EWTN News reports that on June 8, 2026, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, responded to the wounding of 12 people by gunfire at the 53rd annual Old West End Festival by lamenting the “senseless violence” and affirming that the tragedy “has not shaken our faith in humanity, nor have they shaken our faith in the Lord of Life.” The shooting occurred just blocks from Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral during the vigil Mass on the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Thomas noted that the faithful carried Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament through the streets in the annual Eucharistic procession, proclaiming “a message of peace, unity, love, and respect for every person.” He invoked Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, stating that “human rights are inviolable, since they are ‘inherent in the human person and in human dignity,'” and that “every act of violence is a failure to recognize the God-given dignity of the human person.” The bishop called for “building a culture in which every person is valued, protected, and treated with dignity: a culture not of death but of life.” This response, while superficially pious, exemplifies the conciliar sect’s systematic reduction of the Faith to naturalistic humanism, its invocation of a usurper’s authority, and its fatal silence on the supernatural realities of sin, grace, and the eternal destiny of souls.
The Invocation of a Usurper’s Authority: A Doctrinal Scandal
The most immediate and glaring scandal in Bishop Thomas’ statement is his invocation of “Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.” By what authority does this “bishop” cite a document issued by Robert Prevost, a man who occupies the See of Peter without legitimate title, an antipope whose every act is null and void by the very constitution of the Church? The 1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 188.4, states plainly that “every office becomes vacant by the mere fact and without any declaration by reason of tacit resignation, recognized by the law itself, if the cleric: … 4. Publicly defects from the Catholic faith.” Pope Pius IV’s Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio further declares that if any Roman Pontiff “has defected from the Catholic Faith or fallen into some heresy,” his elevation is “null, void, and of no effect.” The line of usurpers beginning with John XXIII has, through the adoption of the heretical doctrines of Vatican II—religious liberty, ecumenism, collegiality—publicly defected from the Catholic faith, thereby vacating the office they claim to hold. St. Robert Bellarmine teaches that “a Pope who is a manifest heretic, by that very fact ceases to be Pope and head” (De Romano Pontifice, II:30). John of St. Thomas confirms: “A manifest heretic cannot be Pope.” Bishop Thomas’ citation of Leo XIV’s encyclical is not merely an error of judgment; it is an act of formal cooperation with the conciliar abomination, a public recognition of the usurper’s authority, and a tacit denial of the true Church’s teaching on the papacy. It is a symptom of the very apostasy that Pius IX condemned in the Syllabus of Errors, where he rejected the proposition that “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Proposition 80).
Faith in Humanity: The Religion of Man Replaces the Faith of Christ
Bishop Thomas declares that the shooting “has not shaken our faith in humanity, nor have they shaken our faith in the Lord of Life.” This juxtaposition is not accidental; it is the theological core of the conciliar revolution. To place “faith in humanity” alongside “faith in the Lord of Life” is to elevate naturalism to the level of supernatural faith, precisely the error condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus: “There exists no Supreme, all-wise, all-provident Divine Being, distinct from the universe” (Proposition 1), and “Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood” (Proposition 3). The modernist heresy, defined and condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu and Pascendi Dominici gregis, consists precisely in this: the reduction of supernatural religion to a development of human consciousness, the denial of immutable dogmas, and the substitution of naturalistic humanism for the supernatural life of grace. Bishop Thomas’ “faith in humanity” is not Catholic faith at all; it is the religion of man, the “cult of man” condemned by every pope up to and including Pius XII. It is the fruit of the conciliar constitution Gaudium et Spes, which placed the Church’s mission at the service of “the modern world” rather than the salvation of souls for eternal life. The true Church has never taught that “faith in humanity” is a virtue; on the contrary, she teaches that “the imagination and inclination of man’s heart are set on evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21), and that without sanctifying grace, man is incapable of avoiding mortal sin. Bishop Thomas’ statement is a direct echo of the modernist proposition condemned by St. Pius X: “The progress of sciences requires a reform of the concept of Christian doctrine concerning God, creation, Revelation, the Person of the Incarnate Word, and Redemption” (Lamentabili, Proposition 64).
The Omission of Sin, Grace, and Eternal Judgment
What is most conspicuously absent from Bishop Thomas’ statement is any mention of sin, grace, the state of mortal sin, the necessity of repentance, the reality of hell, or the eternal destiny of souls. There is no call to confession, no exhortation to receive the sacraments worthily, no warning that those who die in mortal sin face eternal damnation. Instead, we are offered a purely naturalistic program: “building a culture in which every person is valued, protected, and treated with dignity.” This is the language of the United Nations, not of the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that the primary purpose of human existence is the salvation of souls for eternal life, that the greatest act of charity is to lead a soul to God, and that the greatest tragedy is not temporal suffering but eternal damnation. Pius XI, in Quas Primas, proclaimed 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.” The Church’s mission is not to build a “culture of life” in the naturalistic sense but to extend the Kingdom of Christ, to which all men and all states are subject: “His reign, namely, extends not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church, even though their erroneous opinions have led them astray or discord has separated them from love, but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ” (Leo XIII, Annum sanctum, quoted in Quas Primas). Bishop Thomas’ silence on the supernatural order is not an oversight; it is the hallmark of the conciliar sect, which has systematically emptied the Faith of its supernatural content and replaced it with a program of social activism indistinguishable from secular humanism.
