March 2026

The article from EWTN News reports that the U.S. federal government will proceed with a copper mining project at Oak Flat, a site sacred to Apache Native Americans, despite legal challenges by the Apache Stronghold coalition. This coalition, supported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus, argued that the land transfer violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Supreme Court declined to intervene, and the 9th Circuit Court upheld the transfer. The government cites “critical minerals” needs, while Apache activists vow to continue fighting, calling Oak Flat their “spiritual lifeblood.” The article presents this as a conflict between economic development and Native American religious rights, framing the bishops’ support as a defense of religious freedom.

This narrative, however, is a profound betrayal of the integral Catholic faith. It promotes religious indifferentism—the condemned error that all religions are equally valid paths to God—while utterly ignoring the exclusive reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ over all nations and peoples. The bishops’ amicus brief, lauded in the article, is not a defense of true justice but an active participation in the Modernist apostasy that has consumed the post-conciliar sect. Their silence on the necessity of Catholic conversion and the duty of the state to recognize Christ as King exposes their adherence to the very errors condemned by Pius IX and Pius X.