causes of conflict and the exploitation of creation stem from an ethical and cultural crisis, including the loss of a sense of limits, the desire for domination, the pursuit of immediate profit, and the inability to recognize the God-given dignity of each human person,” the Pope stated.

According to Traditional Catholic teaching, true peace is not simply the result of political negotiation or social compromise but the fruit of conversion to the Social Kingship of Jesus Christ, that is, to the Catholic faith. “When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony,” Pope Pius XI taught (Quas Primas, n. 19).

In Catholic theology, every human activity – political, economic, or spiritual – finds its meaning only when it acknowledges Christ’s sovereignty over individuals and nations. Without this conversion, all human projects, however noble, remain fragile and ultimately doomed to fail, because they attempt to build peace apart from the Prince of Peace Himself.

Additionally, Traditional social doctrine teaches that disorder within creation is not merely the result of human-driven pollution or capitalist economics, but of the deeper wound of original sin. As St. Paul writes, “the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now” (Romans 8:22).

Leo XIV’s message explicitly adopts modern ecological terminology strongly associated with the pontificate of Francis, citing Laudato Si’ and describing several “ecosystems” that Christians are called to safeguard: creation, human relationships, and “the human heart itself.”

The World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation was first established in 1989 by Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople, who invited Christians to dedicate September 1 to prayer and reflection on the environment. The initiative also draws on Jewish creation theology, as stated on the official page of the initiative.

Pope Francis extended the observance to the Catholic Church in 2015, framing it within the vision of the encyclical Laudato Si’ and calling believers to “ecological conversion.”

Leo XIV’s Peru Visit Prepared By Pachamama Offering

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:01:27 +0000

Leo XIV’s Peru Visit Prepared By Pachamama Offering

gloria.tv | August 18, 2026

On 13–14 August, “Entrelazando Voces por la Dignidad,” a regional gathering of social organizations and Indigenous communities, took place in Cusco, Peru. Spanish-language outlets, including Vatican News, linked it to preparations for Pope Leo XIV’s November visit. Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, auxiliary bishop of Cusco and CELAM secretary-general, inaugurated the gathering; Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos also attended. InfoVaticana video shows the event opening with an Andean offering to Pachamama/Mother Earth. Participants received coca leaves, performed guided breathing, blew three times on the leaves, and placed them with food offerings in bowls on the ground. Bishop Estrada is shown adding coca leaves to the offering. Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, Vatican official overseeing the dissolution of the community Sodalitium, also took part, placing coca leaves in the offering.

* * *

From Infovaticana [computer translated to English from the original Spanish]:

A pontifical commissioner and a bishop deposit coca in a «payment to the land»: Jordi Bertomeu offeror to Pachamama

August 18, 2026

The South Macroregional Meeting «Interweaving Voices for Dignity», presented by Vatican News as part of the preparation for Leo XIV's visit to Peru, a rite of invocation to Mother Earth with distribution of coca leaves, breathing exercises and food offerings on the ground was opened without any Catholic prayer: in its place.

Among the bidders, as the images show, monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, officer of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and pontifical commissioner for the Sodalitium, that he deposits his coca leaves in the «payment» bowl with visible recollection and that, at the end of his intervention on the Sodalicio case, he turns the sign with his name upside down and leaves the camera shot.

On August 13 and 14, the Southern Macroregional Meeting «Interweaving Voices for Dignity: for human rights and the common good» was held in Cusco, which brought together representatives of social organizations, indigenous communities and groups from nine regions in southern Peru. Peru. The meeting was inaugurated by Monsignor Lizardo Estrada Herrera, auxiliary bishop of Cusco and general secretary of CELAM, and included the participation of Monsignor Miguel Ángel Cadenas, bishop of Iquitos. What the official Vatican News chronicle doesn't tell is how it started — or who else was there.

«It is the month of Mother Earth, who loves us so much»

According to the video spread on social networks, before the presentations a woman led the opening ceremony. «This month of August is very special for us, for the Andean worldview; it is the month of Mother Earth, who loves us so much, who is so affectionate, who is so kind, who gives us food», he explained to those present. In Andean tradition, August is the month in which Pachamama is «fed» through offerings and «payments to the land».

Immediately afterwards, coca leaves were distributed among all attendees and guided breathing exercises were carried out: «we are seeing how our interior is», indicated the officiant, while those present closed their eyes. «This body, this body that we inhabit is little land, it is territory», he continued.

The rite culminated with the deposit of coca leaves in bowls arranged on an altar on the ground, along with food —including cheese— offered to the earth: «we thank the earth in this important month; we give it three breaths when depositing them», instructed the director of the ceremony. The gesture of blowing three times on the coca leaves before offering them is part of the Andean ritual of «payment» or dispatch to Pachamama.

The video does not contain any Catholic prayer, blessing, or Trinitarian invocation. The spiritual part of the opening of the meeting was covered, entirely, by the rite of the Andean worldview. The bishops were present in the room, although for much of the ceremony they were left out of the camera shot.

[See original link above for videos]

Bertomeu, offering with recollection and departure hiding the sign with his name
The most striking attendee of the meeting does not appear in the Vatican News chronicle: Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, officer of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, trusted man of the Holy See in the most delicate files in Latin America and pontifical commissioner for the case of the Sodalitium of Christian Life.

The images show him participating fully in the rite: Bertomeu deposits the coca leaves in the bowl of the «pago», with visible recollection, immediately after the auxiliary bishop of Cusco. There is no evidence that he limited himself to witnessing the ceremony: he offered as another participant.

Its subsequent behavior is equally striking. The presentations begin immediately after the Pachamamic rite and, when Bertomeu takes the floor to tell the audience about his performance in the Sodalicio case, the camera focuses on the audience at all times, not the speaker. As if he had requested not to be documented there. When finished, the images capture him turning the sign with his name upside down on the table and leaving the camera shot. An official of the doctrinal dicastery of the Holy See who offers coca leaves to Mother Earth and who, immediately afterwards, ensures that there is no visible record of his presence at the event: each one will draw their conclusions about why he obeys so much discretion,and whether participation in Pachamamic rites is the type of image that suits whoever represents the Pope as pontifical commissioner. This medium has tried to contact Jordi Bertomeu but has not been attended to.

