Does it even matter?

The Church Will Bear the Antichrist: Hildegard of Bingen and the Ecclesiology of the SSPX

Representation of Hildegard's Vision of the Church Giving Birth to the Antichrist, While Simultaneously Remaining the Church, as Christ Promised. The Vision Depicts the Battle That Rages Even Within the Church.

By Raniero da Fiore*

The episcopal consecrations of the FSSPX (SSPX) and the entire argumentation for or against these consecrations have once again brought an old ecclesiological conviction of the followers of Lefebvre into focus: the contrast between an alleged "Eternal Rome," traditional and orthodox, and a "Conciliar Rome," modernist and heretical. This way of speaking is difficult to reconcile with Catholic doctrine on the unity and indestructibility of the Church. No matter how great and deep the current crisis may be, it requires true theological acrobatics to justify it. Nevertheless, this notion is not entirely without foundation. Its strength stems from a true insight that, unfortunately, all too often remains trapped in an inadequate doctrinal construction.

This insight consists in recognizing that the final crisis of the Church will not come exclusively from the outside. The mystery of iniquity will not manifest itself only in the form of an external persecution, a pagan emperor, or a power hostile to Christianity. Biblical and patristic tradition has always considered the possibility of an internal corruption, a trial that would strike the Church itself in its historical existence.

Many contemporary Catholics seem uncomfortable with this perspective. Accustomed since the Council of Trent to a defensive apologetics that equates any reference to an ecclesial apostasy with an approach to Protestantism, they prefer to ignore the problem rather than confront it. But a question does not disappear by being ignored. On the one hand, Christ promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church. On the other hand, Saint Paul announced a great apostasy and the appearance of the man of lawlessness (ho anthrōpos tēs anomias) before the end of time. Both statements belong to revelation, and neither may be sacrificed for the sake of the other.

Father Julio Meinvielle [^1] formulated this tension through the well-known image of a "Church of Promises" and a "Church of Propaganda." The first remains founded on the infallible word of Christ; the second designates that historical dimension of the Church in which human miseries, compromises, ambitions, and infidelities become visible. The importance of this insight lies in the fact that it does not attempt to solve the problem through an artificial separation between a true and a false church. The mystery remains open precisely because both dimensions coexist within the same visible reality.

Saint Hildegard and the "Lutheran Captivity"

Here, one of the most extraordinary figures of Christendom gains special significance. Saint Hildegard of Bingen was neither an insignificant visionary nor a popular prophetess of dubious reputation. A Benedictine abbess, advisor to emperors and popes, author of theological, scientific, and musical works, she occupied a prominent position in the intellectual and religious life of the 12th century.

Despite her immense authority throughout Christendom, her figure was used by Lutherans during the Reformation to attack the papacy: in fact, some of her exegetical visions pointed to a deep connection between the Church and the Antichrist. This brought her centuries of marginalization, during which her work was set aside as suspect. It was not until Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 that she was freed from this "Lutheran captivity" by officially enrolling her in the catalog of saints and elevating her to a Doctor of the Church.

It is worth pausing for a moment on this point, because it is not merely an honorary distinction. By this, the Church recognizes in a person a special doctrinal significance that deserves to be presented to the faithful. It is hard to imagine that Joseph Ratzinger, one of the greatest modern experts on the patristic and medieval tradition, would not have known one of the most famous and disturbing visions of the Scivias: that in which the Antichrist is born from the Church.

This should give pause especially to those who diagnose "anti-papism" with the same certainty that medieval doctors diagnosed imbalances in bodily humors. The idea that the Church will go through a profound eschatological crisis arising from its very interior does not come from some traditionalist blog, conspiracy theory, or modern apocalyptic exaggeration. It belongs to the work of a Doctor of the Church whose teaching Benedict XVI explicitly recommended to all Christians. Unfortunately, the Lefebvrian world cannot rely too heavily on Hildegard precisely here, where it would benefit them most, because the authority of this saint depends on canonizations whose validity they usually question.

