Neo-Modernist Appeal Masquerades as “Pope’s” SEEK26 Message
Catholic News Agency reports (January 2, 2026) that antipope Leo XIV addressed the SEEK26 conference through a video message, asking attendees “What do you seek?” following the Johannine account of Christ’s question to disciples. The message emphasized finding fulfillment through “personal encounter with Christ,” described faith-sharing as missionary zeal, and encouraged attendees to discover “true peace and joy.” Bishop Earl Fernandes humorously recounted failed attempts to secure physical attendance of Bergoglian representative Cardinal Christophe Pierre before playing the video to 26,000 attendees across three U.S. cities. The event featured speeches by lay apologist Matt Fradd and Sister Josephine Garrett, CSFN.
Reduction of Faith to Subjective Experience
The antipope’s rhetorical question “What do you seek?” deliberately avoids the Church’s perennial answer: Catholic souls seek sanctification through objective participation in Christ’s Mystical Body via sacramental life. Pius XI’s Quas Primas established that Christ’s kingship demands “the entire human race to return to the sweet yoke of Christ” (n. 31), not individualized spiritual quests. By framing discipleship as answering a personal existential question rather than submitting to divine revelation, the message promotes the Modernist heresy condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane: “Revelation was merely man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God” (Proposition 20).
Sacramental Absence and Naturalized Soteriology
“The Lord Jesus alone brings us true peace and joy and fulfills every one of our deepest desires”
This statement from the antipope constitutes naturalistic reductionism. True Catholic teaching holds that Christ distributes grace exclusively through His Church’s sacraments, as defined by Trent: “If anyone says that grace is not given by the sacraments… let him be anathema” (Session VII, Canon 6). The message omits any reference to baptismal regeneration, Eucharistic sustenance, or sacramental confession – the actual means by which Christ “fulfills desires.” Instead, it promotes the condemned proposition that “the sacraments merely serve to remind man of the presence of the ever-benevolent Creator” (Lamentabili Sane, Proposition 41).
False Missionary Zeal Without Doctrine
Bergoglio’s successor praises Andrew’s evangelization of Peter while gutting its content: The apostle proclaimed “We have found the Messiah” (Jn 1:41) – a doctrinal declaration about Christ’s divine identity and mission. Contrast this with the antipope’s direction to share “the joy that you have received,” reducing evangelization to subjective emotional exchange. Pius XI condemned this anthropocentric shift: “When God and Jesus Christ are removed from laws and states… the entire human society had to be shaken” (Quas Primas, n. 18). True missionary work requires proclaiming Christ the King’s social reign, not therapeutic “encounters.”
Religious Indifference Disguised as Openness
The exhortation to “be open to what the Lord has in store” camouflages the Modernist error that “truth changes with man, because it develops with him” (Lamentabili Sane, Proposition 58). Catholic catechesis demands unqualified assent to immutable dogmas, not exploratory “openness.” Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors specifically condemned the notion that “man may… embrace and profess that religion which he shall consider true” (Proposition 15). The event’s inclusion of Sister Garrett – whose community follows the postconciliar “charism” rather than traditional religious vows – exemplifies this doctrinal dissolution.
Structural Apostasy in “Evangelization” Models
FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), organizer of SEEK26, operates under USCCB-approved modernist methodologies including “small group discipleship” modeled on Protestant Bible studies. The Catechism of St. Pius X insists: “The Church is the sole guardian of Holy Scripture and its infallible interpreter.” By featuring lay apologist Matt Fradd as keynote speaker alongside a religious sister, the conference furthers the condemned error that “the teaching of the Church is hostile to the well-being of society” (Pius IX, Syllabus, Proposition 40), implying clergy cannot adequately teach faith essentials.
Conclusion: Operation of Error
The entire spectacle constitutes what Pius X called “the synthesis of all errors” – Modernism operating through manipulated Johannine imagery. While the apostle John recorded Christ’s warning that “the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32), the neo-church substitutes psychologized “fulfillment.” As St. Augustine observed: “What is more miserable than a miserable man who does not recognize his own misery?” (Confessions, IV.4). Until these structures return to requiring sacramental confession, doctrinal catechesis, and public allegiance to Christ the King, their conferences remain opera operata of apostasy.
Source:
Pope Leo XIV surprises SEEK26 attendees with message: ‘What do you seek?’ (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 02.01.2026