An ecclesial event, not an alien act

The worrying thing is that this is not an event of civil organizations that the Church attended as a guest. The meeting was inaugurated by the general secretary of CELAM himself, who set the framework by appealing to the Social Doctrine of the Church: «the defense of human dignity, justice, peace and the common good are not matters foreign to faith», said Monsignor Estrada, who formulated the objective of moving «from scattered voices to a shared word [...] and from proposals to concrete commitments». The format responds to the meetings that the social pastoral structures and vicariates of the southern Andean region organize together with the National Human Rights Coordinator.

Among the speakers were Tania Pariona, executive secretary of the National Human Rights Coordinator and former congresswoman from Nuevo Perú; Cusco congresswoman Ruth Luque, from the same political orbit; José Antonio Lapa, director of Human Rights Without Borders; and Victoria Taco, from the Espinar Platform for People Affected by Toxic Metals.

Vatican News highlights it; the rite and Bertomeu, silenced

The display that the Vatican media has given to the meeting is striking. Vatican News dedicated an extensive chronicle to him —reproduced by other media— in which the episcopal prominence is highlighted and the event is framed, expressly, in the path of preparation for the next visit of Pope Leo XIV to Peru. In that chronicle there is not a single line about the opening ceremony: neither coca leaves, nor «payment to the land», nor the month of Pachamama. Nor a single mention of Bertomeu, despite the fact that he spoke before the audience immediately after the ceremony. The contrast between what the images show and what the official story tells is, in itself, significant:the meeting is publicized as a prelude to the papal trip and it is omitted that it was a confessionally pagan act with the presence of an officer from the Dicastery of the prefect Victor Manuel Fernández.

Questions remain open: was the rite on the official program? Who directed it and by what? Do the organizers consider that a «payment to the land» can replace Christian prayer at the opening of a Church meeting? And does the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith consider active participation in offerings to Pachamama compatible with the function of its officers? As long as there are no answers, the images speak for themselves.

Leo XIV calls for respect for 'the rites promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Saint John Paul

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:53:25 +0000

Leo XIV Backs Liturgical Program after 'Traditionis Custodes'

gloria.tv | August 14, 2026

Leo XIV has sent a message to Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship. The occasion is a meeting at Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon devoted to liturgical formation. Dated June 29, the brief message was published today in the Vatican bulletin.

The text appears to reinforce Cardinal Roche’s recent statement that Leo XIV does not intend to abolish Traditionis Custodes.

Leo XIV calls for respect for “the rites promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Saint John Paul II.” He adds that this respect must spring from “sincere fidelity to ecclesial communion.”

Furthermore, Leo XIV relies heavily on Francis’ 2022 Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi, quoting it several times. That document was closely connected to the post Traditionis Custodes liturgical program and contains a strong defence of the post-Vatican II reform.

Umberto Longo: a Freemason appointed to the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:51:19 +0000

Umberto Longo: a Freemason appointed to the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences

InfoVaticana [Slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original] | August 15, 2026

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Italian historian Umberto Longo, director of the Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo and full professor of Medieval History at La Sapienza University of Rome, as a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences. The appointment was officially announced by the Holy See on August 13, together with those of Francesco Cesareo and Anna Barańska, and reported by Vatican News.

The relevant fact is that Longo’s membership in Freemasonry does not simply follow from his attendance at conferences organized by lodges. There are documents published by Italian Masonic institutions themselves that present him as a “Fratello,” attribute to him specific degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and place him in internal positions. The documentation is considerably stronger than what a mere proximity to Masonic circles might suggest.

The first evidence appears in Logos, the publication of the Regional Inspectorate of Lazio of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, corresponding to 2013. On the page dedicated to the “Cariche per il 2013” of the Loggia di Perfezione Maestri Segreti «Giano», Oriente di Roma, it expressly lists “Fr. Oratore Umberto Longo 4°”. The magazine itself immediately clarifies that the degrees indicated are those held by each “Fratello” at the time of assuming office.

We are not, therefore, dealing with the name of an external guest. “Fr.” means Fratello, brother; “Oratore” is the position Longo held within that Lodge of Perfection, and “4°” indicates his degree in the Scottish Rite. The same issue of Logos also publishes various works under the heading “Le Tavole del Fr. Oratore Umberto Longo 4°” —nine ritual tables engraved for the Lodge’s work during 2013— and a study on the history of the Rite again signed “Fr. Umberto Longo 4°”. In the introduction, the Regional Inspector for Lazio expressly presents the fascicle as the collection of the tables engraved “a cura dell’Oratore Fr. Umberto Longo 4°”.

To this documentation is added a second official source, this time from the Grande Oriente d’Italia. Its magazine Erasmo, issue 7-8 of 2013, reports on a “Tornata di I° Grado” held on March 25 at the Casa Massonica Romana in Piazzale degli Archivi. The chronicle explains that numerous brothers and Worshipful Masters participated and expressly lists among the latter Umberto Longo. It was not an open academic congress, but ritual Masonic work of the first degree.

But probably the most significant documentary evidence appears when crossing two different sources from 2014. On July 8, 2014, the official website of the Grande Oriente d’Italia announced that Umberto Longo would deliver the following day, within the so-called “Luglio Scozzese” organized by the Regional Inspectorate of Lazio, a lecture entitled “La via dinamica di perfezionamento dei Cavalieri Scozzesi. Tradizione e ritualità, rigenerazione e universalità”.

That same work, with exactly the same title, appears published in the 2014 issue of Logos, the magazine of the Scottish Rite. And there the author is unequivocally identified as “Fr. U. Longo 9°”. The Grande Oriente publicly attributes the lecture to Umberto Longo; the Scottish Rite publication reproduces that same intervention and attributes it to “Brother U. Longo,” ninth degree. The same issue also includes the “Tavola d’Agape 2013 del Fr. Oratore U. Longo 9°”: the annual ritual agape of the “Giano” Lodge, whose prayer was once again delivered by the same Orator whom the magazine had identified the previous year with full name and surname.

The content of the text is equally revealing. Longo does not write from the perspective of an external researcher describing the rituals as a historical object. He speaks of the “privilege of participating in an initiation rite”, of using the instruments that “Freemasonry makes available”, and of the aspirations of Masons and the duties of Scottish Knights.