The Vision of the Scivias

The vision that interests us is found in the third book of the Scivias, which is dedicated to salvation history and the consummation of time. Hildegard beholds a massive female figure representing the Church. The woman appears crowned and glorious, clothed in celestial dignity.

But as the gaze moves down from the navel, the image begins to change. There appear wounds, scales, blemishes, and disfigurements that symbolize the accumulated sins of the children of the Church throughout history. And then something monstrous happens. Right at that spot "where the woman is distinguished," a monstrous black head with fiery eyes, donkey's ears, and lion-like jaws arises: the man of lawlessness.

The miniature that accompanies the vision created under Hildegard's own supervision and shown at the beginning of this article possesses an even greater visual power. The Ecclesia remains crowned, she continues to sit on her throne, she remains the Bride of Christ. But from her very bowels arises the monstrous head of the Antichrist.

The Antichrist does not appear as a reality completely outside the Church. This observation is crucial because it allows us to understand simultaneously the validity and the error of certain contemporary analyses from traditional circles. Their validity lies in recognizing that the crisis can mature in the very heart of the visible Church. Their error, however, shows itself where they try to explain this insight through an all too simple separation between two different churches: Eternal Rome versus Conciliar Rome.

This solution possesses the appearance of an irresistible clarity, but ultimately introduces a way of thinking that is profoundly foreign to Catholic tradition. Classical Protestantism proceeded in exactly this way by identifying the Antichrist with the papacy. Wherever it perceived corruption, it concluded that the true Church must be found elsewhere. Hildegard's vision is far more uncomfortable because it prevents such a simplification. The crowned woman remains the Church, and the wounds do not turn her into something else. The corruption does not give birth to a second church; the Antichrist emerges from her wounds without destroying her identity.

The Dramatic Proximity to Evil

Father Leonardo Castellani[^2] also recognized the importance of this problem. In his work  Cristo vuelve o no vuelve? (Is Christ Returning or Not?), he emphasized the need to regain certain traditional insights that modern exegesis had abandoned because it suspected them of Protestantism. Especially that insight which allows us to understand the dramatic relationship between the historical Church and the figure of the Great Harlot:

"This would be the truth that Protestantism has held captive and which we must liberate like Lucia Miranda." (2004, 30)[^3]

Not because both realities could easily be identified with each other, but because the history of the Church can be mysteriously drawn into a shocking proximity to that very thing which opposes Christ.

Castellania’s image of Dulcinea helps to understand this mystery. Although the Argentine priest uses her as a symbol for the homeland, she can certainly also be understood in connection with the Church of the last times: at once corrupted and turned into a harlot, yet at the same time innocent and holy. The temptation of a bad theology is always to select one of the two aspects and deny the other. A certain anti-intellectualist tendency, which also characterizes the SSPX, might perhaps lie in the background of this attitude. Nevertheless, the Catholic exegetical tradition forces us to consider both realities simultaneously.

Fundamentally, the entire history of salvation seems to develop according to the same oscillating, cyclical movement: a sort of succession of purifications and catastrophes that escalates further and further, as Tolkien teaches in his letters. Adam receives paradise and falls, together with his descendants, who must be purified by the flood. The sons of Noah, preserved in the ark, eventually repeat those actions and are scattered at Babel. Finally, and in a particularly exemplary way, God founds Israel, the heir of the covenant, and this people ends up crucifying the Messiah. Those to whom God grants the greatest privileges become the primary actors in the greatest betrayals.

Castellani writes in his Apocalypse of Saint John:

"When Christ came, times were confusing and sad. Religion was corrupt in its leaders and consequently also in a part of the people. 'Do everything they tell you, but do not act according to their deeds.' Christ therefore did not leave the synagogue, but allowed Himself to be killed in order to purify it. From His pierced heart arose the Church, which was originally Jewish. When Christ returns, the situation will be similar. Only Pharisaism, the sin against the Holy Spirit, is capable of producing that great apostasy which He predicted: 'the greatest tribulation since the flood' will be brought about by the worst corruption, the corruption of the best." (2005, 209)

From this perspective, a final crisis arising within the Church does not represent an anomaly, but rather the consummation (usque ad summum) of a dynamic that runs through the entire history of salvation.

