VaticanNews portal reports (May 18, 2026) on Cardinal Mario Grech’s appearance at the 104th Katholikentag in Würzburg, Germany, where he delivered a keynote address on “synodality,” concelebrated the closing Mass, and relayed messages from the antipope Leo XIV. Grech praised the German conciliar apparatus as a model of “hope,” encouraged “difficult questions” as opportunities for “discernment,” and announced new Synod Secretariat guidelines leading toward a 2028 “ecclesial assembly.” The cardinal framed synodality as a “symphony” requiring “spiritual discernment” rather than mere majority voting, while insisting that differing views should become “sources of mutual enrichment.” What emerges from this report is not a defense of Catholic truth but a carefully orchestrated promotion of the conciliar revolution’s most destructive innovation — the transformation of the Church of Christ into a perpetual talking shop where no doctrine is fixed, no authority is binding, and no heresy is condemned.
The German Laboratory of Apostasy
The choice of venue is itself a theological statement. Germany’s so-called “Synodal Way” (Synodaler Weg) has been the most aggressive institutional assault on Catholic doctrine since the Protestant Reformation — demanding women’s ordination, the blessing of homosexual unions, the democratization of Church governance, and the explicit rejection of the Church’s perennial teaching on sexual morality. That the conciliar sect’s highest-ranking synodality official would celebrate this forum as giving “great confidence, great hope” reveals the true face of the post-conciliar revolution. This is not a Church seeking to convert Germany; it is a Church seeking to be converted by Germany.
As Pope Pius IX declared in the Syllabus of Errors (1864), condemned proposition 80: “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization.” This is precisely the program Grech advances — not reconciliation with Christ and His immutable doctrine, but capitulation to the spirit of the age. The German “Synodal Way” is the logical terminus of the conciliar sect’s founding heresy: that the Church must “read the signs of the times” rather than proclaim the eternal Gospel.
“Questions Should Not Discourage Us” — The Modernist Method
Grech’s insistence that “questions should not discourage us” and that they are “an opportunity to clarify and deepen things” is a masterclass in modernist evasion. This is the language of the condemned proposition 24 from Lamentabili sane exitu (1907): “Such an exegete whose reasoning leads to the conclusion that dogmas are false or doubtful from a historical point of view should not be condemned, provided he does not directly deny the dogmas themselves.” The modernist method — condemned in its essence by Saint Pius X in Pascendi Dominici gregis — is to treat every doctrine as provisional, every dogma as a hypothesis awaiting revision, every definitive teaching as merely the current state of an evolving “consciousness.”
When Grech says “we must allow ourselves the necessary time, because sometimes time is needed to mature and to understand more fully,” he is not speaking of the Church’s perennial deeper penetration into revealed truth — the organic development described by Saint Vincent of Lérins, where what is believed “everywhere, always, and by all” is truly Catholic. He is speaking of the evolution of dogmas, condemned in proposition 58 of Lamentabili: “Truth changes with man, because it develops with him, in him, and through him.” This is not Catholic theology; it is Hegelian dialectic dressed in ecclesiastical vestments.
The “Symphony” of Confusion
Grech’s metaphor of synodality as a “symphony in which every instrument has its own role and legitimacy, but where harmony ultimately matters most” is a studied evasion of the hierarchical constitution of the Church. The Church is not a symphony; she is a perfect society (societas perfecta), established by Christ with a clear hierarchy of authority — Pope, bishops, priests, laity — each with distinct and defined roles. The laity do not have “legitimate instruments” in the governance of the Church; they have the duty of obedience. As Pope Leo XIII taught in Sapientiae Christianae (1890), the faithful are bound to submit to the teaching authority of the Church, not to participate in its determination.
The very notion that “differing views and positions within the Church should become sources of discernment and mutual enrichment rather than causes of conflict” is a repudiation of the Church’s duty to condemn error. The Church does not “discern” between truth and heresy; she defines truth and condemns heresy. As the First Vatican Council declared in Dei Filius (1870): “Faith is not a blind impulse of religion” but a supernatural assent to divine truth, and the Church has the authority and duty to proclaim that truth definitively. The idea that doctrinal conflict is something to be avoided rather than resolved by the authoritative judgment of the Magisterium is the essence of the condemned indifferentism of proposition 15 of the Syllabus: “Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.”
