Post-Conciliar ‘Church’ Obsessed with Bureaucracy, Not Doctrine
The Pillar portal reports on a podcast episode where hosts JD Flynn and Ed. Condon discuss the reassignment of a bishop in the Ivory Coast and a Chaldean Catholic bishop accused of embezzlement, framing their discussion around a “lack of transparency” and the behavior of “reasonable people.” The hosts, operating entirely within the parameters of the post-conciliar ecclesial structures, treat these administrative and financial scandals as the primary concerns, omitting any reference to the doctrinal apostasy, liturgical desecration, or loss of supernatural perspective that defines the era since the death of Pope Pius XII. Their focus on procedural “transparency” and human managerial failures reveals a fundamental naturalism, reducing the Mystical Body of Christ to a mere human corporation. The thesis is clear: the very subjects deemed worthy of discussion by these modernists expose the theological and spiritual bankruptcy of the entire conciliar project, which has replaced the dogma of the Social Kingship of Christ with the secular principles of corporate governance and sociological analysis.
The Naturalistic Reduction of Ecclesial Concerns
The podcast’s entire premise rests on a naturalistic, bureaucratic understanding of the Church. Flynn and Condon treat the reassignment of a bishop and allegations of financial misconduct as matters requiring “transparency” and “reasonable” conclusions, as if the primary crisis facing the structures occupying the Vatican were one of administrative competence rather than of faith. This is a direct manifestation of the Modernist error condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu, which sought to treat theological and ecclesial matters according to the principles of “scientific criticism” and human sciences, divorcing them from supernatural revelation. Proposition 57 of that decree states: “The Church is an enemy of the progress of natural and theological sciences,” which the Modernists invert, claiming the Church must conform to “progress.” Here, the “progress” is managerial and financial, not doctrinal.
The hosts’ language is cautious, procedural, and devoid of any supernatural category. They speak of “lack of conclusions” and “reasonable people,” echoing the rationalism of the Syllabus of Errors. Pope Pius IX condemned the proposition that “Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil” (Syllabus, Error 3). By evaluating ecclesial governance solely on the basis of human reason, transparency, and managerial outcomes, Flynn and Condon implicitly accept this rationalist premise. They remain silent on the far more grave reality: that the “bishop” in question, and the entire hierarchy they reference, are likely part of the conciliar sect that has abandoned the Catholic faith. The Defense of Sedevacantism file demonstrates that a manifest heretic loses office ipso facto. Therefore, any “reassignment” by a purported “Pope” Leo XIV (Robert Prevost), a known heretic and apostate, is intrinsically null and void. The scandal is not the lack of transparency in a valid administrative act, but the very existence of a simulated hierarchy propagating a false religion.
Silence on the Supernatural and the Social Kingship of Christ
The gravest accusation against the podcast is its total silence on the supernatural. There is no mention of the state of souls, the necessity of the true sacraments for salvation, the doctrine of the Mystical Body, or the paramount duty of all society—including civil rulers—to publicly recognize and obey Christ the King. This omission is not accidental but symptomatic of the Modernist “hermeneutics of discontinuity” that pervades the post-conciliar Church.
Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas, on the feast of Christ the King, provides the starkest contrast. The Pope declares that the “plague” of his time was “the secularism of our times, so-called laicism,” which “denied Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations.” He writes: “When God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The encyclical insists that the kingdom of Christ “encompasses all men” and that rulers have a duty to “publicly honor Christ and obey Him.” The podcast discusses the internal governance of a “church” that has explicitly rejected this doctrine. Vatican II’s declaration Dignitatis humanae on religious freedom, condemned in spirit by the Syllabus (Errors 15-16), is the foundational error that makes the secular state’s model of “governance” seem normal to Flynn and Condon. Their concern with “transparency” in a human organization is the logical outcome of a church that has become a mere non-governmental organization (NGO), forgetting that its authority comes from God and its primary purpose is the salvation of souls, not the efficient management of charity funds.
The podcast’s focus on a Chaldean Catholic bishop’s alleged embezzlement is particularly revealing. While theft is always sinful, the hosts treat this as a financial and administrative scandal. They do not frame it as a sacrilege—the theft from a sacred fund dedicated to the poor, which in a Catholic context would be a violation of justice and a scandal that endangers souls. They do not ask whether the “bishop” in question holds the Catholic faith, whether he celebrates the true Mass, or whether he teaches the doctrines of the pre-1958 Church. Their entire frame is that of a secular investigative journalist, not a Catholic theologian or canon lawyer concerned with the integrity of the Faith. This is the “naturalistic” and “evolutionary” mindset of Modernism condemned in Lamentabili (Propositions 53-54): “The organic structure of the Church is subject to change… Dogmas… are merely modes of explanation and stages in the evolution of Christian consciousness.”
The Symptom of a Broader Apostasy: From Doctrine to Administration
The shift from doctrinal and moral crisis to administrative crisis is the defining symptom of the post-conciliar apostasy. When a body ceases to be what it claims to be—the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church—its internal problems inevitably become those of a failing human institution. The podcast’s discussion of “reasonable people” and “lack of conclusions” mirrors the language of corporate boardrooms and government oversight committees, not the language of the Council of Trent or the encyclicals of Pius IX or Pius X.