The documentation does not end in 2014. In Logos of 2015 appears another intervention entitled “La piramide rituale scozzese”, signed “Fr. U. Longo 9°”. The text is again written unequivocally from within the Rite. Longo uses expressions such as “nel rituale di IV Grado ci sono stati fatti compiere” and, even more explicitly, “Come massoni e scozzesi abbiamo quindi…”: “As Masons and Scots, therefore, we have…”. It is difficult to conceive of a more direct formulation regarding the condition from which the author writes.

The identification admits no doubt

LifeSiteNews, which reported on the case on August 14, introduced some formal caution regarding the identification between the “Fr. Umberto Longo” of the ritual publications and the professor at La Sapienza. The cross-referencing of the primary sources makes that caution untenable.

In 2019, the Grande Oriente d’Italia again included Umberto Longo as a speaker —presented as a historian, alongside Carlo Ricotti— at the congress organized in Rome by the “Dio e Popolo” lodge no. 786 and the Collegio Circoscrizionale dei Maestri Venerabili del Lazio on the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the Roman Republic.

And in December 2022 the identification is sealed by the very organization of the event. Longo participated in Venice in a conference dedicated to Hugo Pratt and the initiatory universe of Corto Maltese, and the organizing entity expressly identified the speaker as “prof. Umberto Longo, professore ordinario di Storia Medievale a La Sapienza Università di Roma”. The event was sponsored by the Fondazione Scozzese Triveneta; the closing greetings were delivered by Gian-Paolo Barbi, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; and the honorary president of the organizing association was Luigi Milazzi, exactly the same Sovereign Grand Commander who heads the organizational chart of the Supreme Council in the issues of Logos from 2013, 2014, and 2015 in which “Fr. Umberto Longo” signs. The professor at La Sapienza who speaks on esotericism under Scottish sponsorship in 2022, before the leadership of the Rite, is the same person whom the Rite had been publishing as a brother of the fourth and ninth degrees.

The sequence established by the open sources is, therefore, unequivocal: in 2013 Longo appears in internal documentation as “Fr. Oratore Umberto Longo 4°” and the Grande Oriente includes him among the Worshipful Masters present at a ritual meeting; in 2014 the Scottish Rite publishes as “Fr. U. Longo 9°” exactly the same lecture that the Grande Oriente publicly attributes to Umberto Longo; in 2015 he again signs as ninth degree a text in which he speaks in the first person as a member of the “Masons and Scots”; in 2019 the Grande Oriente presents him as a speaker at one of its lodges; and in 2022 he speaks, identified by name, surname, and chair, at an event sponsored by a Scottish foundation and closed by the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Rite.

There is, therefore, more than sufficient primary documentation to establish that Umberto Longo belongs to Freemasonry, held positions in a Lodge of Perfection, and attained at least the ninth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. No public source records any act of abandonment, resignation, or rupture with the institution; on the contrary, his connection with the circles of the Rite is documented continuously at least until December 2022, barely three and a half years before his pontifical appointment. If Longo had ceased to be a Mason, it is up to him—or to the Holy See, which appointed him—to prove it. The documents published by the Masonic organizations themselves say what they say.

What the Church teaches about Freemasonry

The appointment takes on special relevance in light of the Church’s position on Freemasonry. The Declaration on Freemasonry of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of 1983, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and approved by John Paul II, establishes that the Church’s negative judgment remains unchanged because the principles of Masonic associations are incompatible with Catholic doctrine. Membership remains prohibited, and the faithful enrolled in them are, the document states, in a state of grave sin and cannot receive Holy Communion.

The Holy See reiterated that position in November 2023, when the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith recalled, with the approval of Pope Francis, that the active membership of a faithful in Freemasonry is prohibited by the “irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry.”

It is not recorded that Umberto Longo is Catholic, so it would not be correct to automatically transfer to him the canonical consequences that those documents establish for the faithful. Nor is that the question: the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences is an academic body that has included non-Catholic members. The question raised by his appointment is another, and more serious: Leo XIV has incorporated into a pontifical body—precisely the one in charge of historical sciences, a field where historiography inspired by Freemasonry has its own well-known agenda regarding the Risorgimento, the Papal States, or the historical processes of the Church—a Mason of the ninth degree of the Scottish Rite, brother, Worshipful Master, and officer of a Lodge of Perfection according to the official publications of the Rite and the Grande Oriente d’Italia themselves.

The evidence does not come from anonymous lists, leaks, or accusations by third parties. It has been published for years on the official pages of Italian Freemasonry. The question that remains in the air is who prepared the proposal for the appointment and what filter was applied—if any was applied—before placing it on the Pope’s desk. This medium has requested comments from the interested party and from the Holy See Press Office.

Pope Leo appoints pro-female ordination consultors to religious life dicastery

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:20:28 +0000

Pope Leo appoints pro-female ordination consultors to religious life dicastery
Among the 15 new councilors are several figures who have publicly supported heterodox positions associated with the synodal reforms of Pope Francis.

Pope Leo XIV
Adri Salido/Getty Images

Aug 10, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed new consultors to the Vatican’s religious life dicastery, including advocates of LGBT ideology and “women’s ordination,” greater liturgical experimentation, and structural changes to Church governance.

On August 6, Pope Leo appointed 15 new consultors to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, headed by Prefect Sister Simona Brambilla. The appointments include two bishops, five priests, two religious brothers, and six religious sisters, among them several figures who have publicly supported heterodox positions associated with the synodal reforms of Pope Francis.

Perhaps the most revealing appointment is Sister Patricia Murray, a former executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General. Murray has been a prominent supporter of Francis’ understanding of so-called synodality within women’s religious life.

At a 2021 conference on synodality, Murray argued that discussions concerning controversial questions could not simply be excluded from the process. “We have to also allow the topics that people want to talk about to be named,” she said, explicitly mentioning women’s diaconate and priesthood.

Murray was also questioned about “the pain of LGBTQ+ people” during a Vatican press conference concerning the synod on October 16, 2023. “I think, at many of the tables, if not all, the question of hurt, and the woundedness of people both individually and collectively has been dealt with and listened to,” she answered.

She said participants discussed how the Church might “represent that hurt,” adding some had argued that apologies alone for “hurts that have been caused” were insufficient.

Another relevant appointment is Sister Maria Nirmalini, an Indian religious who participated in the 2023 Synod on Synodality. In an interview with Vatican News, Nirmalini called for a “liturgical reform … with less emphasis on uniformity and more on creativity.”

