The EWTN News portal (February 5, 2026) reports on a joint Mass and congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., involving U.S. and African bishops, framed as an act of “solidarity” with Nigeria amid religious persecution claims. Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of Yola Diocese described the U.S. and African Churches as “two lungs of the same body,” while Rep. Chris Smith chaired a hearing declaring Nigeria “the deadliest place to be a Christian.” The event invoked “Pope Leo” XIV’s condemnation of “zeal for war,” reducing Catholic mission to humanitarian activism divorced from the Social Kingship of Christ.
Naturalistic Reduction of Church’s Mission
The article’s focus on political advocacy and vague “solidarity” exposes the conciliar sect’s abandonment of the Church’s divine mandate. Bishop Mamza’s claim that “the Church in the United States and the Church in Africa are not two separate entities. They are two lungs of the same body” constitutes theological fiction. The Church is una sancta (one holy), not a federation of regional bodies. Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis Christi (1943) explicitly condemned such ecclesiological pluralism: “The Church is not something dead… it is the Body of Christ endowed with supernatural life.” By equating the historically apostolic American hierarchy with African episcopal conferences established post-Vatican II, the article implicitly denies the sine qua non of apostolic succession.
The event’s stated purpose—”strengthening solidarity”—omits any reference to converting non-Catholics or restoring Christ’s social reign. This silence confirms the modernist heresy condemned in Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55). Bishop Elias Zaidan’s remark that “since we are a Church, God is God, and he deserves our best first” rings hollow when the congressional hearing prioritized geopolitical maneuvering over proclaiming Nigeria’s need for public conversion to the Catholic Faith.
False Ecumenism and the Abdication of Authority
The Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine served as liturgical syncretism. Five bishops—including Washington’s auxiliaries—concelebrated despite the canonical irregularity of African prelates participating in sacrilegious rites. The post-conciliar “Mass” lacks the essential form of the Roman Rite, as Pius V’s Quo Primum (1570) infallibly decreed: “Never shall anything be added, omitted, or changed.” Mamza’s homily compounded this by reducing the Gospel to social commentary: “When African bishops speak courageously about war, poverty, corruption, or threats to human dignity, their voices echo in American dioceses.” This inversion of priorities—placing material concerns over the salvation of souls—directly contradicts Christ’s command: “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Mt 6:33).
The congressional hearing’s fixation on Nigeria’s “religious freedom” violations ignores the root cause: Islam’s intrinsic hostility to Christ’s Kingship. Rep. Smith’s lament that “Christians in the Middle Belt are still being massacred” avoids stating the Islamic nature of these attacks, thereby practicing the indifferentism condemned in Pius IX’s Quanta Cura: “From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion… that liberty of conscience and worship is each man’s personal right” (Error 15). Ambassador Brownback’s call for “targeted sanctions” treats symptoms while ignoring the disease—Nigeria’s failure to recognize Catholicism as the only true religion, as required by Leo XIII’s Immortale Dei: “States must conform to the Church and model their laws upon hers.”
The Bergoglian Heresy Incarnate
The blasphemous reference to “Pope Leo condemns ‘zeal for war‘” confirms the antipope’s alignment with modernist pacifism. True Catholic teaching recognizes the just war doctrine articulated in Augustine’s City of God and codified by Aquinas: “In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary… the authority of the sovereign” (ST II-II Q40 A1). By contrast, “Leo” XIV’s condemnation echoes the apostate “Human Fraternity” document (2019), which declared war “the consequence of a deviation of religions.” This heresy was anathematized by Pius IX: “It is lawful to refuse obedience to legitimate princes, and even to rebel against them” (Error 63) when they fail to uphold Catholic principles.
Conclusion: Apostasy Wrapped in Sentimentalism
This spectacle—bishops pleading before secular politicians while ignoring the depositum fidei—manifests the conciliar sect’s capitulation to globalism. The article’s repeated invocations of “solidarity” and “shared responsibility” mask a refusal to condemn Islam and a denial of Christ’s exclusive mediatory role. As Pius XI warned in Quas Primas (1925): “When once men recognize… that Christ has been given all power in heaven and on earth… it will be a pleasure for them to revere Christ and obey Him.” Until these prelates demand Nigeria’s conversion to Catholicism and the abolition of sharia law, their “solidarity” remains complicity in martyrdom.
Source:
Religious leaders descend on Washington in solidarity with Africa (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 05.02.2026