The Veneration of Bones in a Church Without Faith
The cited article from EWTN News, dated March 24, 2026, reports on the veneration of the skeletal remains of St. Francis of Assisi by “Cardinal” Ernest Simoni, a figure lauded by “Pope” Francis as “a living martyr.” The event, occurring during a public exhibition of the saint’s bones in Assisi, is framed as a moment of ecumenical peace and interreligious “fraternity,” drawing over 370,000 pilgrims. While the external act of venerating relics is Catholic, the entire context is saturated with the errors of the post-conciliar “Church,” rendering the gesture theologically void and spiritually dangerous. This analysis will expose how the article and the event it describes embody the precise apostasy condemned by St. Pius X and Pope Pius IX, substituting a sentimental, naturalistic humanism for the supernatural, monarchical reign of Christ the King.
1. Factual Deconstruction: The “Martyr” and the False Peace
The article presents Simoni as a victim of communist persecution, which is historically accurate. However, it immediately baptizes this suffering with the approval of the current “papacy,” quoting “Pope Francis” and linking the cardinal’s ordeal to a generic call for “peace and fraternity in the world.” This is a deliberate equivocation. The Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX, in its section on “Socialism, Communism, Secret Societies,” condemns these systems as “pests” (No. IV). But the Syllabus also condemns, with equal vigor, the secularist separation of Church and State (No. 55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church”) and the denial of the Catholic Church’s exclusive right to true worship (Nos. 15-18). The article’s focus on “peace and fraternity” without any reference to the Social Reign of Christ the King or the duty of states to publicly recognize the Catholic faith is a direct echo of the modernist error Pius IX condemned: the idea that “it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State” (Syllabus, Error No. 77). Simoni’s suffering under atheist communism is real, but it is exploited to promote a neutral, interreligious “peace” that is precisely the “secularism, so-called laicism” decried by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas as the plague of modern times.
Furthermore, the article’s description of the event highlights “thousands of pilgrims of all ages… young people who represent the hope and future of the Church” and a “fraternity” gathered around a “poor and fragile” sign of bones. This language is not Catholic; it is the language of sentimental humanism. It reduces the supernatural reality of relics—which are to be honored precisely because they belong to saints who are members of the Church Triumphant, a reality accessible only through sanctifying grace—to a mere symbol of vague human solidarity. The “atmosphere… at once recollected and joyful” is a psychological experience, not the fruit of a sacrifice offered in reparation for sin and in honor of Christ’s royalty.
2. Theological Level: The Omission of Christ the King
The most damning omission is the complete absence of Quas Primas and its central doctrine. Pope Pius XI established the feast of Christ the King specifically to combat the exact errors on display: the removal of Jesus Christ and His law from public life (No. 1). The encyclical states unequivocally: “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” It declares that “all power in heaven and on earth” has been given to Christ (Matt. 28:18), and therefore “there is no power in us that is exempt from this reign.” The reign of Christ is not a private devotion but a public, juridical reality that demands the subordination of all human laws and societies to His divine law.
The article’s entire narrative is a masterclass in what Pius XI called “the secularism of our times.” The veneration happens in Assisi, the very town that became the global symbol of interreligious syncretism with the 1986 “World Day of Prayer for Peace,” an event explicitly condemned by the true Catholic tradition for its religious indifferentism. The focus is on “peace and fraternity” without a single mention of the necessity of the conversion of nations to the Catholic Church as the sole path to salvation (Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus). This is the “national conversion without evangelization” derided in the analysis of the Fatima apparitions file, but applied universally. The article promotes a “peace” that is the peace of the Antichrist, a naturalistic concord among men who remain in their sins and errors, utterly opposed to the peace of Christ, which is the peace of a rightly ordered society under His law.
3. Linguistic & Symptomatic Analysis: The Tone of Apostasy
The language is dripping with the spirit of Vatican II’s “aggiornamento.” Phrases like “fraternity,” “peace and fraternity in the world,” “hope and future of the Church,” and the description of the saint’s remains as “poor and fragile bones” are hallmarks of the new, demystified, human-centered religion. Compare this to the majestic, doctrinal, and juridical language of Quas Primas: “His reign… extends not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians… the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The modern tone is one of humble sharing; the Catholic tone is one of sovereign authority. The article quotes a Franciscan friar saying, “none of us came to see Francis; rather, it is he who, being alive, has called out to us.” This is personalistic, mystical jargon, a far cry from the objective, sacramental truth: we venerate the relics of the saints because they are sanctified matter, a testimony to the resurrection of the body, and a channel of grace from God through His Church. The focus is on subjective experience (“called out to our hearts and minds”) rather than objective truth and obedience to law.