She also praised Pope Francis for “including us women” and framed this as a sign that “all are included in this journey.” Paraphrasing St. Catherine of Siena, Nirmalini called women to “demand equality” and to offer their gifts “whether … legitimated or not” because “no one, not even the Church, has the right to deny the gifts of God.”

The Indian sister presented the synod as a “new beginning” involving “persons at all levels of the Church” with “no one left behind,” which implies a shift away from hierarchical governance toward broad participatory processes. “Here history was being created,” Nirmalini stated. She explicitly hoped for a “substantial toning down of clericalism” and a greater emphasis by the Church on the issue of “co-responsibility in the care for creation.”

Nirmalini praised Francis in unusually enthusiastic terms also on another occasion. On March 13, 2023, in a tribute marking the tenth anniversary of Francis pontificate, she described it as “a new kind of leadership, a new way of being Church” and praised what she called reforms that the Church “desperately” needed. “That was just the beginning,” she said.

She also singled out Francis’ approach to Islam as an important achievement, saying: “One of the many firsts of Pope Francis is the long stride he has made in interreligious dialogue, particularly with Muslims.”

Another newly appointed consultant is Brother Emili Turú Rofes, a Catalan Marist who served as Superior General of the Marist Brothers from 2009 to 2017. Turú has strongly promoted the synodal transformation of the Church. In an interview published in The Synodal Times on February 12, 2024, Turú described synodality as what “the Lord expects from the Church in this millennium.”

Turú also framed the synod as a direct continuation and implementation of the Second Vatican Council, stating that “we are now in the implementation of Vatican II,” implying that the post-conciliar trajectory is a normative yet unfinished path for the Church.

In that interview, Turú said that religious communities must be ready to “shed what is not essential in their own tradition” to embrace “the newness of the Spirit.” Finally, he expressed the hope for a “new style of relationship in the Church … with believers and non-believers. I hope that in a few years, when we look back, we will be able to recognize that the journey we have made together has made us better people.”

Sister María Rosaura González Casas is another appointee whose writings and public statements point toward significant changes in the Church’s structures. The Mexican religious sister is a psychologist and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

In an interview with Europa Press published on October 31, 2022, González Casas claimed that the Church has systematically failed women, and that if this continues “we will have no future as a Church.” She added that women had frequently been treated within the Church as “second-class people” and merely as “labor force,” without an adequate voice in decision-making. She attributed this situation to what she called the influence of ecclesial culture and hierarchical structures, also causing “abuse of nuns.”

The remaining appointments announced August 6 are Bishop Alfonso Vincenzo Amarante; Bishop Kevin Otieno Mwandha; priests Ignasi Fossas, Damián Astigueta, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Benjamin Earl, and Flavien Mambueni; Brother Antoine Kazindu; and Sisters Chiara Lorenzato, Mary Lembo, and Maria do Disterro Rocha Santos.

The appointments come as the Vatican dicastery responsible for consecrated life continues under the leadership of Sister Simona Brambilla, who became its prefect under Pope Francis on January 6, 2025.

Pope Leo approved Cardinal Roche’s document supporting Latin Mass restrictions: report

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 10:47:17 +0000

Pope Leo approved Cardinal Roche’s document supporting Latin Mass restrictions: report
A Spanish outlet reported that Pope Leo requested a document affirming Pope Francis’ claim

that the Novus Ordo is ‘the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.’

Pope Leo XIV
Shutterstock

Aug 3, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV supports the Latin Mass-suppressing document Traditionis Custodes and specifically requested Cardinal Arthur Roche’s document on the liturgy backing Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) restrictions, according to a Spanish publication.

La Razón reported Sunday that it has been “able to confirm” Cardinal Roche distributed this year’s consistory document on the liturgy “at the request of Leo XIV and, therefore, with his approval of its content.”

The outlet also reported that Pope Leo reviewed this document and “Not a single comma was changed.”

The delivery of the text to the cardinals therefore showcased the “position of the new Pope on this issue” and was “not a provocation by Roche” as some claimed, the Spanish outlet concluded.

Leo’s stamp of approval means the pontiff indeed supports the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass. Roche’s leaked consistory text repeated Pope Francis’ claim that the Novus Ordo Missae is “the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” It further stated that the permission granted to offer the TLM was a mere “concession that in no way envisaged (its) promotion,” and that “we cannot go back to that ritual form.”

La Razón’s report supports Roche’s recent claim that Pope Leo will not restore freedoms for the Traditional Latin Mass.

“No, Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum,” the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments told the British Catholic weekly The Tablet on Wednesday.

Latin Mass suppressions ordered by multiple bishops since Leo took office have already suggested that the pope does not intend to revoke Traditionis Custodes, which has been firmly denounced by clergy and scholars as a repudiation of the perennial practice of the Catholic Church and even of solemn Church teaching.

The document violates the permanent authorization of the traditional Mass confirmed by St. Pius V’s 1570 bull Quo Primum, which declared that this Mass may be used “freely and lawfully” in “perpetuity” and even that the wrath of God would fall upon those who would dare to restrict or abolish it.

“This present document cannot be revoked or modified but remains always valid and retains its full force,” Quo Primum states.

"Leo XIV Will Not Allow the Mass in the 'Latin Rite' - Cardinal Roche

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:41:53 +0000

"Leo XIV Will Not Allow the Mass in the Roman Rite" - Cardinal Roche

gloria.tv | July 30, 2026

"Pope Leo XIV is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he is not going back to Summorum Pontificum", Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, told TheTablet.co.uk on July 29.

Regarding the Novus Ordo, he claimed that the Church wanted to be "more missionary": "The abundant diet of Scripture that is now given through the celebration of the Mass and the sacraments is something that wasn’t available to use before, but it is now."

He acknowledged the Novus Ordo's emphasis that "the baptised people are a priestly people" and that "they too are celebrating with the priest".

Future Pope Leo XIV embraced synodality, female leadership as bishop in Peru

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:37:02 +0000

Future Pope Leo XIV embraced synodality, female leadership as bishop in Peru
Long before Pope Francis' Synod on Synodality, then-Bishop Robert Prevost allowed women to lead synodal commissions in his Peru diocese, according to a report.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, during a Synod 2023 press conference
Michael Haynes

Fri Jul 24, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — A new report published this week by the heterodox National Catholic Reporter (NCR) featuring interviews from members of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, sheds new light on how then-Bishop Robert Prevost, the future Pope Leo XIV, implemented synodality and embraced women taking on leadership roles during his tenure as ordinary.

