EWTN News reports that the Diocese of Salford has opened the cause for beatification and canonization of Pedro Ballester, a 21-year-old Opus Dei numerary who died of bone cancer in 2018. The article presents Ballester as a model of faith and suffering, drawing parallels to Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, and highlights his “enormous faith,” “remarkable serenity,” and the reported miraculous recovery of a Spanish teenager after prayers for his intercession. This announcement, however, must be scrutinized through the lens of integral Catholic doctrine, which reveals not a genuine cause of sanctity but yet another manifestation of the conciliar sect’s systematic distortion of holiness, its promotion of suspect organizations, and its replacement of true Catholic sanctity with a naturalistic, emotionally manipulative counterfeit.
The Opus Dei Connection: A Suspicious Foundation
The article immediately identifies Ballester as a “numerary” member of Opus Dei, the personal prelature founded by Josemaría Escrivá in 1928. This affiliation alone warrants profound suspicion. Opus Dei has long been criticized for its secretive practices, its aggressive recruitment of young people, and its theological ambiguities that often blur the line between Catholic orthodoxy and modernist innovation. The organization’s rapid ascent within the Church, particularly after the Second Vatican Council, and its close ties to powerful financial and political circles, raise serious questions about its true nature and motivations. To present a member of such an organization as a model of holiness is to lend credibility to an entity whose spiritual fruits are, at best, highly questionable and, at worst, a sophisticated tool for advancing a modernist agenda under the guise of Catholic piety. The Church has always taught that bona vita non est nisi ex bonis operibus (a good life is not except from good works), but the “good works” of Opus Dei must be evaluated not by their external appearance but by their conformity to immutable Catholic doctrine and their fruits in the supernatural order, which, in the case of Opus Dei, are deeply suspect.
The Manufactured Narrative of Suffering and Joy
The article meticulously constructs a narrative of Ballester’s suffering and his purported joy amidst immense pain. Father Joseph Evans, who accompanied Ballester, states: “Pedro’s three years of suffering were very far from comfort and ease. He suffered enormously but also with enormous faith.” He further adds: “He truly found Christ along the hard way, but he followed him with great joy.” While suffering can indeed be a path to sanctity when united with the Cross of Christ and endured with supernatural faith, hope, and charity, the conciliar sect consistently reduces this profound mystery to a naturalistic, psychological, or even sentimental level. The emphasis here is on Ballester’s personal experience of “happiness” and “joy” in suffering, rather than on the theological reality of redemptive suffering – the offering of one’s pains in union with Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of souls and the expiation of sin. This subtle shift transforms a profound supernatural virtue into a mere human attitude, a form of spiritual self-help, which is a hallmark of modernist piety. The article’s focus on Ballester’s “serenity” and “kindness” further reinforces this naturalistic interpretation, presenting a palatable, non-threatening image of holiness that demands nothing of the observer in terms of conversion or adherence to objective truth.
The “Heroic Virtue” of the Conciliar Sect
The Diocese of Salford’s announcement explicitly states that the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints will explore whether Ballester lived a life of “heroic virtue and holiness.” This phrase, while traditionally reserved for those whose virtues practiced to a heroic degree are beyond the ordinary, has been systematically debased by the conciliar sect. Under the current usurpers, the criteria for “heroic virtue” have been so diluted as to be almost meaningless, often encompassing little more than a pleasant disposition, a commitment to social causes, or a personal piety devoid of doctrinal substance. The true Church has always understood heroic virtue as a supernatural disposition of the soul, enabling one to practice the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) and the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) to a degree that is truly exceptional and beyond the capacity of human nature alone, always in strict conformity with the teachings of the Magisterium and the example of Christ. The article’s portrayal of Ballester’s life, while commendable in its human aspects, offers no evidence of such supernatural heroism, instead presenting a young man who, while devout, operated entirely within the framework of the conciliar sect’s distorted understanding of sanctity.
The “Miracle” and the Superstition of Intercession
The article highlights a reported “miracle” involving Blanca, a 15-year-old from Spain, who recovered from a life-threatening stroke after prayers for Ballester’s intercession. Jack Valero from Opus Dei states: “We have had reports from many different countries of people who obtain favors from God after praying through Pedro’s intercession.” While the Church has always taught the efficacy of the intercession of the saints, the conciliar sect’s approach to miracles and intercession often veers into superstition and emotional manipulation. The emphasis shifts from God’s sovereign will and the saint’s confirmed heavenly status to a quasi-magical reliance on a particular individual’s intercession, often promoted by organizations like Opus Dei to bolster their own influence and credibility. The true Church demands rigorous investigation of miracles, ensuring they are beyond natural explanation and serve as divine confirmation of a saint’s presence in heaven. The casual reporting of “favors obtained” and “miracles” attributed to a cause still in its infancy, especially when promoted by the very organization the candidate belonged to, is a tactic designed to create a groundswell of popular devotion that pressures the conciliar authorities to expedite the canonization process, bypassing the rigorous scrutiny that genuine causes demand. This is not faith; it is credulity exploited for institutional gain.