The article’s mention of “St. Carlo Acutis, a saint of our own times” is a particularly egregious symptom. As per the provided directives, Acutis is a pseudo-saint canonized by the conciliar sect. His “sanctity” is based on a naturalistic, media-savvy, “youthful” appeal that utterly rejects the asceticism, mortification, and clear dogma of the pre-1958 Church. His presence in the narrative is a deliberate injection of the “saints of the new evangelization”—those who canonize modernity itself.
4. The “Martyr” and the Question of Authority
Cardinal Simoni is presented as a hero. But from the perspective of integral Catholic faith, his status is profoundly compromised. He was secretly ordained in 1956, during the reign of Pope Pius XII. His subsequent imprisonment is a real persecution. However, he accepted his cardinalate from “Pope” Francis in 2016. By this act, he publicly recognized the authority of the man who has promulgated every heresy of Vatican II, from religious liberty (Dignitatis Humanae) to ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio), and who has filled the College of Cardinals with modernists. As the file on sedevacantism demonstrates using St. Robert Bellarmine, a manifest heretic loses all jurisdiction ipso facto. The man occupying the Vatican since 1958 (the line of usurpers beginning with John XXIII) have been, and remain, manifest heretics. To accept a “red hat” from such a figure is to acknowledge the legitimacy of a heretical “papacy,” which is a logical and theological impossibility. Simoni’s “martyrdom” under communism is thus overshadowed by his communion with the modernist apostasy. His presence at the relic exhibition, therefore, is not a triumph of the old faith but a photograph of the “conciliar sect” attempting to co-opt the glory of pre-conciliar saints like St. Francis to legitimize its own bankrupt, syncretistic project.
5. The Relics Themselves: A Sign of Contradiction
The article treats the bones of St. Francis as a neutral, unifying symbol for “pilgrims of all ages” and “fraternity.” This is a sacrilegious misinterpretation. The true theology of relics, as taught by the Church Fathers and the Magisterium, is that they are sanctified matter that bears a real, supernatural connection to the soul of the saint in heaven. They are to be venerated, not as a mere memorial, but as a channel of grace and a promise of the resurrection of the body. This veneration is intrinsically linked to the Communion of Saints, which requires that the saint be in heaven and that the venerator be in the state of grace, in communion with the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. The “Church” promoting this event is the post-conciliar sect, which has abandoned the defined faith on multiple points (see Lamentabili Sane Exitu for a list of condemned modern propositions). The “pilgrims” include those in manifest schism and heresy (Protestants, Orthodox, pagans). To offer the same veneration to the same relics to a Catholic in grace and to a heretic in mortal sin is a blasphemous equality. It destroys the supernatural order and makes the relic a mere idol of human sentiment. The “silence, patience” and the absence of “mobile phones” noted by the Franciscan is a description of a museum visit, not the solemn, liturgical veneration due to the bones of a confessor of the faith.
6. The Ultimate Goal: The Abomination of Desolation
This event is a microcosm of the great apostasy. It uses the legitimate, ancient Catholic practice of relic veneration to sanctify the new, false religion of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place (Matt. 24:15). The “holy place” is the Catholic Church. The “abomination” is the counterfeit religion of Vatican II, with its false ecumenism, its denial of the social kingship of Christ, its reduction of faith to personal experience, and its syncretistic worship. The article’s climax is the gathering of “fraternity” around “poor and fragile bones,” presented as a sign for a “world” seeking peace without conversion. This is the precise opposite of the message of Quas Primas, which demanded that rulers and states publicly obey Christ the King, that laws be based on His commandments, and that the Church enjoy full freedom from secular authority. Instead, we have a “fraternity” that includes all, a “peace” that requires no conversion, and a “Church” that is a service provider for spiritual experiences, not a sovereign society founded by Christ.
