Counterfeit Revival: How Conciliar France’s “Catechumen Surge” Masks Apostasy
The cited article from the National Catholic Register (March 23, 2026) reports a significant increase in catechumens preparing for baptism in France, with numbers projected to reach 20,000 in 2026. It attributes this trend to young people seeking transcendence and “serious answers” through the preaching of priests associated with the Institute of the Good Shepherd, which uses the traditional Roman rite. Father Gian Strapazzon, rector of St. Vincent de Paul Seminary, is quoted stating that people are weary of worldly superficiality and desire “Our Lord Jesus Christ,” finding this in a “faith preached with fidelity.” The article presents this as a sign of the Catholic Church’s enduring vitality.
A Surge Built on the Sand of Conciliar Apostasy
The article’s central claim—that a robust return to the faith is occurring within the post-conciliar structures—is a carefully crafted illusion. It omits the foundational, irreparable rupture that defines the “Church” of the New Advent since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. The very entity reporting this “surge” is the conciliar sect, which has systematically dismantled Catholic doctrine and practice. The Syllabus of Errors, promulgated by Pope Pius IX in 1864, anathematized the very principles upon which the post-Vatican II ecclesiology is built. Error #77 condemns the notion that “it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.” This is the bedrock of the conciliar “religious liberty” declared at Dignitatis Humanae, a doctrine the article’s subjects implicitly accept by operating within a system that grants equal rights to false religions. The “thirst of their souls” is being directed not to the sola fide, sola gratia of Catholic truth, but to a naturalistic, human-centered religion where the “reign of Christ” is reduced to a personal, internal choice, not the public, social kingship defined by Pius XI in Quas Primas.
The “Traditional” Rite as a Modernist Trojan Horse
The article highlights the use of the “traditional Roman rite” by the Institute of the Good Shepherd as the primary attractor. This is the quintessential modernist strategy: using traditional forms to propagate a modernist content. The 1962 Missal, which they employ, is not the immutable Roman Rite of the saints. It was already compromised by the reforms of Pope Pius XII (e.g., changes to the Offertory, removal of the Psalm 42 prayers, the Last Gospel). More critically, it is used in a liturgical context that has entirely rejected the sacrificial, propitiatory nature of the Mass as defined by the Council of Trent. The celebrants, even if using older texts, operate with the post-conciliar ecclesiology of the “People of God” and a horizontal, communal understanding of the liturgy, not the transcendent, God-centered worship condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili Sane Exitu (Propositions 21, 46). The “seriousness” and “concreteness” perceived by the catechumens is a aesthetic and psychological experience, not a doctrinal one. They are being formed in a novus ordo mentality, just with Latin vestments.
The Fatal Omission: The Reign of Christ the King vs. the Dictatorship of Relativism
Father Strapazzon states people “want Our Lord Jesus Christ.” But which Christ? The article is utterly silent on the non-negotiable, integral demand of Christ the King as articulated by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas: “the entire human society had to be shaken, because it lacked a stable and strong foundation” when “God and Jesus Christ were removed from laws and states.” Pius XI demanded that “states… recognize the reign of our Savior” and that “the Church… demands for itself… full freedom and independence from secular authority.” The conciliar sect, which the Institute of the Good Shepherd fully acknowledges, has done the exact opposite. It has embraced the errors of the Syllabus: #19 (Church has no innate rights), #55 (Church and State should be separated), and #80 (the Roman Pontiff should “reconcile himself… with progress, liberalism and modern civilization”). The “conversions” are to a Christ whose “kingdom” is purely interior and spiritual, with no claim on the social, political, or legal order. This is the “Christ” of Modernism, the “Christ of faith” divorced from the “historical Christ,” precisely condemned by St. Pius X (Proposition 29). The catechumens are being initiated into a religion of subjective feeling, not objective truth.
The Sedevacantist Reality: Invalid Sacraments and a False Hierarchy
From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, the entire operation is null. The ministers administering baptism and forming catechumens are, with extremely high probability, operating under the auspices of a hierarchy that is either entirely invalid or incommunicado. The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 188.4) states an office becomes vacant by “publicly defect[ing] from the Catholic faith.” The conciliar “popes” and “bishops” have publicly embraced the modernist errors condemned by St. Pius X and the errors of the Syllabus. As St. Robert Bellarmine taught, a “manifest heretic… ceases to be Pope and head, just as he ceases to be a Christian and member of the body of the Church.” Therefore, the “Institute of the Good Shepherd” is a structure within the “conciliar sect,” not the Catholic Church. Its “sacraments” are, at best, questionable and, at worst, invalid due to defective form, intention, and ministerial authority. The “baptisms” conferred are likely valid in form but are being administered by ministers in a state of material heresy and apostasy, creating a canonical and moral crisis. The “conversions” are into a schismatic, modernist community, not the una sancta catholica et apostolica Ecclesia.
The “Superficiality” of the World vs. The “Superficiality” of the Conciliar Church
The article contrasts the “superficiality” of the world with the “depth” of traditional preaching. This is a diabolical deception. The most profound superficiality is that of the conciliar church itself, which has exchanged the depositum fidei for a “hermeneutic of continuity” that denies any substantive change. Father Strapazzon’s seminary fosters a mentality that accepts the legitimacy of the conciliar “papacy” and “episcopacy.” This is the ultimate superficiality: acknowledging the authority of those who have systematically dismantled the Faith. The Lamentabili Sane Exitu condemned the idea that “the Church listening cooperates… that the Church teaching should only approve the common opinions of the Church listening” (Prop. 6). The “common opinion” of the post-conciliar world is religious indifferentism, yet the Institute’s “fidelity” stops short of rejecting the conciliar magisterium that promulgated it. Their “seriousness” is a pose, a traditionalist aesthetic that shields the core modernist principle of accepting the New Church’s authority.
Conclusion: A Controlled Demolition and Rebranding
The reported surge in catechumens in France is not a sign of Catholic resurgence. It is a symptom of the final phase of the Modernist revolution: the co-optation of traditionalist sentiment into the conciliar structure. It mirrors the “disinformation strategy” outlined in the analysis of the Fatima apparitions: Stage 3 involves “takeover of the narrative by modernists, concealment of the Third Secret, ecumenical reinterpretation.” The Institute of the Good Shepherd is a modernized “traditionalism,” a controlled outlet for those repelled by the extremes of the novus ordo but unwilling to confront the apostasy of the Vatican II hierarchy. The “thirst of their souls” is real, but they are being given a chalice of poisoned water—a Catholicism stripped of its kingship, its uncompromising truth, and its hierarchical integrity. True conversion requires abjuring the errors of Vatican II, rejecting the conciliar “popes,” and seeking refuge with the immemorial Catholic Faith, which endures only in those who hold the doctrine of the pre-1958 Church and are in no practical communion with the apostate hierarchy occupying the Vatican.
Source:
‘Thirst of Their Souls’ Is Awakening a New Generation of Catechumens in France, Priest Says (ncregister.com)
Date: 23.03.2026