Syncretic Marian Cult Masquerading as Hope in Vatican’s Christmas Liturgies
VaticanNews portal (December 20, 2025) reports that a wooden image dubbed “Our Lady of Hope” from the parish of Saint Mark the Evangelist in Castellabate, Italy, will be displayed near the Confession Altar during Christmas liturgies presided over by antipope Leo XIV. The article frames this as the culmination of the “Jubilee of Hope,” emphasizing Marian devotion while obscuring the doctrinal deviations inherent in this neo-modernist spectacle.
Theological Subversion Through Unapproved Marian Devotions
The article admits the image was carved in 1954 by the Stuflesser Workshop for the Marian Year proclaimed by Pius XII. However, it conceals the fundamental distinction between authentic Marian piety and post-conciliar innovations. The true Church has always rejected cultus novus (new devotions) lacking ecclesiastical approval, as affirmed by Pope Benedict XIV in De Servorum Dei Beatificatione. Pius XII’s encyclical Mediator Dei (1947) explicitly warned against “certain newly introduced devotions which the Church… has not officially approved” (§165).
The symbol of the anchor held by this image directly contradicts Catholic symbolism. Anchors traditionally represent spes in Deum (hope in God), as seen in catacomb frescoes of martyrs. Here, the anchor is detached from Christological context, reducing Mary to a naturalistic symbol of worldly optimism. This echoes the condemned modernist tendency to transform supernatural virtues into psychological states, denounced by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (§14).
Liturgical Abuse and the Desacralization of St. Peter’s
Placing this image near the Confession Altar – the tomb of the Prince of Apostles – constitutes sacrilegious displacement of Eucharistic worship. Pius XI’s Quas Primas established that “He must reign in our minds… in our wills… in our hearts” (§33), yet the article prioritizes Marian sentiment over Christ’s kingship. The true Most Holy Sacrifice demands latria (adoration) directed solely to God, not hyperdulia improperly amplified by modernist distortions.
The procession described – where fishermen carry the image to the port – mirrors pagan maritime rituals rather than Catholic tradition. Leo XIII’s Exeunte Iam Anno (1888) condemned such syncretic practices: “All imitation of superstition… must be removed” (§15). Nowhere does the article mention the necessity of repentance or the Four Last Things, reducing hope to a naturalistic emotion detached from sanctifying grace.
Exploitation of “Peripheries” for Modernist Agenda
The text weaponizes the suffering of depopulated Italian regions to advance a social gospel. It claims Our Lady of Hope is an “icon of hope for the ‘little ones’” facing “hardship,” yet omits the sine qua non of true Marian devotion: conversion from sin and obedience to Christ the King. Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors condemned the heresy that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55), yet this Jubilee reduces the Faith to a tool for addressing “inequalities” – a Marxist distortion anathematized by Pius XI in Divini Redemptoris (§18).
The article’s silence on the sacraments reveals its apostate foundation. True hope flows from the Font of Baptism and the Altar of Sacrifice – not images fabricated decades ago. St. Alphonsus Liguori taught in The Glories of Mary that “devotion to Mary is necessary for salvation” only when ordered toward Christological truth (II.5.2). This “Jubilee of Hope” inverts that hierarchy, making Mary an end unto herself.
Conclusion: The Anchor of Faith Versus Modernist Shipwreck
This spectacle exemplifies the conciliar sect’s abandonment of lex orandi, lex credendi. By promoting an unapproved devotion while ignoring the Church’s immutable teachings on Marian mediation, antipope Leo XIV continues Bergoglio’s project of replacing Catholicism with a humanitarian cult. As the Vatican elevates this idolatrous image, faithful Catholics recall Pius XII’s warning: “There is no hope of peace… if the rulers of peoples… do not recognize” Christ’s reign (Summi Pontificatus §44). True hope lies not in wood carvings, but in the unbloody renewal of Calvary’s Sacrifice – forever absent from the abomination of desolation in occupied Rome.
Source:
Our Lady of Hope to accompany Christmas liturgies in St. Peter’s Basilica (vaticannews.va)
Date: 20.12.2025