The feast of Christ the King, instituted by Pius XI, was to be “a special remedy against the plague that poisons human society.” The plague was secularism. The remedy was the public, annual proclamation of Christ’s royalty. What we see here is the antithesis: the public, highly publicized veneration of a saint’s bones is used to promote a secular, fraternal peace, while the feast of Christ the King in the modern calendar is stripped of its militant, anti-secularist meaning and turned into a vague celebration of “love.” The true Catholic meaning has been inverted.
Conclusion: A Call to Separation
The event described is not a Catholic triumph. It is a satanic deception. It uses the glorious memory of St. Francis—who lived in absolute poverty to imitate Christ and who would have had nothing but contempt for the modernist “peace” that ignores the necessity of the Catholic faith—to lend credibility to the conciliar apostasy. The 370,000 pilgrims did not come to worship God in the way He has commanded; they came to participate in a religious spectacle that confirms them in their errors. Cardinal Simoni, a man who suffered for the priesthood, ended his life giving scandal by recognizing the very hierarchy that has destroyed the Church. This is the ultimate tragedy: the co-option of genuine heroism for the service of the Antichrist’s project.
The only response for a Catholic is the one given by the true Church before the revolution: non possumus. We cannot participate. We cannot recognize the “saints” of this new religion. We cannot accept the “peace” that is not in Christ. We must separate ourselves from this “neo-church” and its pageants, and cling solely to the immutable faith, the traditional Mass, and the authority of the true bishops and pope (in absence of a visible one, the Church governed by her unchanging principles). The bones of St. Francis cry out for the faith of his time, not the apostasy of ours. The article, in its quiet, reportorial way, is a testament to the depths of the deception. The “fraternity” it celebrates is the fraternity of the lost, gathered around a sign that has been emptied of its supernatural power because the Church that should have guarded it has abandoned the faith.
“But if we hold fast to the tradition of the true faith, we shall be safe. For the pillars and foundations of the truth are the traditions of the apostles.” (St. Augustine, De Baptismo Contra Donatistas).
[Antichurch] Cardinal Simoni’s Relic Veneration: A Modernist Pageant of Contradiction
The Veneration of Bones in a Church Without Faith
The cited article from EWTN News, dated March 24, 2026, reports on the veneration of the skeletal remains of St. Francis of Assisi by “Cardinal” Ernest Simoni, a figure lauded by “Pope” Francis as “a living martyr.” The event, occurring during a public exhibition of the saint’s bones in Assisi, is framed as a moment of ecumenical peace and interreligious “fraternity,” drawing over 370,000 pilgrims. While the external act of venerating relics is Catholic, the entire context is saturated with the errors of the post-conciliar “Church,” rendering the gesture theologically void and spiritually dangerous. This analysis will expose how the article and the event it describes embody the precise apostasy condemned by St. Pius X and Pope Pius IX, substituting a sentimental, naturalistic humanism for the supernatural, monarchical reign of Christ the King.
1. Factual Deconstruction: The “Martyr” and the False Peace
The article presents Simoni as a victim of communist persecution, which is historically accurate. However, it immediately baptizes this suffering with the approval of the current “papacy,” quoting “Pope” Francis and linking the cardinal’s ordeal to a generic call for “peace and fraternity in the world.” This is a deliberate equivocation. The Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX, in its section on “Socialism, Communism, Secret Societies,” condemns these systems as “pests” (No. IV). But the Syllabus also condemns, with equal vigor, the secularist separation of Church and State (No. 55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church”) and the denial of the Catholic Church’s exclusive right to true worship (Nos. 15-18). The article’s focus on “peace and fraternity” without any reference to the Social Reign of Christ the King or the duty of states to publicly recognize the Catholic faith is a direct echo of the modernist error Pius IX condemned: the idea that “it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State” (Syllabus, Error No. 77). Simoni’s suffering under atheist communism is real, but it is exploited to promote a neutral, interreligious “peace” that is precisely the “secularism, so-called laicism” decried by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas as the plague of modern times.
