With today’s meditation, we come to the end of the list of serious deviations within the Church that reveal the influence of the anti-Christian spirit.
We have yet to mention the unhealthy rejection of the Holy Mass in its traditional rite, as it was celebrated for so many centuries. This rejection became evident in various statements and measures during the last pontificate, particularly in the Motu Proprio Traditiones Custodes. Thus, Pope Benedict XVI’s intention to allow the Tridentine Mass to receive the respect and practice it deserves was largely thwarted.
Nor can we overlook another serious deviation that revealed the anti-Christian influence in the Church. I am referring to the declaration Fiducia Supplicans. In this context, I will limit myself to briefly addressing the topic and refer those who wish to study it more thoroughly to an article I published some time ago on this document:
On December 18, 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which puts forward a novel proposal that contradicts the path laid out by Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. Through the instructions in this document, the aim is to bestow divine blessing upon sinful unions. Rather than calling the people involved to conversion, this “blessing” constitutes a deception.
Despite all the formulations in Fiducia Supplicans that seek to present this “new pastoral path” as if it were in harmony with the Church’s previous path, we must hold fast to the truth forcefully expressed by Cardinal Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: a Catholic priest can never bless a sinful relationship, since this would constitute divine approval of such a union. Therefore, Cardinal Müller concludes that such a blessing would be blasphemy.
It is worth highlighting the clear and unequivocal words that the bishops of Kazakhstan have published regarding Fiducia Supplicans:
“The fact that the document does not grant permission for the ‘marriage’ of same-sex couples should not blind pastors and the faithful to the great deception and evil inherent in the very permission to bless couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples. Such a blessing directly and seriously contradicts Divine Revelation and the unbroken, two-thousand-year-old doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church. Blessing couples in an irregular situation and same-sex couples is a grave abuse of the Most Holy Name of God, since this name is invoked over an objectively sinful union of adultery or homosexual activity.”
It should be noted that in my recent reflections I have mentioned only the most serious deviations, and that many other examples could be cited that reveal the influence—and even the dominance—of a “different spirit” within the Church. One need only look at the Church in Germany—whose hierarchy presents itself as a “vanguard” of synodal deviations—to see what is also intended to be implemented in Rome, albeit at a slightly slower pace in order to encompass the universal Church.
Since Leo XIV has made it clear through his words and his approach that he will continue along the path of his predecessor, the Church’s state of emergency has not improved. With each passing day that erroneous doctrines are taught and entrenched instead of being corrected and atoned for, the shadow looming over the Church grows darker.
Therefore, we must focus our attention on how to address such a situation. To do so, it is essential that we first recognize the deviations and the dangers they pose to the Church and to the world.
To avoid falling into anti-Christian seductions, it is important to hold fast to the sound doctrine of the Church and to the practice that derives from it (orthopraxis). The Apostle Saint Paul goes so far as to say that even if an angel from heaven were to proclaim a different gospel to us, we must not listen to him (cf. Gal 1:8). The Catholic Church has a clear and unambiguous doctrine—thanks be to God! Certainly, it can be understood with ever-greater depth and precision; but doctrine can never contradict itself. We should not listen to anyone who does not convey this “crystal-clear water” of sound doctrine or who casts doubt on it. By turning a deaf ear to the fables against which St. Paul warns (cf. 2 Tim 4:3–4), we are already offering resistance, because we prevent error from continuing to spread.
The moral teaching of the Church has not changed. Sin remains sin and cannot be presented as if it were not serious. True mercy does not consist in relativizing sin, but in helping a person to emerge from a harmful situation so that their life may objectively conform to God’s will. This requires great patience, and we must avoid being harsh. However, it will never be an act of mercy to leave people in their disordered lives or, worse still, to confirm them in that way of life. That would be to lead them into error and would run counter to their transcendent vocation to live as true children of God. Homosexual acts, adultery, sexual relations outside of marriage, masturbation, etc., remain sins, even if the world—and even bishops and priests who err—say otherwise. Holy Communion may only be received in a state of grace. Those who cannot directly help people in this or that critical situation can always pray and offer sacrifices for them.
Anyone who stands firm and assumes their responsibility in this regard is already offering resistance against the powers of darkness, for these powers seek to confuse—even the faithful, if possible—and to seduce them into abandoning or downplaying the clarity of their thinking, with all that this entails.
Tomorrow we will continue with this topic…
Meditation on the Gospel of the Day (Feast of St. James the Apostle):