The July 21 report recounted that, upon his arrival in the Chiclayo in 2014, first as apostolic administrator of the diocese, seven years before Pope Francis’ Vatican opened the Synod on Synodality, Prevost attempted to remedy a deeply divided diocese by forming a “diocesan pastoral animation team” that would become better known by its Spanish acronym EDAP. This group, later described as a “synodal laboratory,” consisted of priests, religious, and lay men and women who traveled through the diocese to listen to each parish’s needs and particularly emphasized the perspective of the laity.

Clerics and laity in Chiclayo described to NCR how Bishop Prevost focused on “listening” to the perspective of the laity and even defended allowing women to lead synodal commissions.

“At that time, Msgr. Robert (Prevost) talked about ‘co-responsibility of the layperson,’” Luis Antonio Zapata, a lay catechist who joined the EDAP in 2018, told NCR.

He added that Prevost would say “the priests are busy with their tasks, get more laypeople in here, because the laity is best able to reach the laity.”

Father Elmer Uchofen, a priest who helped lead the diocese’s synodal process, stressed that Bishop Prevost would often speak and focus on “encounter” and “listening” to the faithful.

“(Prevost) spoke to us about encounter, about needing to listen to later see what path to take,” the priest said.

“His way of being helped a lot, because he was a bishop that knew how to listen and to be patient,” he added. “He would sit in the groups and listen to the people, to everyone: priests, the laity, to the ones that were drifting a bit or had fallen away from the church. In that sense, he was a real pastor.”

Indeed, since his election as 267th pontiff last year, Leo has repeatedly highlighted in continuity with his predecessor, Pope Francis, his belief that the Church ought to be a “synodal church,” beginning with his first remarks as pontiff.

READ: Pope Leo defends synodality, tells cardinals ‘I need your support: strong, explicit, and public’

“To all of you, brothers and sisters from Rome, from Italy, from all over the world, we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer,” the newly elected pope said from the loggia.

In an extended interview last fall with Crux correspondent Elise Ann Allen for a since-published biography, Leo further stressed continuity with Francis on synodality and other key issues, noting how his time in Peru deepened his connection to the late Argentine pontiff’s outlook.

I believe (the time in Peru) was significant in both my connection with Pope Francis, my understanding of some of the vision that Pope Francis had for the Church, and how we can continue to carry that on in terms of a true prophetic vision for the Church today and tomorrow,” Leo said.

On synodality, Leo was explicit that the “process that began long before the last synod” must continue.

“I think there’s great hope if we can continue to build on the experience of the past couple years and find ways of being Church together,” he said.

READ: Leo XIV vows to ‘continue’ Francis’ ‘prophetic vision’ for the Church

Gladys Calderón, a lay female member of the EDAP who is also involved with the diocese’s Charismatic Renewal, recounted how Prevost had been more welcoming to members of their movement than his predecessor.

“As a movement, we saw ourselves as keeping a certain distance from the diocese, because as a charismatic movement we have a particular way of living (the faith), but Msgr. Roberto shook up that structure and brought us on board to walk together,” she told NCR. “We became more united, more integrated into the diocese, sharing our different charisms — it was a beautiful experience in building unity.”

Another laywoman, Birgit Weiler, a theologian at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, emphasized how Prevost had allowed several women to lead teams that provided “synodal formation” in parishes and even defended allowing this after facing pushback from priests.

“Not all parish priests were so happy when a commission came, led by a woman,” Weiler said, adding that Prevost “fully backed up the women.”

“(Prevost) said, ‘They are prepared as well as the men are and this commission is led by a woman, full stop,'” she said.

As with his emphasis on synodality, the future Pope Leo’s desire to see women take on leadership roles seems to have carried over into his pontificate.

In June, the pontiff named Maria Montserrat “Montse” Alvarado, who currently serves as president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, as the next Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication and the first woman to lead a Roman curia office.

Leo has also confirmed Sister Simona Brambilla in her role as the Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and named her to the Dicastery for Bishops. The pontiff also confirmed Sister Raffaella Petrini and María Lía Zervino, the former president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations, in their roles in this key dicastery.

Pope Leo approves new bishop in false Chinese ‘Catholic’ church

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:07:11 +0000

Pope Leo approves new bishop in false Chinese ‘Catholic’ church
Joseph Chang Yanfeng was consecrated in a ceremony presided over by a vice-chairman of the
Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA).

Wed Jul 22, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — China today consecrated a bishop of Inner Mongolia with the approval of Pope Leo XIV under the controversial Vatican-China deal.

Joseph Chang Yanfeng was consecrated in a ceremony presided over by Bishop Meng Qinglu, a vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), a pro-Chinese Communist Party group that oversees the state-controlled “Catholic” church in China, UCA News reported.

“The Holy Father appointed him bishop of Chifeng (Province of Inner Mongolia, China) on 15 June 2026, having approved his candidature within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China,” the Vatican announced Wednesday.

The officially secret Sino-Vatican deal, signed in 2018, is believed to recognize the state-approved church in China and allows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to appoint bishops. The Pope apparently maintains veto power, although in practice it is the CCP that has control. It also allegedly allows for the removal of legitimate bishops to be replaced by CCP-approved bishops.

The deal was renewed most recently in 2024 for a four-year period.

Before Leo XIV was elected, during the sede vecante period after Pope Francis’ death, two bishops who were selected by the CCP, eliciting concerns that China was taking advantage of the vacancy.

The CCP’s move to appoint two bishops during this period demonstrates that Beijing does not see the role of the Holy See or the pope as important. It further points to the fact that in the highly secretive Sino-Vatican deal, it appears to be China – rather than the Holy See – that is in charge.

Joseph Chang Yanfeng is the sixth bishop Pope Leo XIV has approved thus far under the Vatican-China deal.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, has repeatedly criticized the deal strongly. He described the agreement as an “incredible betrayal” of China’s Catholics and accused the Vatican of “selling out” Chinese Catholics.