Furthermore, the article’s description of the event highlights “thousands of pilgrims of all ages… young people who represent the hope and future of the Church” and a “fraternity” gathered around a “poor and fragile” sign of bones. This language is not Catholic; it is the language of sentimental humanism. It reduces the supernatural reality of relics—which are to be honored precisely because they belong to saints who are members of the Church Triumphant, a reality accessible only through sanctifying grace—to a mere symbol of vague human solidarity. The “atmosphere… at once recollected and joyful” is a psychological experience, not the fruit of a sacrifice offered in reparation for sin and in honor of Christ’s royalty.
2. Theological Level: The Omission of Christ the King
The most damning omission is the complete absence of Quas Primas and its central doctrine. Pope Pius XI established the feast of Christ the King specifically to combat the exact errors on display: the removal of Jesus Christ and His law from public life (No. 1). The encyclical states unequivocally: “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” It declares that “all power in heaven and on earth” has been given to Christ (Matt. 28:18), and therefore “there is no power in us that is exempt from this reign.” The reign of Christ is not a private devotion but a public, juridical reality that demands the subordination of all human laws and societies to His divine law.
The article’s entire narrative is a masterclass in what Pius XI called “the secularism of our times.” The veneration happens in Assisi, the very town that became the global symbol of interreligious syncretism with the 1986 “World Day of Prayer for Peace,” an event explicitly condemned by the true Catholic tradition for its religious indifferentism. The focus is on “peace and fraternity” without a single mention of the necessity of the conversion of nations to the Catholic Church as the sole path to salvation (Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus). This is the “national conversion without evangelization” derided in the analysis of the Fatima apparitions file, but applied universally. The article promotes a “peace” that is the peace of the Antichrist, a naturalistic concord among men who remain in their sins and errors, utterly opposed to the peace of Christ, which is the peace of a rightly ordered society under His law.
3. Linguistic & Symptomatic Analysis: The Tone of Apostasy
The language is dripping with the spirit of Vatican II’s “aggiornamento.” Phrases like “fraternity,” “peace and fraternity in the world,” “hope and future of the Church,” and the description of the saint’s remains as “poor and fragile bones” are hallmarks of the new, demystified, human-centered religion. Compare this to the majestic, doctrinal, and juridical language of Quas Primas: “His reign… extends not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians… the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The modern tone is one of humble sharing; the Catholic tone is one of sovereign authority. The article quotes a Franciscan friar saying, “none of us came to see Francis; rather, it is he who, being alive, has called out to us.” This is personalistic, mystical jargon, a far cry from the objective, sacramental truth: we venerate the relics of the saints because they are sanctified matter, a testimony to the resurrection of the body, and a channel of grace from God through His Church. The focus is on subjective experience (“called out to our hearts and minds”) rather than objective truth and obedience to law.
The article’s mention of “St. Carlo Acutis, a saint of our own times” is a particularly egregious symptom. As per the provided directives, Acutis is a pseudo-saint canonized by the conciliar sect. His “sanctity” is based on a naturalistic, media-savvy, “youthful” appeal that utterly rejects the asceticism, mortification, and clear dogma of the pre-1958 Church. His presence in the narrative is a deliberate injection of the “saints of the new evangelization”—those who canonize modernity itself.
4. The “Martyr” and the Question of Authority
Cardinal Simoni is presented as a hero. But from the perspective of integral Catholic faith, his status is profoundly compromised. He was secretly ordained in 1956, during the reign of Pope Pius XII. His subsequent imprisonment is a real persecution. However, he accepted his cardinalate from “Pope” Francis in 2016. By this act, he publicly recognized the authority of the man who has promulgated every heresy of Vatican II, from religious liberty (Dignitatis Humanae) to ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio), and who has filled the College of Cardinals with modernists. As the file on sedevacantism demonstrates using St. Robert Bellarmine, a manifest heretic loses all jurisdiction ipso facto. The man occupying the Vatican since 1958 (the line of usurpers beginning with John XXIII) have been, and remain, manifest heretics. To accept a “red hat” from such a figure is to acknowledge the legitimacy of a heretical “papacy,” which is a logical and theological impossibility. Simoni’s “martyrdom” under communism is thus overshadowed by his communion with the modernist apostasy. His presence at the relic exhibition, therefore, is not a triumph of the old faith but a photograph of the “conciliar sect” attempting to co-opt the glory of pre-conciliar saints like St. Francis to legitimize its own bankrupt, syncretistic project.
