Bishop’s Dispensation from Mass Reveals Conciliar Sect’s Capitulation to Naturalism
Vatican News portal (December 28, 2025) reports that “Bishop” Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, issued a decree dispensing immigrants fearing immigration detention from Sunday Mass obligations until January 11, 2026. The decree cites increased immigration enforcement causing “fear and anxiety,” with Fernandes acknowledging he “didn’t really want to do this” but felt compelled due to parishioners’ distress. He encourages live-streamed Masses and “spiritual practices” while paradoxically noting many still attended Christmas services. Fernandes claims neutrality on border policies but frames churches as “safe spaces” from law enforcement, stating:
“I recognize that countries have a right to security and to control their borders; nevertheless, I made an appeal to conscience… to allow families to share the peace of Christmas together.”
Sacrilegious Subordination of Divine Law to Human Anxiety
The decree constitutes open rebellion against the immutable precept that Sunday Mass attendance is obligatory under pain of mortal sin (Codex Iuris Canonici 1917, Canon 1248). Pius XII’s Mediator Dei (1947) dogmatically affirms the Mass as “the culmination and center of the Christian religion,” while the Council of Trent (Session 22) anathematizes those claiming Catholics can fulfill their duty through “spiritual communion” alone. By elevating subjective fear over the lex divina, Fernandes enacts the modernist heresy condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili: reducing sacramental life to psychological comfort.
Naturalism Replacing Supernatural Faith
Fernandes’ decree omits any reference to the Mass as propitiatory sacrifice or the eternal dangers of missing it. Instead, he focuses solely on temporal “separation from families” and “intimidation because of… ethnic background.” This echoes the naturalism condemned in Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (1864), which rejects the claim that “the principal obligation of religion is to seek earthly happiness” (Error 58). The silence on martyrdom is deafening: pre-1958 martyrology celebrates saints like St. Thomas More, who faced execution rather than skip Mass. Fernandes reduces the Church to a social agency, ignoring Leo XIII’s warning in Immortale Dei that the Church exists primarily “to conduct men to God.”
False Mercy and the Hermeneutic of Rupture
The decree weaponizes canon 87 §1’s allowance for dispensations “contribut[ing] to spiritual welfare” – a provision intended for extreme physical incapacity, not emotional discomfort. Contrast this with St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Theologica Moralis, which permits Mass absence only for “grave illness or impossibility of attending.” Fernandes’ dispensation institutionalizes the conciliar sect’s false mercy, prioritizing felt needs over objective truth. His appeal to “conscience” untethered from divine law mirrors the relativistic poison of Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae, condemned by Pius VI in Auctorem Fidei as “fomenting indifferentism.”
Collusion With Revolutionary Politics
While paying lip service to border security, Fernandes implies churches should be immigration sanctuaries – a position incompatible with Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925), which demands civil authorities submit to Christ’s kingship. The decree’s focus on “ethnic profiling” injects racialist ideologies into pastoral care, contradicting Galatians 3:28 (“neither Jew nor Greek”). Worse, Fernandes admits his decision responded to pressure from “Spanish-speaking parishes” and critics using “political talking points,” proving the conciliar sect’s subservience to Marxist liberation theology condemned in Pius XI’s Divini Redemptoris.
Betrayal of the Episcopate’s Prophetic Duty
Fernandes boasts that exercising his “prophetic voice” may make him unpopular – yet true prophecy would demand urging immigrants to regularize their status while insisting on Mass attendance despite risks. Instead, he enables sacramental deprivation, violating the Council of Trent’s decree on the Eucharist: “If anyone denies that Christ is to be adored with the worship of latria… let him be anathema” (Session 13). His appeal to “live-streamed Masses” compounds the scandal, as Pius XII’s Mediator Dei forbids substituting virtual participation for physical attendance except in cases of true impossibility.
Source:
Bishop grants dispensation from Mass for faithful fearing immigration detention (vaticannews.va)
Date: 28.12.2025