He has been supported by numerous activists and China experts, including former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who warned in 2020 that “(t)he Vatican endangers its moral authority, should it renew the deal.”

Additionally, the deal has led to an increase in religious persecution, and the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China has documented this in its annual reports.

Another ultra liberal bishop elevated by Pope Leo

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 13:43:41 +0000

One begins to lose track of all the incredibly liberal clergy that are being elevated in this pontificate, which is rightly noted to be fairly seamless from that of Pope Francis... all the same objectives are being sought and fulfilled.

Pope Leo appoints German bishop who endorsed homosexual ‘blessings,’ claimed sodomy ‘not sinful’

Pope Leo named Bishop Christian Würtz the new ordinary of Eichstätt, though Würtz approved documents of the heretical Synodal Way
that denied Catholic teaching on homosexuality and other issues.

Jul 7, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday named Monsignor Christian Würtz, an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Freiburg, Germany, who has a history of supporting homosexual “blessings” and contradicting the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, as the next bishop of Eichstätt.

Würtz, 55, was among the 38 German bishops in 2023 who voted in favor of a document endorsing “blessings” for homosexual “couples” as well as for the divorced and “remarried.” Six months earlier, Würtz supported the German Synodal Way’s heterodox “Doctrinal Reassessment of Homosexuality” document that falsely called homosexual acts “not sinful” and “not intrinsically evil.”

“I am looking forward to my new role,” Würtz said in an official diocesan statement.

“It is a beautiful coincidence that my appointment takes place on the feast day of St. Willibald, the patron saint of the Diocese of Eichstätt. I hope that, with my experience and abilities, I can also contribute to building the Kingdom of God in Eichstätt and walk alongside the people here,” he added. “I thank Pope Leo for the trust he has placed in me and am now looking forward to getting to know the people in the diocese.”

Pope Leo defends synodality, tells cardinals ‘I need your support: strong, explicit, and public’

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:06:45 +0000

Pope Leo defends synodality, tells cardinals ‘I need your support: strong, explicit, and public’
Pope Leo XIV addressed some cardinals' apprehensions while meeting in Rome about a ‘synodal’ round-table format — a structure they felt

was ‘very controlled’ when used at the first consistory in January, Vatican journalist Edward Pentin reported.

Pope Leo XIV
Burak Kara/Getty Images

Jun 27, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV opened his second extraordinary consistory of cardinals on Friday in which he insisted that the Lord is leading the Church via “synodality” so that she can “grow in communion,” according to a report by Vatican journalist Edward Pentin.

The Pontiff encouraged the 178 cardinals to “engage wholeheartedly” in a synodal, working group structure, adding that he was “well aware that, for many of us, this is not the usual way of conducting a consistory,” Pentin said in his EWTN News report.

“I count on you to help me discern what the Spirit is saying to the Church today. I need your support: strong, explicit, and public,” Leo said in his opening remarks on Friday. “I need to feel sustained by you as brothers.”

“The pope’s comments came after some cardinals had expressed apprehensions about the consistory using a ‘synodal’ round-table format for a second time — a structure they felt was ‘very controlled’ when used at the first consistory last January, and left them with a sense that key decisions and framing had been set in advance,” Pentin noted.

The gathering in the Pope Paul VI Hall that began Friday and ends Saturday evening, will have focused on four themes, led by Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, archbishop of Kraków; Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Stephen Brislin, archbishop of Johannesburg; and Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops.

Notably, these four cardinals assigned to deliver the introductory addresses and meditations for the consistory sessions had been closely aligned with Pope Francis and have a record of supporting heterodox positions.

Earlier this week, the Italian blog Messainlatino characterized the organization of the consistory as the “synodalist ‘Bergoglio method’” whereby the cardinals are “divided into first‑class and second‑class tables,” with a “secretary‑spokesperson for each group, and extremely limited time for interventions in the assembly.”

“The organizational model of the upcoming consistory produces an appearance of broad participation and deliberative consensus, yet its structure significantly limits the conditions for genuine collective discernment,” LifeSiteNews’ Gaetano Masciullo wrote in advance of the Vatican gathering. “The fragmentation into small groups, each with strict time constraints and mediated through designated coordinators, shifts the center of gravity away from open, continuous debate in the full assembly toward pre-filtered and procedurally standardized exchanges.”

“In such a framework, the real content of discussion may be more easily condensed, selected, and reformulated before it reaches the plenary level, where only brief summaries are presented without being subject to full argumentation,” Musciullo said.

“These elements generate a procedural image of synodality – officially characterized by listening, participation, and shared discernment – while in practice they centralize control over framing, synthesis, and final reporting,” Musciullo said. “The result is a carefully managed consultative mechanism in which consensus is structurally pre-shaped rather than freely formed through open confrontation of positions.”

Pope Leo warns SSPX against ordaining bishops to avoid ‘schism’

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:42:11 +0000

Pope Leo warns SSPX against ordaining bishops to avoid ‘schism’
'I am still considering making another appeal, to say, 'Do not do this. Let us try to live in communion in the Church,'' Pope Leo said Tuesday.

Pope Leo XIV
Adri Salido/Getty Images

Jun 16, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV addressed the upcoming ordination of bishops by the Society of St. Pius X, saying Tuesday outside his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, that the Vatican may make a final request to SSPX to reconsider its episcopal consecrations.

The SSPX ordinations are planned for July 1 at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland, where four priests in the Traditional Latin Mass society will be consecrated as bishops.

“We have invited them, and I am still considering making another appeal, to say, ‘Do not do this. Let us try to live in communion in the Church,'” Pope Leo said outside Villa Barberini. “But it is their choice. They must understand what it means for them and for the Church.”

The Vatican has cautioned the SSPX on several occasions that the consecrations without papal approval could result in excommunication as a “schismatic act.”

The Pope appeared to make reference on Tuesday to the SSPX rejecting some reforms and teachings of Vatican II, saying, “Certainly, division among Christians is always a painful matter. But they refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the Church, beginning with various points of the Second Vatican Council. And if they make those choices, I am sorry. But we must move forward.”

The Society had announced in February its plans to consecrate new bishops without papal approval out of an “objective state of grave necessity” for the continuation of its sacramental ministry.

In a press release dated February 2, Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani said the SSPX’s bishops have been tasked with carrying out the consecrations on July 1. The announcement was made at the Society’s International Seminary of Saint-Curé-d’Ars in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, France, at the ceremony in which new seminarians receive the cassock.

