Scouting Apostasy Masquerading as Catholic Pilgrimage
The Catholic News Agency portal (November 7, 2025) reports on 3,500 European scouts and leaders from 13 countries gathering in Vézelay, France, for a pilgrimage themed “Called to an Apostolate of Beauty.” Participants hiked through Burgundy, attended Novus Ordo Masses in compromised liturgical spaces, and concluded at the modernist-controlled Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene. The event emphasized communal experience over doctrinal fidelity, with “Archbishop” Pascal Wintzer dismissing the supernatural purpose of faith by declaring: “The Christian faith is not an insurance policy that protects us from life’s trials.”
Naturalism Disguised as Spiritual Renewal
The pilgrimage’s framing as rebuilding “the kingdom of God with their own hands” constitutes a Pelagian inversion of grace. Regnum Dei (the Kingdom of God) is not erected through human effort but by submission to Christ the King’s reign over individuals and nations (Pius XI, Quas Primas). The scouts’ focus on walking “in an atmosphere of silence, prayer, and fraternity” reduces Catholicism to sentimentalized activism, omitting the necessity of combating modern errors through the societas perfecta (perfect society) of the Church. The 50th anniversary of this event confirms its entrenchment in post-conciliar syncretism, as the original 1976 gathering coincided with the neo-modernist dismantling of Catholic identity.
“[Participants] invited the locals to participate in the Masses.”
This admission exposes the scandal of sacrilegious communions. The Masses celebrated under conciliar rubrics violate the theology of propitiatory sacrifice, rendering them illicit at best (Pius XII, Mediator Dei). To invite villagers to such ceremonies is to cooperate in the profanation of the Eucharist—a crime condemned by the Council of Trent (Session XIII, Canon 11).
Liturgical and Doctrinal Subversion
The Vézelay basilica, now a monument to archaeological modernism, hosted a “traditional vigil” featuring the blasphemous Kyrie des gueux—a profane adaptation of a 16th-century German military hymn. Such innovations mock the lex orandi, lex credendi principle, replacing Gregorian chant with anthropocentric folk elements. The article’s reference to Eucharistic adoration is equally suspect, as Benediction in neo-modernist settings typically omits the Tantum Ergo and reduces adoration to emotive theater.
Wintzer’s dismissal of faith as “not an insurance policy” directly contradicts the Church’s teaching that the sacraments do confer actual grace to endure trials (Council of Trent, Session VI, Canon 13). This heresy echoes the modernist rejection of supernatural aid, reducing Christianity to ethical stoicism—a position anathematized in the Syllabus of Errors (Proposition 15). Worse, the pilgrimage’s visit to Paray-le-Monial tacitly endorses the false devotion to the “Sacred Heart” promoted by the invalidly canonized Margaret Mary Alacoque, whose revelations lack ecclesiastical approbation prior to the conciliar revolution.
The Scouting Movement as Trojan Horse
The Guides and Scouts of Europe, while feigning traditionalism, operate within the post-conciliar ecclesial paradigm. Their ecumenical composition—drawing from 13 nations—inevitably dilutes Catholic distinctiveness, violating Pius XI’s condemnation of religious indifferentism in Mortalium Animos. The “Apostolate of Beauty” theme prioritizes aesthetic experience over doctrinal formation, echoing the Romanticist subjectivism condemned by Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Paragraph 6). By emphasizing communal hikes and campfires instead of catechesis on Christ’s social kingship, the movement fosters a generation ignorant of the duplex ordo (twofold order) separating the City of God from the City of Man.
“1,300 Rover Scouts gathered in front of the church in Anzy-le-Duc.”
This image of youth assembling at a sacred site superficially resembles Catholic piety but lacks the essential element: submission to the magisterium of all ages. Nowhere does the article mention reception of valid sacraments, adherence to the Professio Fidei Tridentina (Tridentine Profession of Faith), or rejection of Vatican II’s heresies. The silence confirms the pilgrimage’s alignment with the conciliar church’s project of replacing religio vera (true religion) with humanitarian sentiment.
Omissions That Condemn
The report neglects to address:
- The absence of the Traditional Latin Mass: All liturgies described follow the Protestantized Novus Ordo rite, which annihilates the sacrifice-altar-priest triad (Council of Trent, Session XXII, Canon 1).
- The scandal of female leadership: “Guides and Scouts of Europe” implies co-ed participation, contravening Pius XI’s warnings in Divini Illius Magistri against mixed-gender formations.
- The synodal agenda: The “manifesto” released by young Europeans at the Vatican in July 2025—cited in related CNA coverage—demands “a new pathway to faith,” code for discarding dogma in favor of “listening” to secular culture.
In conclusion, this pilgrimage exemplifies the conciliar sect’s strategy: using the shell of Catholic vocabulary to propagate a naturalized faith stripped of dogma, discipline, and devotion. As Pius X warned, such movements are not merely errors but “the synthesis of all heresies” (Pascendi, Paragraph 39). Those seeking true spiritual renewal must reject these counterfeit “retreats” and adhere exclusively to the unchanging Mass and sacraments administered by priests faithful to Tradition.
Source:
Thousands of European scouts make pilgrimage to France (catholicnewsagency.com)
Article date: 07.11.2025