The Coexistence of Two Dimensions

Yet precisely here we also find the insurmountable boundary of this exegetical tradition. Neither Hildegard nor Castellani nor Meinvielle ever teach that the gates of hell will prevail against the Church. Nor do they claim that the Church will disappear and withdraw into a community of the pure ("Christ therefore did not leave the synagogue"). Even less do they imagine a sort of true church that persists exclusively in small groups of resistance fighters who go so far as to call themselves the "Ark of Salvation," as Father Benoît de Jorna of the SSPX has written.

It is precisely here that Meinvielle's insight gains its full depth. The Church of Promises and the Church of Propaganda do not form two different societies. They do not possess two hierarchies, do not have two popes, and do not exist as separate realities. Both remain mysteriously united under the same visible head.

The same pope who presides over the indestructible Church can simultaneously find himself at the head of an ecclesial structure permeated by errors, compromises, and confusion, thereby favoring the progress of the mystery of iniquity. Precisely therein lies the tragedy: both dimensions coexist.

*Raniero da Fiore, pseudonym, author for the blog Caminante Wanderer. Translation/Footnotes: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Wikicommons/Rupertsberger Scivias-Kodex

[^1]: Julio Meinvielle (1905–1973) was an Argentine priest, philosopher, theologian, and publicist, best known as a representative of a strongly Thomistic Catholic thought. His focus was on the question of which historical forces pave the way for an anti-Christian order. [^2]: Father Leonardo Castellani (1899–1981) was an Argentine Jesuit, priest, writer, theologian, philosopher, and publicist. He is considered one of the most eccentric Catholic thinkers of the 20th century in Argentina. He dealt with the question of how the figure of the Antichrist is to be understood from the biblical texts. [^3]: Lucia Miranda is a legendary figure from early Spanish history of Argentina. She is said to have come to the Rio de la Plata with the first Spanish expedition in 1527 and to have been captured by indigenous people during their attack on the first Spanish settlement, Sancti Spiritus, in 1529.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

SSPX critics should head down to their local banjo Mass

Chief Bergoglian Cardinal Accused of Sex-Abuse

Cardinal Cristobal Romero Archbishop of Rabat and, as a "Bergoglian," one of the most ardent defenders of documents such as Amoris laetitia and Fiducia supplicans, is facing allegations of sexual abuse. The Vatican has initiated a preliminary investigation.

[Katholisches ] The Spanish Cardinal Cristobal Lopez Romero is of the best-known representatives of Pope Francis's church-political course in the Hispanic world and a staunch defender of both Amoris laetitia and Fiducia supplicans is facing serious allegations. A preliminary investigation by the Holy See is underway against the Archbishop of Rabat after at least five women accused him of sexual assault or inappropriate behavior.

Cristobal Lopez Romero, a Salesian, was appointed Archbishop of Rabat in Morocco by Francis in 2017. In 2019, Francis created him a cardinal.

Consequently, Lopez Romero has been one of the most prominent Bergoglian figures within the College of Cardinals in recent years. He defended the opening toward remarried divorcees and other irregular unions in the spirit of Amoris laetitia, as well as the Vatican declaration Fiducia supplicans, which allows for the blessing of same-sex couples. During the 2025 conclave, his name was even mentioned among the papabili in progressive circles.

Since 2022, he has served as the President of the North African Bishops' Conference. Under his leadership, this bishops' conference”which is limited to the Arab-Berber-Egyptian north of African”stood by Pope Francis as the only part of Africa to do so when Sub-Saharan Africa unanimously opposed same-sex blessings.

Now, this prominent representative of the Francis line has himself become the focus of an investigation.

According to research by the news agency AFP, at least five women have accused the 74-year-old cardinal of sexual misconduct. The allegations range from repeated sexual assaults to intrusive physical advances. AFP bases its report on the statements of several affected individuals as well as information from within the archdiocese.

