New York Encounter’s False Gospel of “Belonging” Without Conversion
Catholic News Agency reports on the 18th annual New York Encounter (February 13-15, 2026), organized by the Communion and Liberation movement founded by Fr. Luigi Giussani. The event promises discussions on “authentic belonging” through “freedom, truth, forgiveness, and dignity” with speakers including “Cardinal” Pierbattista Pizzaballa, “Bishop” Earl Fernandes, and “Cardinal” Timothy Dolan. Panels will address Ukraine, artificial intelligence, immigration, and America’s founding ideals, framed as responses to “global isolation.” Exhibits include one about Bank of America founder Peter Giannini and another on the philosophy of time. The event culminates with a “Mass” celebrating Giussani’s legacy.
Naturalism Disguised as Pastoral Concern
The entire premise of seeking “authentic belonging” while avoiding the only means of true unity—submission to Christ the King—exposes this gathering as apostate. Pius XI condemned such anthropocentricism in Quas Primas:
“When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.”
By reducing the Church’s mission to fostering vague “community” amid “global isolation,” organizers replace supernatural faith with therapeutic sociology. The event’s focus on immigration policy, trade wars, and AI ethics—without a single mention of the Social Reign of Christ the King—confirms its alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals rather than Catholic counter-revolution.
Communion and Liberation: Modernism Institutionalized
Giussani’s movement embodies the condemned errors of Lamentabili Sane (1907):
“The Church listening cooperates… with the Church teaching… [reducing] dogma to mere ‘common opinions'” (Proposition 6).
This explains why speakers include an Orthodox rabbi (Soloveichik) and a Notre Dame theologian (Scherz) dissecting AI through the lens of “Catholic social doctrine”—a term conspicuously divorced from the anti-modernist Syllabus of Errors (1864). Pius IX explicitly condemned the notion that:
“The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization” (Proposition 80).
Yet here we see the “Mass” honoring Giussani—a man who called Vatican II “the Gospel realized”—celebrated by “Cardinal” Dolan, who permits LGBT “blessings” in his archdiocese.
The Silence That Screams Apostasy
Three glaring omissions prove this “Encounter” opposes Catholic integralism:
1. No call for conversion: Panels on Ukraine and immigration avoid the dogmatic necessity of baptizing nations (Matthew 28:19), instead promoting interfaith “dialogue” condemned by Pius XI in Mortalium Animos.
2. No Eucharistic reparation: While featuring exhibits on bankers and time, there’s zero adoration of Christ the King—the only solution to “global isolation.”
3. No condemnation of heresy: Speakers like “Bishop” Menjivar-Ayala (who supports immigration without border sovereignty) ignore Pius XII’s mandate that states must “prohibit and proscribe all doctrines which… undermine the foundations of society” (Ci Riesce, 1953).
Schismatic Liturgy Crowns the Apostasy
The closing “Mass” by Dolan—valid only if using the 1962 missal, though likely the invalid Novus Ordo—mocks the 21st anniversary of Giussani’s death. True Catholics recall Canon 1240 §1 of the 1917 Code:
“Ecclesia non orat pro haereticis—The Church does not pray for heretics.”
Giussani’s theology of “encounter” reduced Christ to a subjective experience, denying the unchangeable dogma that outside the Church there is no salvation (Council of Florence). This gathering exemplifies the “abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15)—a pseudo-Catholic spectacle advancing the Antichurch’s globalist agenda.
Source:
Upcoming New York Encounter to focus on finding ‘true belonging’ (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 08.01.2026