5. The Relics Themselves: A Sign of Contradiction
The article treats the bones of St. Francis as a neutral, unifying symbol for “pilgrims of all ages” and “fraternity.” This is a sacrilegious misinterpretation. The true theology of relics, as taught by the Church Fathers and the Magisterium, is that they are sanctified matter that bears a real, supernatural connection to the soul of the saint in heaven. They are to be venerated, not as a mere memorial, but as a channel of grace and a promise of the resurrection of the body. This veneration is intrinsically linked to the Communion of Saints, which requires that the saint be in heaven and that the venerator be in the state of grace, in communion with the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. The “Church” promoting this event is the post-conciliar sect, which has abandoned the defined faith on multiple points (see Lamentabili Sane Exitu for a list of condemned modern propositions). The “pilgrims” include those in manifest schism and heresy (Protestants, Orthodox, pagans). To offer the same veneration to the same relics to a Catholic in grace and to a heretic in mortal sin is a blasphemous equality. It destroys the supernatural order and makes the relic a mere idol of human sentiment. The “silence, patience” and the absence of “mobile phones” noted by the Franciscan is a description of a museum visit, not the solemn, liturgical veneration due to the bones of a confessor of the faith.
6. The Ultimate Goal: The Abomination of Desolation
This event is a microcosm of the great apostasy. It uses the legitimate, ancient Catholic practice of relic veneration to sanctify the new, false religion of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place (Matt. 24:15). The “holy place” is the Catholic Church. The “abomination” is the counterfeit religion of Vatican II, with its false ecumenism, its denial of the social kingship of Christ, its reduction of faith to personal experience, and its syncretistic worship. The article’s climax is the gathering of “fraternity” around “poor and fragile bones,” presented as a sign for a “world” seeking peace without conversion. This is the precise opposite of the message of Quas Primas, which demanded that rulers and states publicly obey Christ the King, that laws be based on His commandments, and that the Church enjoy full freedom from secular authority. Instead, we have a “fraternity” that includes all, a “peace” that requires no conversion, and a “Church” that is a service provider for spiritual experiences, not a sovereign society founded by Christ.
The feast of Christ the King, instituted by Pius XI, was to be “a special remedy against the plague that poisons human society.” The plague was secularism. The remedy was the public, annual proclamation of Christ’s royalty. What we see here is the antithesis: the public, highly publicized veneration of a saint’s bones is used to promote a secular, fraternal peace, while the feast of Christ the King in the modern calendar is stripped of its militant, anti-secularist meaning and turned into a vague celebration of “love.” The true Catholic meaning has been inverted.
Conclusion: A Call to Separation
The event described is not a Catholic triumph. It is a satanic deception. It uses the glorious memory of St. Francis—who lived in absolute poverty to imitate Christ and who would have had nothing but contempt for the modernist “peace” that ignores the necessity of the Catholic faith—to lend credibility to the conciliar apostasy. The 370,000 pilgrims did not come to worship God in the way He has commanded; they came to participate in a religious spectacle that confirms them in their errors. Cardinal Simoni, a man who suffered for the priesthood, ended his life giving scandal by recognizing the very hierarchy that has destroyed the Church. This is the ultimate tragedy: the co-option of genuine heroism for the service of the Antichrist’s project.
The only response for a Catholic is the one given by the true Church before the revolution: non possumus. We cannot participate. We cannot recognize the “saints” of this new religion. We cannot accept the “peace” that is not in Christ. We must separate ourselves from this “neo-church” and its pageants, and cling solely to the immutable faith, the traditional Mass, and the authority of the true bishops and pope (in absence of a visible one, the Church governed by her unchanging principles). The bones of St. Francis cry out for the faith of his time, not the apostasy of ours. The article, in its quiet, reportorial way, is a testament to the depths of the deception. The “fraternity” it celebrates is the fraternity of the lost, gathered around a sign that has been emptied of its supernatural power because the Church that should have guarded it has abandoned the faith.
“But if we hold fast to the tradition of the true faith, we shall be safe. For the pillars and foundations of the truth are the traditions of the apostles.” (St. Augustine, De Baptismo Contra Donatistas).
Source:
Cardinal Simoni, imprisoned for years in communist Albania, prays before St. Francis’ bones (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 24.03.2026