One woman, who was active in church work for years, told the agency of repeated sexual assaults. Her full testimony has not yet been published for privacy reasons. Another woman submitted a written statement to the Apostolic Nunciature in Rabat. In it, she describes "physical gestures" that she felt were inappropriate, including particularly prolonged hugs and an attempt to kiss her against her will. According to a source within the archdiocese, at least three other women have reported similar experiences, some of them during confession.

The Vatican has since launched a canonical preliminary investigation. In response, Lopez Romero declared that he would withdraw from the public exercise of his office until the investigation is completed. He will no longer lead public worship services and will not perform any pastoral duties for the time being so as not to interfere with the investigation.

The Cardinal firmly rejects the allegations. Speaking to AFP and the Spanish news agency EFE, he stated that he had committed "neither aggression, nor violence, nor sexual harassment." He is cooperating fully with the responsible church authorities in Rome.

According to Moroccan judicial authorities, no criminal complaint has been filed against the Archbishop with the country's state authorities so far. The investigation is currently limited to the canonical proceedings of the Holy See.

Lopez Romero comes from Almerma, belongs to the Salesians of Don Bosco, and spent nearly two decades as a missionary in Paraguay, whose citizenship he later adopted. After spending further years in Bolivia, Pope Francis dispatched him to Rabat as Archbishop.

Leo XIV also promoted the Spaniard. On June 24, 2025, he appointed him a member of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and on April 9, 2026, a member of the Dicastery for Communication.

The case adds to the ongoing, non-stop series of abuse and cover-up scandals that have shaken the Catholic Church since the post-conciliar era. Although a policy of "zero tolerance” first proclaimed by Benedict XVI”was repeatedly reaffirmed under the pontificate of Francis, but the Argentine Pope repeatedly counteracted his own measures. The allegations raised against one of the best-known champions of his reform course now lends the case a particular church-political volatility.

Until the conclusion of the Vatican investigation, the presumption of innocence applies.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 

Image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred  vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Canon 844 & Archbishop Hebda Reaches Out to SSPX Friends

Edit: whats been amusing is seeing all of the fire breathing Torquemadas out there thirsting for blood. Finally, we get to be mean to someone with impunity! 

 I think these people are mostly the usual suspects in the Catholic online commerce syndicate, practicing canon law without expertise or competence.

 

AMDG

How the Vatican botched it

The truth about the SSPX excommunications

Trad Cat vs. Off the Docks

Thoughts on the Semiquincentennial with Charles Coulombe

Happy 250th Birthday America!!

Doubtful

<>

Leo excommunicates Traditionalists

Explaining things to the Goyim

Convent Attached to Historic Saint Patrick’s Burned in Arson Attack

 Edit: no mention of the people who have been burning churches for centuries. There are 120 Muslims, possibly fewer, occupying Downpatrick.

Photo Credit: Stephen Barnes

[Belfast Telegraph] A former convent in Downpatrick, County Down, was destroyed in a large fire early on June 28, 2026, as over 60 firefighters battled the blaze for hours. The structure, previously the Convent of Mercy, was engulfed in flames that spread rapidly, with thick smoke visible from miles away. Authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of the fire, and investigations are ongoing.

Over 60 firefighters from multiple stations responded to the scene, including crews from Downpatrick, Newry, and Bangor, according to the Belfast Telegraph. The fire, which broke out around 4:30 a.m., was so intense that it caused significant structural damage within minutes. Residents in nearby areas reported seeing the flames and hearing alarms for several hours.

The Convent of Mercy, a historic building with ties to the local community, was completely destroyed. Built in the early 20th century, the convent had been abandoned for years before the blaze. The fire service confirmed that the building was a total loss, with no survivors reported. Firefighters worked through the night to contain the blaze, which had spread to adjacent vegetation before being brought under control.

AMDG

Pope Prylest Threatens the Last Workers in the Vinyard

Edit:see, his suggestion that the SSPX would *even* be capable of dispensing invalid sacraments is absurd. It's hard to see how the most Liberal and Marxist if Orthodox clergy can give valid Sacraments but not the SSPX.

