Secular Humanism Masquerading as Charity: IFAD’s Naturalistic Agenda Exposed
Vatican News portal (January 15, 2026) reports on International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) President Dr. Alvaro Lario’s meeting with antipope Leo XIV, promoting agriculture as “a tool for peace and hope” while ignoring the Catholic Church’s perennial social doctrine. The article celebrates IFAD’s work in 92 countries through secular economic development programs, with particular focus on Sudan’s humanitarian crisis. Lario claims his organization addresses rural poverty by making “agriculture a business” through technological investments and market integration, asserting this approach can “broker peace” in conflict zones. The antipope allegedly expressed interest in IFAD’s Peru projects from his time as “bishop,” complaining farmers weren’t “reaping rewards” of their labor.
Reduction of Charity to Materialist Economics
The article’s central error lies in reducing human flourishing to economic metrics, directly contradicting Pope Pius XI’s condemnation of those who “pervert the social order” by making material goods the ultimate end (Quadragesimo Anno 130). IFAD’s vision of “making farming a business” exemplifies the naturalistic fallacy condemned in Rerum Novarum, where Leo XIII warned against economic systems that “regard human beings as mere instruments for making money” (RN 20).
Lario’s claim that “agriculture can be a tool for peace” ignores the Church’s teaching that true peace flows exclusively from Christ the King. Pius XI definitively taught: “Nemo potest duobus dominis servire (No one can serve two masters)… There can be no peace between Christ and Belial” (Ubi Arcano 25). The article’s silence about Sudan’s Islamic persecution of Christians exposes IFAD’s religious indifferentism – a fatal flaw given Pius IX’s condemnation of the error that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Syllabus of Errors 55).
Omission of Supernatural Finality
Nowhere does the article mention man’s supernatural end or the necessity of grace, reducing hope to purely earthly terms. This contradicts Pius XII’s warning that “modern charity… forgets that the salvation of souls must be our first concern” (Menti Nostrae 35). Lario’s meeting with the antipope becomes particularly scandalous given Benedict XV’s condemnation of modernist attempts to “substitute for charity a certain sympathy with human suffering” (Ad Beatissimi 10).
The article’s description of antipope Leo XIV recalling his Peruvian tenure reveals the conciliar sect’s distorted priorities. While authentic popes like Pius X established rural credit unions to combat usury (Il Fermo Proposito 8), this antipope complains about farmers not “reaping rewards” – echoing Marxist class warfare rhetoric condemned in Divini Redemptoris (18).
False Ecumenism in Humanitarian Action
IFAD’s Sudan operations exemplify the deadly error of religious indifferentism. By funding projects in Islamic regions without demanding conversion guarantees, the organization violates Pius IX’s teaching that “it is necessary for salvation that all submit to the Roman Pontiff” (Syllabus 17). The article’s praise for “bringing communities together” through agriculture ignores Gregory XVI’s condemnation of those who “promote the indifferentism which leads to the death of souls” (Commissum Divinitus).
Symptom of Conciliar Apostasy
This humanitarian naturalism flows directly from Vatican II’s heresies. The article’s worldview perfectly implements Gaudium et Spes‘s false claim that “Christians work with all men to secure a better world” (GS 93) – a proposition condemned by St. Pius X as modernist when he wrote: “The Church cannot unite with non-Catholics in common religious work” (Notre Charge Apostolique). The meeting between IFAD’s president and antipope symbolizes the conciliar sect’s complete capitulation to UN-style globalism, fulfilling Pius XI’s warning about international organizations that “deny Christ as King” (Quas Primas 18).
Abandonment of Catholic Rural Principles
IFAD’s market-driven approach contradicts authentic Catholic rural philosophy. Leo XIII established that farmers should own land to secure family stability (Rerum Novarum 35), yet IFAD pushes smallholders into global commodity markets – the very system Pius XI condemned as creating “economic slavery” (Quadragesimo Anno 109). The article’s technological utopianism (“inputs, technology, storage facilities”) ignores Pius XII’s teaching that rural life’s chief value lies in being “more in conformity with the divine plan” (Address to Farmers, 1956).
Conclusion: The Anti-Kingdom’s Counterfeit Charity
This article exemplifies the conciliar sect’s replacement of Caritas with UN sustainable development goals. By divorcing agricultural development from conversion and sanctification, IFAD and its Vatican promoters enact the modernist heresy described in Pascendi as “vital immanence” – reducing religion to human social improvement. As St. Pius X warned: “The modernists place the root of religion in feeling… making religion a mere institution for human betterment” (Pascendi 14). True Catholic action in Sudan would prioritize Mass centers and missionary work over crop yields, remembering Christ’s warning: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?” (Luke 9:25).
Source:
IFAD President: Agriculture can be a tool for peace and hope (vaticannews.va)
Date: 15.01.2026