Since then, reaction among bishops has been split between support and opposition. Included among the vocal supporters are Archbishop Carla Maria Vigano. Leading the vocal opponents in the Vatican is Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the Prefect of the Discastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

After a February meeting in Rome between Fernández and Father Pagliarani, a communique revealed that Fernández threatened Pagliarani and the SSPX with the crime of “schism” if the episcopal consecrations announced by the Society go ahead.

Developing …

Magnifica Humanitas: Leo Says the Catholic Church Has No Monopoly on Truth

Tue, 26 May 2026 11:55:15 +0000

Magnifica Humanitas: Leo Says the Catholic Church Has No Monopoly on Truth
From praising false religions as “great spiritual paths,” to synodal discernment, and human dignity without Christ the King,
Magnifica Humanitas gives the game away.

Chris Jackson via Hiraeth in Exile substack [Emphasis - The Catacombs] | May 26, 2026

On May 15, 2026, the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Leo XIV signed his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, “on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.” The Vatican presented it publicly on May 25 as a major social encyclical for the digital age.

The title already gives away the disease.

Magnifica humanitas. Magnificent humanity. The grandeur of man. The splendor of the human person.

A Catholic encyclical on artificial intelligence could have begun with God, creation, original sin, the limits of fallen reason, the demonic temptation to “be as gods,” and the public rights of Christ the King over every human invention. It could have warned that modern technology becomes especially dangerous when placed in the hands of men who have rejected grace, law, nature, hierarchy, penance, and the last end of man.

Instead, we get the familiar postconciliar arrangement: Christ appears, but man remains center stage. Grace appears, but as a kind of elevation of human potential. Sin appears, but usually in the social, structural, humanitarian way. The Church speaks, but too often as a concerned moral partner of global civilization rather than the divinely commissioned teacher of nations.

That is the real story of Magnifica humanitas.

The encyclical denounces the reduction of man to data, performance, utility, and economic function. It warns that technology is never morally neutral. It condemns exploitation, trafficking, abortion, euthanasia, digital manipulation, autonomous weapons, and the commodification of the vulnerable.

But this document does something far more dangerous than repeat obvious moral concerns about Silicon Valley. It takes the crisis of artificial intelligence and uses it to reassert the entire postconciliar religion: human dignity without the social reign of Christ, dialogue without conversion, peace without Catholic order, truth without the Church’s exclusive divine commission, and historical “growth” that places the Bride of Christ under the judgment of modern moral fashion.

By the time the encyclical reaches its apology over slavery, the damage has already been done. The groundwork was laid from the beginning.

Babel Condemned by the Chaplains of Babel

The governing biblical image is Babel. Leo contrasts the tower of pride, domination, uniformity, and technological self-sufficiency with Jerusalem, the city rebuilt in communion and shared responsibility under God.

At first glance, this sounds forceful. The image is obvious enough. Silicon Valley really is building Babel with server farms, biometric databases, predictive algorithms, neural networks, digital currencies, surveillance architecture, and machines trained to imitate the human mind while the human soul is forgotten.

But the encyclical never escapes the world it condemns.

Leo denounces technological Babel, then reaches for the same vocabulary that built the ecclesiastical Babel after Vatican II: dialogue, pluralism, fraternity, shared discernment, human rights, multilateral institutions, synodality, integral ecology, the “civilization of love,” and the autonomy of earthly realities.

The old tower was built by men who wanted unity without obedience to God. The modern tower is built by men who want peace without the Kingship of Christ, dignity without baptism, fraternity without the true Church, and global order without the conversion of nations. Magnifica humanitas sees the technological tower rising and then proposes, as the cure, the theological vocabulary of the last sixty years of surrender.

It notices the machine. It misses the apostasy behind the machine.

The document warns against transhumanism and posthumanism, against the attempt to overcome human limits by technological power. Yet postconciliar theology has spent decades teaching modern man to think of himself primarily in terms of dignity, creativity, freedom, experience, conscience, dialogue, development, and historical becoming. Then everyone acts surprised when the same man, catechized in the religion of self-realization, decides that even nature itself must yield to his will.

The AI crisis did not fall from the sky. It came from a civilization that rejected God’s law and then discovered it could manufacture substitutes for providence, memory, judgment, imagination, authority, and eventually man himself.

The encyclical sees the idol’s face. It refuses to smash the altar.

The Missing Crown

The central absence in Magnifica humanitas is not a mere lack of religious language. Christ is mentioned. The Incarnation is mentioned. Grace is mentioned. The Eucharist is mentioned. Scripture is used.

That makes the problem worse.

Christ is present, but too often as the revealer of human dignity, the healer of social wounds, the guarantor of fraternity, the companion of humanity, the source of a more humane civilization. He is invoked as the divine sponsor of a better anthropology.

What disappears is Christ the King.

Before the Council, the Church did not approach social questions by asking how the Gospel could deepen mankind’s shared humanitarian project. She proclaimed that every man, family, law, ruler, economy, institution, school, court, and nation must submit to the reign of Jesus Christ.

[color=#71101s]Pius XI did not write Quas Primas so future churchmen could reduce the Kingship of Christ to a private spirituality, a liturgical theme, or a poetic symbol. He taught that the evils of the modern age flowed from the exclusion of Christ and His law from public life. No lasting peace could exist while states and citizens refused the rule of the Savior.[/color]

That doctrine should have thundered through any Catholic encyclical on artificial intelligence.

AI is not dangerous merely because it threatens human dignity. It is dangerous because fallen man, having dethroned Christ, now possesses instruments that amplify his rebellion. Pride, lust, greed, lies, surveillance, sacrilege and apostasy can all grow.

The problem is not simply that man may be reduced to data. The deeper horror is that man, already in revolt against God, now has machines capable of organizing the revolt with terrifying precision.

Magnifica humanitas wants ethical technology, responsible innovation, protection for workers, peace among nations, truthful communication, and safeguards for the vulnerable.

Under what King?

According to what law?

For what final end?

The encyclical keeps circling back to human dignity, fraternity, dialogue, integral development, the common good, and social responsibility. The old Church gave the answer that made the devils tremble:

Christ must reign.