 

LETTER OF POPE LEO XIV TO THE SUPERIOR GENERAL

OF THE PRIESTLY FRATERNITY OF SAINT PIUS X

[Multimedia]

___________________________________

To The Reverend 
Davide Pagliarani
Superior General
of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X

With a paternal heart, and aware of the responsibility entrusted to me by the Lord as the Successor of the Apostle Peter, I address you and, through you, the bishops, priests, seminarians and faithful connected to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X.

The Church recognizes the devotion to liturgical life, commitment to priestly formation, apostolic zeal and desire for fidelity to Tradition that characterize many people and communities connected to your Fraternity. This has motivated the attentive and generous attitude that my Predecessors have consistently shown to you.

In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back! I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the Sacraments, which they love and seek for their sanctification.

The Church is open to a path of dialogue and understanding that the Holy Spirit can make possible and fruitful.

I pray for you, because to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity. May the Lord enlighten your consciences and awaken your hearts. With a sorrowful yet hopeful heart, I feel it is my duty, through the authority received from Christ, to ask you to desist from your intended act. I entrust these intentions to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Good Counsel.

 

From the Vatican, 29 June 2026

Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

Is the SSPX leaving the Church and taking tradition with them?

https://gemmaodoherty.com/tradition-is-leaving-the-church-because-of-the-sspx/

SSPX explained

The Myth of The Spanish Inquisition

Bucking the trend

Thanks to a reader for the following links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQGc5nCXPc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfWkFZCSxw

Caution, offensive link:  https://www.tiktok.com/@desbishop5/video/7220917482045934875?fbclid=IwY2xjawSfqFxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETJjc25NV3hsNDRxYjkza3o1c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkztSW7A5Eto3X7wKjktInT-hT_Pl7yH_4zem6JdRvGud0Bgq7X4zULIHh-6_aem_EG-sF-qApCPYjJoiHjef1w

On Europe's Open Borders

🌈 Is June no longer Pride Moth? 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Jab me up!

https://gemmaodoherty.com/belfast-beheading-update-on-the-money-grabbing-crisis-actors/

And now, what The Reverend Jesse Jackson used to call: "Boph Sides"

Does Israel Drag America into War?

Americanism

Giants & Demons

How I became an exorcist

The Most Successful Scam In Christian History

Protestantism is collapsing

The Quiet, Sad Erasure of the Legacy of Rush Hudson Limbaugh lIl

He was a Midwest college dropout who was "a wandering shred of human debris" until his late thirties when he was picked up by New York's 770 WABC Radio in 1988 in time for the Bush/Dukakis race. For several years, he would host separate NY and National shows until they merged in the nineties. The early shows were where he showed his independence the most. He thought nothing of mocking sodomites. And who could forget the show's Caller Abortion? Instead of muting the caller and quietly hanging up on them like say, Patrick Madrid, he played the audio of a vacuum cleaner concluding with a faint scream which he always denied hearing. 

 Here was a man raised a Methodist and buried in a Masonic plot who used to take pro-Life cruises with Cardinal O'Connor  and  was personal friends with Malachi Martin. He seriously entertained thoughts of converting but wondered what hinderance two divorces (at the time) would present. By the time of the Gulf War, he was reliably in the Neo-Con/Zionist camp although he did endorse Pat Buchanan in the 1992 primary much to the consternation of those trying to control him. There were similarities in later years with his support of Donald Trump. 

Was anyone else heard on the radio by this many people since Fr. Coughlin (another voice that had to be controlled)? But what was his legacy?    Tim Kelly has repeatedly pointed out that he drove liberals crazy mocking them and made millions of dollars doing it from the millions who listened but did he even slow the country's leftward slide?

Now, he's gone and replaced by an even more controlled opposition:  A CIA trained company man and a  remote sidekick who can't go five minutes without saying "to your point," "no doubt," or "I have three boys."

Don’t talk in Church, Peasants

You’ll never know just how you look through other people’s eyes.

