Bari’s Syncretic Festivities: St. Nicholas Exploited for Ecumenical Agenda
The Catholic News Agency portal (December 6, 2025) reports on celebrations in Bari, Italy, honoring St. Nicholas, falsely portraying him as a “saint of ecumenism” who unites Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants. The article describes illuminations, processions, and Masses at the Pontifical Basilica of St. Nicholas, quoting “Father” Giovanni Distante, the basilica’s rector, who claims the saint “manages to unite the two Christian traditions, Eastern and Western.” The piece emphasizes shared devotion across denominations while omitting the Catholic Church’s exclusive claim to truth. This narrative reduces sainthood to a tool of religious syncretism, betraying the immutable Catholic faith.
Ecumenism as Apostasy: The Betrayal of St. Nicholas’ True Legacy
The article’s central heresy lies in its celebration of St. Nicholas as a “Saint of Ecumenism”, a title alien to Catholic Tradition. Distante’s assertion that Nicholas unites “Eastern and Western Christianity” directly contradicts the dogmatic teaching that extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (“outside the Church there is no salvation,” Council of Florence, 1442). By equating Catholic veneration with that of schismatic Orthodox and Protestant communities, the conciliar sect perpetuates the modernist error of religious indifferentism, condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors: “Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ” (Error 17).
The true St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, defended orthodoxy against Arianism at the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), where he struck the heretic Arius for denying Christ’s divinity. To co-opt him as an ecumenical figure is a demonic inversion of his legacy. Pius XI’s encyclical Mortalium Animos (1928) unequivocally condemned such syncretism: “The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it.”
Naturalism Replaces Supernatural Faith in Bari’s Celebrations
The article reduces the feast to sentimental pageantry—”illuminations,” bagpipers, fireworks, and hot chocolate—while obscuring the sacramental reality of the saint’s intercession. Nowhere does it mention the necessity of state of grace for authentic devotion or warn against sacrilegious reception of counterfeit “sacraments” by non-Catholics. This omission reflects the conciliar sect’s abandonment of ex opere operato efficacy, reducing worship to communal emotion.
Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925) emphasizes Christ’s kingship over all nations, demanding their submission to His Church: “Rulers of states therefore not refuse public veneration and obedience to the reigning Christ.” Instead, Bari’s festivities elevate human traditions—processions, torchlight displays—above the Mass’s propitiatory sacrifice. The “solemn Mass” presided over by conciliar “archbishops” Satriano and Baturi is invalid, as they lack legitimate authority and uphold Vatican II’s heresies.
Theological Bankruptcy of the “Ecumenical Saint” Construct
Distante’s claim that St. Nicholas “intervenes where concrete action is needed in love, practicality, justice, and sharing” reduces the saint’s role to a social worker, ignoring his primary duty: to intercede for the salvation of souls. This naturalism echoes the modernist heresy condemned in St. Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane: “Divine inspiration does not extend to the whole of Holy Scripture to such an extent that all and individual parts of it are protected from every error” (Error 11).
The article’s silence on penance, mortal sin, and eternal judgment exposes its apostate foundations. True devotion to saints, as defined by the Council of Trent, requires adherence to Catholic doctrine—not “dialogue” with heretics. Leo XIII’s Satis Cognitum (1896) warns: “The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion… whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative magisterium.”
May 9 Procession: Masonic Ritual Disguised as Piety
The sea procession commemorating the translation of St. Nicholas’ relics mirrors pagan maritime rituals, not Catholic piety. This spectacle—endorsed by the conciliar sect—echoes the Masonic strategy noted in the False Fatima Apparitions file: “Disinformation strategy: Stage 3 (1958-2000): Takeover of the narrative by modernists, concealment of the Third Secret, ecumenical reinterpretation.” The fireworks and revelry further desacralize the feast, transforming it into a carnival for indifferent masses.
St. Nicholas’ true triumph lies not in shared festivals but in his defiance of heresy. As his relics rest in a basilica controlled by apostates, the faithful must heed Pius IX’s warning: “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Syllabus of Errors, Error 80). Bari’s celebrations are not acts of piety but surrender to the Antichurch’s agenda.
Source:
The saint of Christmas and ecumenism: Bari celebrates St. Nicholas (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 06.12.2025