Human Rights vs. God’s Law: The Primacy of the Supernatural
Bishop Thomas quotes Leo XIV’s encyclical as stating that “human rights are inviolable, since they are ‘inherent in the human person and in human dignity.'” This is the language of Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae, which proclaimed the right of every man to religious liberty—a doctrine condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus (Proposition 77: “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State”) and by Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos. The Catholic Church has always taught that error has no rights, that the Catholic religion is the only true religion, and that the state has a duty to suppress public manifestations of false worship. The “human rights” framework invoked by Bishop Thomas is not a Catholic principle; it is a product of the Enlightenment, of the French Revolution, of the Masonic lodges that Pius IX condemned as the “synagogue of Satan” in the Syllabus. True dignity belongs to man only insofar as he is ordered to his supernatural end: the vision of God in eternal life. A man in mortal sin, no matter how “dignified” his natural condition, is an enemy of God and an object of His justice. Bishop Thomas’ appeal to “God-given dignity” without any reference to the supernatural order, to grace, to the necessity of faith and baptism, is a cruel mockery: it offers men a naturalistic consolation while ignoring the only thing that truly matters—their eternal salvation.
The Eucharistic Procession: External Piety, Internal Emptiness
Bishop Thomas notes that “the faithful gathered and carried Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of the Old West End in the annual Eucharistic procession,” and that in this procession, “we proclaimed a message radically opposed to hatred and violence: a message of peace, unity, love, and respect for every person.” External acts of piety are commendable when they proceed from true faith and are ordered to the supernatural end of the glorification of God and the salvation of souls. But in the context of the conciliar sect, such acts are often mere ritualism emptied of doctrinal content. Is this Eucharistic procession accompanied by a clear proclamation of the necessity of the Catholic faith for salvation? Does it call sinners to repentance? Does it denounce the heresies and apostasies that have brought society to the brink of collapse? Or is it merely a “sacred” spectacle, a religious procession indistinguishable in its message from a secular peace march? The test of true Catholic piety is not the external act but the doctrinal content and supernatural intention behind it. A Eucharistic procession that does not proclaim the fullness of Catholic truth—including the necessity of the Church, the reality of sin, the obligation of states to submit to Christ the King—is not a Catholic act but a counterfeit, a ritual shell devoid of substance.
The Root Cause: Systemic Apostasy and the Rejection of Christ the King
The violence in Toledo is not an isolated event; it is a symptom of a society that has rejected the reign of Christ the King. Pius XI, in Quas Primas, identified the root cause of social disorder: “This plague is the secularism of our times, so-called laicism, its errors and wicked endeavors… It began with the denial of Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations; the Church’s authority to teach men, to issue laws, to govern nations, which authority she received from Christ the Lord to lead men to eternal happiness, was denied.” The conciliar sect, by embracing religious liberty, ecumenism, and dialogue with the world, has itself become the chief agent of this apostasy. Bishop Thomas’ response to the shooting—invoking a usurper’s encyclical, appealing to human rights, calling for a “culture of life” without any reference to the supernatural—is itself a manifestation of the very disease it purports to treat. The Church’s remedy for social disorder is not “building a culture of dignity” but the restoration of the social reign of Christ the King, the submission of states to God’s law, and the preaching of the Gospel to all nations. Until this is done, violence, disorder, and apostasy will only increase, for “unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Psalm 126:1).
Conclusion: The Bankruptcy of Conciliar Pastoral Care
Bishop Thomas’ response to the Toledo shooting is a textbook example of the conciliar sect’s pastoral bankruptcy. It invokes the authority of a usurper, promotes “faith in humanity” over supernatural faith, omits all mention of sin, grace, and eternal judgment, substitutes the naturalistic language of human rights for the supernatural language of Catholic doctrine, and offers external rituals as a substitute for the fullness of Catholic truth. It is, in sum, a perfect illustration of the modernist heresy condemned by St. Pius X: “Contemporary Catholicism cannot be reconciled with true knowledge without transforming it into a certain dogmaless Christianity, that is, into a broad and liberal Protestantism” (Lamentabili, Proposition 65). The faithful deserve better. They deserve pastors who preach the fullness of Catholic truth, who call sinners to repentance, who proclaim the social reign of Christ the King, and who recognize that the greatest tragedy is not temporal suffering but eternal damnation. Until the true Church is restored—free from the conciliar usurpers and their modernist errors—such pastoral care will remain a cruel illusion, offering men bread of stones while their souls perish in the desert of apostasy.
Source:
Bishop of Toledo, Ohio, calls shooting of 12 at local festival a ‘tragic act’ (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 08.06.2026