Edit: seems so simple, but even in your below-average trad chapel, there are people, usually women, blabbing about the mindless trivialities of their bourgeois existences after Mass in the nave, irrespective of the people making their thanksgiving. It’s unspeakably rude, but it’s also sinful and demonstrates a profoundly disordered attitude. Perhaps their motivation isn’t unity with the Divine, but more nefarious things? 

Usually, it’s old boomers who may not see one another again before the next Mass. At times, I think, well, maybe they’ll never see one another again, since it’s obvious to everyone they are such close friends. Still, why not go outside or go to the parking lot. I still remember old farmers standing and talking outside of the brutalist church in Lake Wilson, in the rain, for hours.

I’ve posted about this a few times. It’s nice to see Father Ripperger speak so forcefully about it! Perhaps he’s not so bad after all?

 

 AMDG

Assassination plots: Unanswered questions

Is the future of Orthodox Catholicism chocolate?

Satanic “Minister” Gives Invocation in Nevada

RENO, Nev. (TND) — A Nevada governing body on Tuesday opened its meeting with a religious ceremony by a local Satanist group. Reno Satanic, a “non-theistic” Satanist group, delivered an invocation before the Washoe County Commission which began with a chant in Latin.

“In the name of the eternal revel against tyrannical authority,” Reno Satanic founder Jason Miller began.

 “To bring influence and guiding actions of nobility and justice to the decisions made in this chamber today. To act with might in the undertaking of responsibility that may lay ahead of this body before us today. The new age is dawning that these decisions may play a role in.”

AMDG

Declaration of Catholic Faith to the Holy Father

Edit: this is from the Society’s main page. Just thought it was important to have it available here.

Declaration of Catholic Faith

May 14th, 2026

**addressed to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV by Fr. Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X**

Most Holy Father,

For more than fifty years, the Society of Saint Pius X has endeavoured to set before the Holy See a matter of conscience in the face of the errors that are destroying Catholic faith and morals. Regrettably, all the discussions entered into have remained without result, and none of the concerns expressed have received any truly satisfactory response.

For more than fifty years, the only solution truly considered by the Holy See has appeared to be that of canonical sanctions. To our great regret, it seems to us that canon law is thus being used, not to confirm in the Faith, but to lead away from it.

In the text that follows, the Society of Saint Pius X is glad to express to You, filially and sincerely, its devotion to the Catholic Faith, concealing nothing, either from Your Holiness or from the Universal Church.

The Society places this simple Declaration of Faith in Your hands. It seems to us to correspond to the minimum indispensable to be in communion with the Church, and to truly call ourselves Catholics and, consequently, your sons.

We have no other desire than that of living and being confirmed in the Roman Catholic Faith.

“Thus, remaining firmly rooted and established in the true Catholic Faith, strive always to be worthy ministers of the divine Sacrifice and of the Church of God, which is the Body of Christ. For, as the Apostle says: ‘all that is not of faith is sin’, ^1 schismatic and outside the unity of the Church.” ^2

### DECLARATION OF CATHOLIC FAITH

In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, divine Wisdom, the Word Incarnate, Who willed one sole religion, Who rendered the Old Covenant definitively null and void, Who founded one sole Church, Who triumphed over Satan, Who conquered the world, Who remains with us until the end of time and Who shall come again to judge the living and the dead.

He, the perfect Image of the Father, the Son of God made man, was appointed the sole Redeemer and Saviour of the world through the Incarnation and the voluntary offering of the Sacrifice of the Cross. Our Lord satisfied divine justice by shedding His Most Precious Blood, and it is in that Blood that He established the New and Eternal Covenant, abolishing the Old. He is therefore the sole Mediator between God and men and the sole way to come to the Father. Only he who knows Him knows the Father.

By divine decree, the Most Holy Virgin Mary has been directly and intimately associated with the entire work of Redemption; to deny this association — in the terms received from Tradition — is therefore to alter the very notion of Redemption as willed by divine Providence.

There is only one Faith and one Church by which we may be saved. Outside the Roman Catholic Church, and without the profession of Faith that she has always taught, there is neither salvation nor remission of sins.

