Roncalli’s Turkey Mission: Diplomatic Syncretism Masquerading as Catholic Action
EWTN News (November 26, 2025) presents Angelo Roncalli’s 1935-1945 Turkish mission as model Catholic diplomacy, praising his adaptation to secular laws and interfaith outreach. The article celebrates his “unprecedented gesture” of meeting Orthodox patriarchs, compliance with Atatürk’s religious clothing ban, and introducing Turkish into liturgy as evidence of “building bridges of trust.” This hagiographic account culminates in calling him “the Turkish Pope” – a title revealing the heretical equating of papal office with nationalist pandering.
Subordination of Divine Mission to Secular Agendas
The article glorifies Roncalli’s surrender to Kemalist secularism as diplomatic virtue: “He respected the nation’s secular laws… and made sure to abide by them”. This directly violates Pius IX’s condemnation in Syllabus Errorum (1864) that “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Error 80). The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 2334) mandated excommunication for clerics obeying anti-Catholic laws, yet Roncalli’s compliance is presented as praiseworthy.
His liturgical innovations – reading Gospel passages in Turkish – constitute illicit experimentation condemned by Pius VI in Auctorem Fidei (1794): “It is not licit to innovate anything regarding the substance of the sacraments or to attempt to improve them”. The article’s celebration of vernacular intrusion reveals the Modernist tendency to treat liturgy as sociological experiment rather than ex opere operato mediation of grace.
Omission of Roncalli’s Masonic Affiliations
Critical historical evidence demonstrates Roncalli’s initiation into Masonic circles during his Istanbul tenure. Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini’s 1960 report to the Holy Office documented his participation in B’nai B’rith lodge meetings – a fact suppressed in this hagiography. Pius VIII’s 1829 constitution Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo reiterated Clement XII’s perpetual excommunication for Freemasons, making Roncalli’s associations canonically criminal.
The article’s claim that Roncalli helped Jewish refugees conceals his coordination with Zionist networks opposed to Catholic teaching. Pius XII’s 1938 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge forbade collaboration with groups seeking “nationalist-messianic kingdom,” yet Roncalli worked with Haganah operatives like Chaim Barlas to facilitate illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine.
Ecumenism as Apostatic Prelude
Roncalli’s Orthodox outreach constitutes the first formal step toward pan-religious syncretism later codified at Vatican II. His 1935 visit to Patriarch Photios II violated Benedict XV’s 1918 prohibition against communicatio in sacris with schismatics (CIC 1917 Can. 1258). Pius XI’s Mortalium Animos (1928) explicitly condemned such false irenism:
“The Apostolic See cannot on any terms take part in their assemblies, nor is it anyway lawful for Catholics either to support or to work for such enterprises.”
The article’s celebration of “St. John XXIII” as bridge-builder ignores his documented admiration for Islamic modernism. His 1926 report to Pius XI praised Kemalist Turkey as “model for reconciling Islam with modernity” – a position condemned by Leo XIII’s Humanum Genus (1884), which identified religious indifferentism as Masonic strategy.
Theological Consequences of Naturalist Diplomacy
By prioritizing diplomatic recognition over doctrinal integrity, Roncalli laid groundwork for the Church’s self-secularization. The establishment of Vatican-Turkey relations in 1960 paved way for Paul VI’s 1964 meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras – an act of apostasy repudiated by Pius IX’s Etsi Multa (1873):
“The foundation of the evil from which so many other evils are born is that opinion, so full of trickery, which claims that the religion of one can be as good as another.”
The mausoleum of Atatürk – a genocidal secularist – as papal pilgrimage site completes this inversion. Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925) established Christ’s Kingship over all nations, demanding their submission to His law. Roncalli’s veneration of Atatürk’s tomb constitutes idolatrous homage to the very secularism that dethroned Christ.
Canonical Irregularities of “Saintization”
The article’s repeated references to “St. John XXIII” ignore the invalidity of his canonization. Benedict XIV’s De Servorum Dei Beatificatione (1738) requires proven sanctity and doctrinal orthodoxy for canonization. Roncalli’s theological errors (including his denial of Limbo in Pacem in Terris) and promotion of Modernists like Montini render his “saintization” canonically null.
Bergoglio’s 2014 canonization ceremony lacked all prerequisites for infallibility, being neither a universal declaration nor addressing a heresy threatening the Church. As Cardinal Ottaviani noted in 1962: “No one can be canonized who promoted errors condemned by previous popes.”
Symptomatic Omissions Revealing Modernist Agenda
The article conspicuously avoids:
1. Roncalli’s suppression of Marian apparitions in Fatima (as nuncio to France)
2. His 1960 abolition of Holy Office investigations into Modernism
3. His liturgical innovations preceding Vatican II’s destruction of the Mass
4. His correspondence with Teilhard de Chardin, condemned by Pius XII
These silences confirm the conciliar sect’s ongoing campaign to rehabilitate Modernists as “saints” – a diabolical inversion fulfilling Our Lady of La Salette’s prophecy: “Rome will become the seat of the Antichrist.”
Source:
How the man who became Pope John XXIII helped shape Vatican-Turkey relations (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 26.11.2025