Without that crown, every Catholic-sounding paragraph becomes unstable. The social teaching floats. The moral concern drifts. The humanitarian language expands until it fills the space where the supernatural order should be.

The Conciliar Machine Is Still Running

Chapter One tells the reader how the whole encyclical works. The Church “journeys” through history. She reads the signs of the times. She respects the autonomy of earthly realities. She engages science. She listens. She discerns. She allows history to become a place where the Spirit teaches her the humanizing power of the Gospel.

There is the engine.

This is the conciliar machine, humming exactly as designed.

The Church no longer speaks first as the divine teacher of mankind, commanding nations to repent, be baptized, submit to Christ, and enter the one ark of salvation. She appears as a pilgrim companion of modern man, a moral interpreter of human experience, a partner in global discernment, a religious voice within the wider conversation of humanity.

That is how Magnifica humanitas arrives at the astonishing claim that the Church “does not claim to possess a monopoly on truth,” because truth is “a good to be shared.”

There is no need to soften this.

That line is a disgrace.

The Catholic Church does not possess truth as a shopkeeper possesses inventory. She possesses the truth because Christ entrusted it to her. She guards it. She defines it. She teaches it. She condemns its counterfeit. She transmits it without corruption. She alone was founded by the Incarnate Word to teach all nations in His name.

The martyrs did not die because the Church was one sincere participant in mankind’s common search for truth. Missionaries did not cross oceans because false religions were fellow “spiritual paths.” The Fathers did not anathematize heresy because truth was a shared conversation. Popes did not condemn indifferentism because all parties held fragments of a larger religious mosaic.

“Mortalium Animos” spoke with the Catholic voice: unity comes by return to the one true Church of Christ, not by religious negotiation among competing communities. The Church does not learn revealed truth from history, from pluralism, from interreligious dialogue, or from the anxieties of modern man. She teaches because God has spoken.

The older voice exposes the postconciliar voice as foreign.

When Leo says the Church has no monopoly on truth, he gives the revolution its slogan.

More excellent points in the rest of the article, here.

BREAKING: Leo XIV’s new encyclical makes Christ equivalent to mere human beings

Mon, 25 May 2026 10:32:34 +0000

BREAKING: Leo XIV’s new encyclical makes Christ equivalent to mere human beings
A first look at Pope Leo's first encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas.'

Pope Leo XIV
Adri Salido/Getty Images

May 25, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — While Pope Leo’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, tackles transhumanism and new technologies, it also departs from theological Tradition on issues such as human dignity and the doctrine of just war.

On May 25, Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”) at 11 AM Italian time. In the lengthy document, the Pope argues that humanity today finds itself at a crossroads. We have a choice between building a new “Tower of Babel,” marked by self-sufficiency and the idolatry of profit, and rebuilding “Jerusalem,” a project of co-responsibility and communion under the gaze of God. However, the document presents problematic doctrinal elements, particularly the reaffirmation of the doctrine of infinite human dignity by Francis.

Despite its attention to Christ, the encyclical is clearly oriented toward man and his dignity. In fact, by reaffirming Francis’ error of the infinite dignity of man, Leo XIV makes Christ and the human being — regardless of religion and state of grace — equivalent. In other words, Christ becomes the symbol of humanity:

Quote:For this reason, as a believer among believers, I invite everyone to contemplate, in the face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light also on the era of AI. […] This human face is the fullness toward which history is moving. It is the mystery of “recapitulation”: the certainty that the Father has decreed to bring all things, those in heaven and those on earth, back to Christ, the one Head (cf. Eph 1:10). In this plan, nothing will be lost that is authentically human. Indeed, everything will be purified and reunited in the One, who gathers every fragment of life, every tear and every authentically human achievement, rescuing them from nothingness and delivering them, redeemed, to the Father.

The document explores the problem of artificial intelligence, but also addresses a wide range of anthropological, social, and political problems. The Pope identifies AI as an “accelerator” that places traditional social categories in crisis.

Magnifica Humanitas begins with a series of general principles from the Social Doctrine of the Church. Among these, in addition to the infinite dignity of man, are the notions of the common good and the universal destination of goods.

The first principle is the “State’s responsibility to ensure cohesion” among individuals and to “harmonize the different sectoral interests with the requirements of justice” so that society may have a “shared vision.”

The second is a guarantee to everyone of the use of natural resources and the products derived from them and also — in one of the document’s most innovative theses — “immaterial and cultural goods” such as patents, algorithms, digital platforms, technological infrastructures, and data. In other words, the encyclical suggests that all this should be state property, or at least strongly regulated by states. It should not be individual property; Magnifica Humanitas assumes that public ownership of material goods guarantees a broader diffusion of the knowledge necessary for present-day development.

“In a context where the wealth of nations depends increasingly on knowledge and technology, when these goods remain concentrated in the hands of a few, without adequate forms of sharing and access, a new imbalance is created that contradicts the universal destination of goods,” the encyclical reads.

Starting from these premises, which in any case depart from their classical theological definitions, three principal theses may be identified within the document.

The first is that technology is not neutral: “Technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, are not neutral, for they can either foster participation and justice or exacerbate inequality, control and exclusion,” Pope Leo writes.

The second is that humanity finds itself at a crossroads: “On the one hand, there is the Tower of Babel, where collective effort follows a plan that dominates and ultimately dehumanizes. On the other hand, there are the ruins of Jerusalem, which under Nehemiah’s direction are rebuilt piece by piece as a project of shared responsibility.”

The third is that Christ should be understood as the model of humanity to be followed in controlling and correcting emerging technologies, and the cultural movements that take their bearings from them, such as transhumanism and posthumanism.

An entire chapter of the encyclical — the fifth — is dedicated to the “culture of power” and the war-related implications of emerging technologies, including AI. In it, Pope Leo XIV addresses the subject of war with a position of clear rupture from historical developments of doctrine, going so far as to state explicitly that the theory of “just war” is now “outdated.”The Pope observes that “without prejudice to the right to self defense in the strictest sense,” just war theory has been “far too often invoked to justify any war whatsoever.” He emphasizes that humanity today possesses much more effective and humane instruments to promote life and resolve conflicts, identifying such instruments in dialogue, diplomacy, and forgiveness. Leo XIV also denounces how the development of weapons systems based on artificial intelligence in fact makes war more “practicable” and less subject to human control.

Developing….