Consequently, every man must be a member of the Catholic Church in order to save his soul, and there is but one baptism as the means of being incorporated into her. This necessity concerns the whole of humanity without exception and embraces without distinction Christians, Jews, Muslims, pagans, and atheists.

The mandate received by the Apostles, to preach the Gospel to every man and to convert every man to the Catholic Faith, remains binding until the end of time and responds to the most absolute and most pressing necessity in the world. “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.” ^3 Therefore, to renounce the fulfilment of this mandate constitutes the gravest of crimes against humanity.

The Roman Church alone possesses simultaneously the four marks that characterize the Church founded by Jesus Christ: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity.

Her unity flows essentially from the adherence of all her members to the one true Faith, faithfully preserved, taught, and handed down by the Catholic hierarchy throughout the centuries.

The denial of even a single truth of the Faith destroys faith itself and renders radically impossible all communion with the Catholic Church.

The only possible path to restoring unity among Christians of different confessions consists in the urgent and charitable appeal addressed to non-Catholics to profess the one true Faith within the one true Church.

The Catholic Church can in no way be regarded or treated on an equal footing with a false form of worship or a false church.

The Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, is the sole possessor of supreme authority over the whole Church. He alone directly confers on the other members of the Catholic hierarchy jurisdiction over souls.

“The Holy Ghost was not promised to the successors of Peter that they might make known, by His revelation, a new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation transmitted by the Apostles, that is, the Deposit of the Faith.” ^4

To a unique Faith there corresponds a unique form of worship, the supreme, authentic, and perfect expression of that same Faith.

The Holy Mass is the perpetuation in time of the Sacrifice of the Cross, offered for many and renewed upon the altar. Although offered in an unbloody manner, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially expiatory and propitiatory. No other form of worship offers perfect adoration. No other form of worship that is not ordered to it is pleasing to God. No other means is sufficient for the sanctification of souls.

Consequently, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can in no way be reduced to a mere commemoration, to a spiritual meal, to a sacred assembly celebrated by the people, to the celebration of the Paschal mystery without sacrifice, without satisfaction of divine justice, without expiation of sins, without propitiation, and without the Cross.

The help afforded to souls by the Sacraments of the Catholic Church is sufficient in every circumstance and in every age to enable the faithful to live in a state of grace.

The moral law contained in the Decalogue and perfected in the Sermon on the Mount is the only one practicable for obtaining the salvation of souls. Every other moral code — founded, for example, on respect for creation or on the rights of the human person — is radically insufficient to sanctify and save souls. In no way can it replace the one true moral law.

Following the example of St. John the Baptist, true charity obliges us to warn sinners and never to renounce the means necessary to save their souls.

He who eats the Body of Our Lord and drinks His Blood whilst in a state of sin eats and drinks his own condemnation, and no authority can alter this law contained in the teaching of St. Paul and in Tradition.

Sins of impurity that are against nature are of such gravity that they always and in every circumstance cry to God for vengeance, and are radically incompatible with every form of authentic Christian love. Such a ‘lifestyle’ can therefore in no way be recognized as a gift from God. A couple practising this vice must be helped to free themselves from it, and can in no way be blessed — formally or informally — by ministers of the Church.

The submission of institutions and nations, as such, to the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ flows directly from the Incarnation and the Redemption. Therefore, secularism of institutions and nations constitutes an implicit denial of the divinity and universal kingship of Our Lord.

Christendom is not a mere historical phenomenon, but the only order willed by God among men.

It is not for the Church to conform herself to the world, but for the world to be transformed by the Church.

It is in this Faith and in these principles that we ask to be instructed and confirmed by Him Who has received the charism to do so. With the help of Our Lord, we would rather die than renounce them. It is in this immutable Faith that we desire to live and die, in the hope that it may give way to the direct vision of the immutable eternal Truth.

Menzingen, 14 May 2026,

on the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord

**Davide Pagliarani**

^1 Rom. 14:23

^2 Roman Pontifical, Admonition to ordinands to the subdiaconate

^3 Mark 16:16

^4 Pastor Aeternus, ch. 4