The Petrine Ministry Subordinated to the “Local Church”
Grech’s statement that “we have been richly blessed with the ministry of the local bishop for the local Church and with the Petrine ministry for the universal Church; together they can ensure that we fulfill God’s will” is a carefully crafted inversion of Catholic ecclesiology. The Petrine ministry is not one ministry among many, coordinate with and complementary to “local” ministries. It is the supreme, full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, as defined by the First Vatican Council in Pastor Aeternus (1870). The local bishop derives his authority from the Pope, not alongside him. The notion that Petrine and local ministries are parallel “blessings” that “together” discern God’s will is a direct assault on papal primacy.
This is the ecclesiology of proposition 37 of the Syllabus: “National churches, withdrawn from the authority of the Roman pontiff and altogether separated, can be established.” The “Synodal Way” in Germany is precisely such a national church in embryo — and Grech’s presence, encouragement, and promise of further “guidelines” for 2028 confirm that the conciliar apparatus actively fosters this dissolution.
The Antipope’s Message: “Take Courage, Rise Up!”
The message Grech read from the usurper Leo XIV — “He remains close to you and stands wholeheartedly at your side in support of unity and communion… Take courage, rise up!” — is a parody of apostolic encouragement. The true Pope never needed to “rise up”; he taught, governed, and sanctified with the authority of Christ. The antipope’s message is not one of supernatural courage in defense of the faith but of naturalistic exhortation to continue the conciliar project. As Pius XI wrote in Quas Primas (1925), “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.” The antipope’s “unity and communion” is not the unity of the Catholic faith but the “communion” of shared apostasy.
The 2028 Assembly: Perpetual Process as Permanent Revolution
Grech’s announcement of guidelines leading to a 2028 “ecclesial assembly” confirms what the integral Catholic faithful have long recognized: the Synod on Synodality is not a consultation but a permanent revolution. Unlike previous synods focused on specific issues with definitive outcomes, this “ongoing process” is designed to prevent any definitive judgment on doctrine. It is the institutionalization of the modernist method — perpetual discussion, perpetual “discernment,” perpetual evolution, and perpetual avoidance of the definitive condemnation of error.
As Saint Pius X warned in Pascendi, the modernists “proceed to the very last degree of absurdity” by treating dogma as merely the evolving expression of religious experience. The 2028 assembly is not a Catholic synod; it is a parliamentary session of the Church of the New Advent, where “fruits” are “exchanged” and “answers” are “sought together” — never defined, never imposed, never binding.
The Silence That Condemns
What is absent from Grech’s address is as damning as what is present. There is no mention of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as the center of Catholic life. There is no mention of the sacraments as the ordinary means of grace. There is no mention of the necessity of the Catholic faith for salvation. There is no mention of sin, repentance, or the Last Judgment. There is no mention of the social reign of Christ the King over Germany or any nation. The entire discourse is horizontal — concerned with “processes,” “participation,” “discernment,” and “missionary dimension” emptied of all supernatural content.
This is the “naturalism” condemned in proposition 1 of the Syllabus: “There exists no Supreme, all-wise, all-provident Divine Being, distinct from the universe…” and in proposition 58: “No other forces are to be recognized except those which reside in matter…” The conciliar sect has not merely erred; it has constructed an entirely naturalistic religion that uses Catholic vocabulary to describe a purely human project.
Conclusion: The Abomination of Desolation
Cardinal Grech’s appearance at the Katholikentag is not a pastoral visit; it is a strategic deployment in the ongoing war against the Catholic faith. The “synodality” he promotes is not a return to the Church’s authentic tradition of collegial governance under papal authority; it is the final stage of the modernist subversion — the transformation of the Church from a divine institution with fixed doctrine and hierarchical authority into a democratic forum where all views are equal and no truth is binding.
The German conciliar apparatus, far from being an aberration, is the model for the entire conciliar sect. Grech’s “great confidence” and “great hope” in this project is a judgment not on Germany but on himself and the entire post-conciliar structure. As Our Lord warned: “If the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men” (Matthew 5:13). The conciliar sect has lost its savour. It is fit only to be cast out. The faithful who cling to the integral Catholic faith — to the unchanging doctrine, the true sacraments, and the social reign of Christ the King — must recognize in Grech’s words not a call to “synodality” but a call to resistance against the abomination of desolation now enthroned in the Vatican.
Source:
Cardinal Grech at Katholikentag: ‘Questions should not discourage us' (vaticannews.va)
Date: 18.05.2026