Syncretism Masquerading as Charity: A Slovakian Archbishop’s Nativity-less Christmas
EWTN News reports on a December 2025 event in Košice, Slovakia, where “Archbishop” Bernard Bober celebrated a “Mass” with homeless persons at an “Archdiocesan Charity.” The gathering featured a gift of a wooden bench crafted by homeless individuals, described as a new “cathedra.” Bober declared that “Christmas is not just about the Nativity scene,” but about “people — getting together, acceptance, and mutual closeness.” The event included goulash, seasonal meals, and gifts marking Bober’s 75th birthday, with the charity framing it as a “call to responsibility” for public officials to address homelessness. The article notes Pope Leo XIV’s video message urging attendees to be “witnesses of communion” and “builders of bridges.”
The Eclipse of the Incarnation: Naturalism Replaces Supernatural Faith
Bober’s assertion that “Christmas is not just about the Nativity scene” epitomizes the conciliar sect’s systematic erasure of the Incarnation’s dogmatic centrality. The Nativity scene exists precisely to manifest verbum caro factum est (the Word was made flesh) — the foundational mystery of redemption. Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925) unambiguously taught that Christ’s kingship extends over “not only private individuals but also rulers and governments”, demanding public veneration of His Divine-Human Person. By reducing Christmas to “people… getting together, acceptance, and mutual closeness,” Bober enacts the modernist reduction of religion to anthropocentric sentimentality condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili (1907): “Revelation was merely man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God” (Proposition 20).
The replacement of the cathedra — symbolizing episcopal authority to teach divine truth — with a “wooden bench” crafted in a secular workshop is grotesquely symbolic. True Catholic charity, as practiced by saints like Vincent de Paul, never separated material aid from the primary duty of sanctifying souls. As Leo XIII taught in Rerum Novarum (1891), the Church assists the poor “to make them better” by reconciling them to God through the sacraments. Here, the press release mentions “goulash” and “handmade decorations,” but omits any reference to Confession, Eucharistic adoration, or the state of grace — the only realities that liberate man from the existential homelessness of original sin.
A False Ecclesiology: When “Building Bridges” Means Demolishing Doctrine
The event’s stated goal — influencing public officials toward “greater sensitivity” in policymaking — exposes the conciliar sect’s surrender to secular humanitarianism. Contrast this with Pius XI’s condemnation of those who “place the Church on a level with false religions” (Mortalium Animos, 1928). The true Church administers Christ’s merits through the sacraments; she does not lobby governments to manage poverty through naturalistic welfare programs.
Pope Leo XIV’s video message compounds these errors by urging youth to be “builders of bridges” in a world of “division and suspicion.” This vapid slogan directly contradicts the Syllabus of Errors (1864), which anathematizes the notion that “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization” (Proposition 80). The only bridge Christianity acknowledges is Christus Pontifex (Christ the High Priest), who mediates between God and man through His Sacrifice. When Antipope Bergoglio’s puppet speaks of “sharing the joy that springs from encountering the Lord,” he omits the necessary precondition: conversion from error and submission to the extra Ecclesiam nulla salus doctrine defined at Florence (1442).
Sacrilegious Spectacle: Desacralizing the Episcopal Office
The birthday celebration for Bober — who reached mandatory retirement age (CIC 1917, Canon 401) yet unlawfully retains office — featured a “concert by the Godzone evangelization band and a party led by Portuguese priest and DJ Father Guilherme Peixoto.” This profane entertainment mocks the gravity of the episcopacy, which St. Ignatius of Antioch called “the summit of Christian virtues.” The true bishop is alter Christus, offering the Holy Sacrifice, not a carnival barker presiding over musical acts.
The bench, flowers, and soap given as gifts symbolically reduce the episcopal ministry to social work. Contrast this with the gifts of the Magi: gold for Christ’s kingship, frankincense for His divinity, myrrh for His redemptive death. The conciliar sect inverts the order: the homeless become the benefactors, the archbishop a recipient of their craftsmanship. This inversion — praised as “Christmas reversed” — embodies the anarchic spirit of Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes, which falsely claims that “the Church admits that she has greatly profited by the history of human culture” (§44).
Omissions That Condemn: The Unspoken Heresies
Nowhere does the article mention:
– Whether the “Mass” celebrated was the Novus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Rite (the latter being the only licit form).
– Whether attendees received sacramental absolution before Communion.
– Any exhortation to embrace the “hard sayings” of Christ (John 6:60) — fasting, chastity, reparation for sin.
These silences confirm the event’s adherence to the modernist playbook: replace supernatural faith with emotional solidarity, the Cross with comfort, redemption with relativism. As St. Pius X warned in Pascendi, modernists reduce religion to “a certain religious feeling” divorced from dogma.
The “Archdiocesan Charity’s” workshop — where homeless persons “gain manual skills to enter the job market” — operates on purely naturalistic premises. True Catholic charity, as defined by St. Vincent de Paul, begins with the premise that “the poor are our masters” precisely because their suffering images Christ’s Passion. Material aid must always serve the supreme goal of saving souls, not Marxist-inspired “social inclusion.”
Conclusion: A Stark Contrast With True Tradition
Compare this scandal with the 1941 Christmas homily of Blessed Karl of Austria, who proclaimed: “The manger of Bethlehem is the battlefield where Christ begins His struggle for the salvation of the world.” The conciliar sect has abandoned this militant spirituality for a religion of niceties — a diabolical mimicry where “acceptance” replaces repentance, and a wooden bench displaces the Cross.
As the true Church suffers persecution from these usurpers, let us recall Pius XI’s words: “When God and Jesus Christ are removed from laws and states, the foundations of authority are destroyed” (Quas Primas). The bench gifted to Bober will rot, but the throne of Christ the King endures forever.
Source:
Christmas reversed in Slovakia: Why the homeless gave this archbishop a gift (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 24.12.2025