EWTN News portal reports on the first year of the pontificate of Robert Prevost, known as Leo XIV, listing ten “powerful moments” of his reign, from the inaugural Mass, through canonizations, to trips to Africa and Lebanon. The article, permeated with the language of “fraternal communion,” “servant leadership,” and “reconciliation,” presents a spectacle that is the antithesis of the papal office as understood by the perennial Magisterium.
The Papacy Reduced to a Global NGO
The very selection of “significant events” reveals the abyss that separates the conciliar usurper from the Vicar of Christ. Where Pius XI, in Quas Primas, thundered that “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,” Leo XIV’s “powerful moments” are a chronicle of humanitarian activism. His visit to the harsh Bata prison in Equatorial Guinea, where he proclaimed that “no one is excluded from God’s love,” is a perfect example. This is not the preaching of the Gospel, which states: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). This is naturalistic philanthropy, which, by omitting the necessity of faith and sacraments for salvation, becomes a betrayal of the Redeemer’s command: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19).
The entire article is silent about the primary duty of any pope: to preach the integral Catholic faith, to condemn errors, and to sanctify the faithful through the unchanging Holy Mass. Instead, we see a “pontiff” whose “first major international trip” is a series of ecumenical encounters and meetings with political leaders, a parody of the missionary mandate.
Canonization of Heretics and the Mockery of Sanctity
The canonization of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati is presented as a highlight. This act, performed by a manifest heretic and antipope, is null and void. Lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer is the law of belief). The rites themselves, celebrated within the framework of the conciliar sect’s liturgy, lack validity and form. Moreover, the elevation of such figures to the altars is a tool of modernist propaganda.
Carlo Acutis, a teenager known for creating websites about Eucharistic miracles, is held up as a model for youth. Yet, the “Eucharist” he venerated is the conciliar “memorial meal,” a farce that denies the Real Presence and the propitiatory sacrifice. His canonization serves to legitimize the very system that has emptied the Catholic faith of its substance. As Pius IX warned in the Syllabus of Errors, the progress of science and modernity cannot be reconciled with Catholicism “without transforming it into a certain dogmaless Christianity, that is, into a broad and liberal Protestantism” (Proposition 65). Acutis is a saint of this “dogmaless Christianity.”
Pier Giorgio Frassati, though a pious layman, is used in the same way. His life is stripped of its supernatural context — the necessity of the state of grace, final perseverance, and the reality of hell — and presented as a model of “social commitment.” This is the “cult of man” condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium, where the focus shifts from God’s glory to human achievement.
Synodality and the Democratization of the Church
The “extraordinary consistory” convened to discuss “the Synod and synodality” is a stark reminder that the conciliar sect is a paramasonic structure built on the principles of liberal democracy. The very concept of “synodality” — a process of “listening” and “walking together” — is a direct contradiction of the Church’s hierarchical constitution, established by Christ.
The Church is not a parliament. Her authority comes from God, not from the consensus of the faithful. St. Pius X, in Lamentabili Sane Exitu, condemned the proposition that “the Church listening cooperates in such a way with the Church teaching in defining truths of faith, that the Church teaching should only approve the common opinions of the Church listening” (Proposition 6). The synodality promoted by Leo XIV is the practical implementation of this condemned modernist error. It is the “democratization of the Church,” where the deposit of faith is subjected to the dictates of the majority, guided by the spirit of the world.
Ecumenism: The Betrayal of the One True Church
Leo XIV’s visit to Turkey to commemorate the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea alongside the schismatic Patriarch Bartholomew is a scandal of the highest order. This “ecumenical encounter” is a public denial of the Catholic Church’s exclusive claim to be the one true Church of Christ. It is a practical implementation of the false religious liberty condemned by Pope Leo XIII in Libertas and by the entire pre-conciliar Magisterium.
The Council of Nicaea, which defined the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, was a triumph of Catholic truth over heresy. To celebrate it with the heirs of the schismatics who rejected papal primacy is to betray its legacy. It is to treat the most sacred truths of the faith as bargaining chips in a dialogue with those who, by their schism, have separated themselves from the Body of Christ. As the Syllabus condemns: “Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church” (Proposition 18). Leo XIV’s actions give living witness to this condemned proposition.
The “Culture of Peace” vs. the Social Reign of Christ the King
The article highlights Leo XIV’s “strong messaging on war and peace,” noting his call for a “culture of peace” and diplomacy. This is a classic modernist substitution. The Church has always taught that true peace is a fruit of justice and charity, and that it is only possible under the social reign of Christ the King. “Peace is only possible in the kingdom of Christ,” Pius XI unequivocally stated.
Leo XIV’s calls for “dialogue” and “mutual understanding” are a naturalistic parody of this teaching. They ignore the root cause of all conflict: sin and the rejection of God’s law. By framing peace as a purely political and humanitarian goal, the usurper strips it of its supernatural dimension. He offers the world a “peace” that is not the peace of Christ, but the false peace of the United Nations, a peace built on the exclusion of God from public life. This is the “secularism” and “laicism” that Pius XI identified as the “plague that poisons human society.”
Conclusion: The Abomination of Desolation Continues
The first year of Leo XIV’s pontificate, as presented by EWTN News, is a catalog of modernist errors and apostasies. From the reduction of the papacy to a humanitarian role, through the invalid canonization of modernist heroes, to the promotion of synodality and ecumenism, every “powerful moment” is a step further into the abyss. The conciliar sect continues its work of destroying the Catholic faith from within, replacing it with a “broad and liberal Protestantism” that is pleasing to the world but an offense to God.
The faithful must not be deceived by the outward show of piety and activity. They must cling to the unchanging truth of the Catholic faith, as taught by the true Popes, the Councils, and the Saints. State super vias antiquas (Stand ye in the ancient ways) (Jer. 6:16). The only response to the spectacle of the conciliar antipapacy is a firm and unwavering Non possumus (We cannot) — we cannot accept the innovations of the modernists, we cannot participate in their synods, and we cannot recognize the authority of those who have betrayed the Master’s trust.
Source:
Pope Leo XIV’s first year: 10 powerful moments (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 08.05.2026