This symptomatic shift was engineered by the conciliar revolution. The Syllabus of Errors, in Error 19, condemns the notion that “The Church is not a true and perfect society, entirely free… but it appertains to the civil power to define what are the rights of the Church.” The modern “Church,” however, has accepted this subordination. Its bishops are appointed with the implicit approval of secular powers, its finances are managed according to civil corporate law, and its “governance” is evaluated by the same metrics of “transparency” and “accountability” applied to any multinational charity. Flynn and Condon, by accepting these metrics as valid, accept the fundamental premise of the separation of Church and State as defined by the enemies of the Church. They fail to recognize, as Pius IX stated, that “the civil power may interfere in matters relating to religion, morality and spiritual government” (Error 44) is a condemned error. Yet, by treating the “Church’s” internal finances as a matter for public audit and “reasonable” secular discussion, they concede that the civil model of oversight is appropriate.
Furthermore, their lack of any call for doctrinal correction, any reference to the duty of bishops to teach the integral Catholic faith, any mention of the excommunications latae sententiae incurred by heretics (Canon 2314 of the 1917 Code), demonstrates that they have internalized the conciliar error of “collegiality” and “synodality,” where governance is seen as a democratic or bureaucratic process rather than a divinely instituted monarchy with the Roman Pontiff as Vicar of Christ. The Defense of Sedevacantism file, citing Bellarmine, proves that a manifest heretic cannot be pope or bishop. Therefore, the “bishop” reassigned in the Ivory Coast and the “Chaldean Catholic bishop” accused are, at best, illicitly occupying sees and, at worst, laymen in clerical garb administering a false religious sect. The scandal is not their alleged embezzlement, but the fact that they are recognized as legitimate pastors at all.
The “Reasonable Person” as a Modernist Idol
The podcast’s appeal to “reasonable people” is a key rhetorical marker of Modernism. It replaces the authority of God, the Church, and the Magisterium with the autonomous judgment of the individual conscience informed by secular reason. This is the essence of the “religion of humanity” condemned by Pius IX. The “reasonable person” standard is the legal and philosophical tool of secular liberalism, which the Syllabus denounces in Errors 3, 15, and 16. It assumes a common, natural moral framework accessible to all, which is precisely what the Church has always denied. Catholic morality is supernatural, built on grace and the theological virtues, not on the prudential judgments of “reasonable” men.
By invoking “reasonable people,” Flynn and Condon set up a tribunal higher than the Church’s own. They imply that the “Church” (i.e., the conciliar structures) should conform to the expectations of this abstract “reasonable person” regarding transparency and procedure. This inverts the proper order: the Church, as a supernatural society, must judge the world by the standards of Christ the King, not be judged by the world’s standards of “reasonableness.” Pius XI in Quas Primas quotes Leo XIII: “The state is happy not by one means, and man by another; for the state is nothing else than a harmonious association of men.” The happiness of the state comes from conforming to Christ’s law. The podcast’s framework assumes the opposite: that the “Church’s” happiness (i.e., its credibility and stability) comes from conforming to the state’s standards of “reasonable” governance.
This idolatry of the “reasonable person” is the logical outcome of Vatican II’s embrace of “the signs of the times” and its opening to the “world.” It is the practical application of the Modernist principle that doctrine must evolve to meet the “consciousness” of modern man. The “reasonable person” of 2026 is a subject of the secular, relativistic, and individualistic age. To appeal to this standard is to apostatize from the immutable, supernatural, and often “unreasonable” (from the world’s view) dogmas of the Catholic faith.
Conclusion: A Church Without a King, A Faith Without a Foundation
The discussion on The Pillar podcast is not an isolated instance of bad reporting. It is a perfect microcosm of the post-conciliar Church’s total surrender to naturalism. Having rejected the Social Kingship of Christ as taught by Pius XI and defined by the Syllabus of Errors, having embraced the Modernist errors condemned by Pius X, and having accepted the sedevacantist reality that the current occupiers of the Vatican are not valid popes but heretical usurpers, the “Church” has nothing left to discuss but its own administrative failures. It has become a debating society for “reasonable people” concerned with the efficient distribution of temporal goods, while souls perish for lack of the true sacraments and sound doctrine.
The true Catholic, clinging to the integral faith of the ages, must view this podcast with utter contempt. It represents the nadir of ecclesiastical discourse: a conversation about the temporal affairs of a bankrupt entity, conducted by men who acknowledge the legitimacy of the very apostasy that caused the bankruptcy. There is no “lack of conclusions” about the reassignment of a bishop; the conclusion is that any “bishop” appointed by an antipope has no jurisdiction. There is no “lack of transparency” that needs solving; the transparent reality is that the conciliar sect is a false religion. The only “reasonable” conclusion for a Catholic is to flee this abomination and adhere solely to the immutable Catholic faith, as it was believed and practiced before the death of Pope Pius XII, awaiting the restoration of a true pope who will again teach that the kingdom of Christ is not of this world in the sense of a political regime, but it demands that all human authority recognize the divine law (Quas Primas). Until then, all such discussions within the conciliar structures are merely rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, while the ship called the Catholic Church has, for the faithful remnant, already been saved in the barque of Peter, which sails under the banner of Christ the King, not under the flag of “reasonable” secularism.
Source:
Ep. 250: Reasonable people, and a lack of conclusions (pillarcatholic.com)
Date: 27.02.2026