The Omission of True Sanctity and the Conciliar Distortion
Perhaps the most glaring omission in this article, and indeed in the entire conciliar approach to sainthood, is the complete absence of any reference to the true marks of Catholic sanctity as understood by the pre-conciliar Church. There is no mention of mortification, penance, contempt for the world, zeal for the salvation of souls, unwavering defense of the faith against error, or miracles performed during the saint’s lifetime as a sign of God’s favor. Instead, the “holiness” presented is one of pleasantness, personal piety, and acceptance of suffering without any explicit connection to the theological virtues or the fight against sin and error. This is a naturalistic, humanistic “holiness” that fits perfectly within the conciar sect’s agenda of making Catholicism palatable to the modern world, stripping it of its supernatural demands and its prophetic voice against the errors of the times. The true Church has always taught that sanctitas est in veritate (holiness is in truth), and truth, in our times, demands a clear and uncompromising rejection of modernism and all its works, including the conciar sect’s manufactured saints.
The “Models” of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati
The article explicitly draws parallels between Pedro Ballester and “Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati.” This comparison is highly revealing. Carlo Acutis, canonized by the conciliar sect, is presented as a “computer geek” who used the internet to spread the faith, a narrative that perfectly aligns with the conciliar embrace of modern technology and its desire to appear relevant to youth. His “holiness” is largely defined by his personal piety and his use of modern media, rather than by any profound theological depth or heroic struggle against error. Pier Giorgio Frassati, while a more historically distant figure, has been similarly co-opted by the conciliar sect, his social activism and joyful demeanor emphasized over his profound Catholic faith and his explicit opposition to the errors of his time. By associating Ballester with these figures, the conciliar sect reinforces its own distorted image of sanctity: one that is modern, accessible, and devoid of the sharp edges of traditional Catholic doctrine. It is a sanitized, domesticated holiness that poses no threat to the prevailing secular culture or the conciliar agenda.
The Role of the Conciliar “Clergy”
The article quotes Father Joseph Evans, a “priest” of the conciliar sect, who enthusiastically supports the cause. His statements, while seemingly pious, are entirely framed within the conciliar paradigm. He speaks of young people looking for “authentic models” and being “tired of a society based on softness and falsehood,” yet his solution is to point them to a young man whose entire spiritual formation was within the conciliar sect and Opus Dei. This is not an authentic model of Catholic holiness but a reflection of the conciar sect’s own limited and distorted understanding of it. The “bishops” and “cardinals” of the conciliar sect, such as Cardinal Arthur Roche mentioned in the article, are themselves products of this system and are therefore incapable of recognizing or promoting true sanctity, which would necessarily involve a repudiation of their own modernist errors. Their involvement in such causes is not a sign of genuine discernment but of their continued efforts to legitimize their own apostasy by manufacturing saints in their own image.
The Call for “Accounts, Memories, Writings”
The Diocese of Salford’s call for “accounts, memories, writings attributed to Pedro, including diaries, letters” is a standard procedure in canonization causes. However, in the context of the conciar sect, this process is fraught with the potential for manipulation and selective presentation. The writings and testimonies will be filtered through the lens of the conciar authorities, who will inevitably highlight those aspects that align with their modernist agenda and downplay or ignore any that might challenge it. The true Church, in its pre-conciliar rigor, would subject such materials to intense scrutiny, examining not only the candidate’s virtues but also their doctrinal orthodoxy, their adherence to the Church’s constant teaching, and their opposition to error. In the conciar sect, where doctrinal orthodoxy has been replaced by a fluid “hermeneutic of continuity,” such scrutiny is unlikely to occur, ensuring that only candidates who fit the modernist mold will advance.
The Spiritual Bankruptcy of the Conciliar Sect
Ultimately, the opening of Pedro Ballester’s sainthood cause is not a sign of the conciar sect’s spiritual vitality but of its profound spiritual bankruptcy. Unable to produce genuine saints who embody the fullness of Catholic truth and who stand as prophetic witnesses against the errors of the times, the conciar sect resorts to manufacturing its own models of holiness. These “saints” are designed to be palatable to the modern world, to attract young people to a watered-down version of Catholicism, and to legitimize the conciar sect’s own existence and agenda. They are not true intercessors in heaven but puppets on earth, used to further the goals of an institution that has abandoned the faith of Christ for the spirit of the world. The true Church, enduring in the faithful who profess the integral Catholic faith, recognizes no such “saints” and continues to look to the authentic models of holiness found in the canonized saints of the pre-conciliar era, whose lives were a testament to the unchanging truth of the Gospel and the supernatural power of grace. Non est salus in alio quam in Christo (There is no salvation in any other than Christ), and true holiness is found only in Him and in those who faithfully follow His teachings, not in the fabricated heroes of a counterfeit church.
Source:
Pedro Ballester’s sainthood cause advances after life of faith and suffering (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 26.05.2026