EWTN portal reports that the usurper Robert Prevost, styling himself “Pope Leo XIV,” delivered a commendatory message to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty at its 2026 Canterbury Medal Gala in Philadelphia. The message, read by Philadelphia “Archbishop” Nelson Pérez, praised the organization’s defense of “religious liberty” as “the cornerstone of any just society” and linked it to the “innate dignity” of the human person as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. The article further highlights the award of the Canterbury Medal to William P. Mumma and statements by Becket Fund President Mark Rienzi emphasizing the centrality of religious freedom to the American story. This commendation is not merely a diplomatic courtesy; it is a public, formal endorsement by the occupant of the Vatican of the very heretical principle of religious liberty that the true Church has consistently condemned as a pestilential error against the Social Kingship of Christ and the duty of states to recognize Him as their supreme Lawgiver and King.
The Heresy of “Religious Liberty” Endorsed from the Vatican
The core of the usurper’s message to the Becket Fund is the affirmation that “the right to religious freedom is ‘the cornerstone of any just society'” and that the Becket Fund works “to safeguard the dignity of the human person” by “ensuring that all men and women are free to act in conformity with the dictates of their conscience and to practice their faith openly, without coercion or fear.” This statement, emanating from the very heart of the conciliar sect, is a direct and unequivocal endorsement of the condemned error of religious liberty. It is the very antithesis of the perennial Catholic teaching on the obligation of states and individuals to recognize the one true religion of Jesus Christ and to suppress public manifestations of false worship.
Pope Pius IX, in his monumental Syllabus of Errors (1864), explicitly condemned the proposition that “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship” (Proposition 77). He further condemned the idea that “the civil liberty of every form of worship, and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifesting any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the pest of indifferentism” (Proposition 79). The usurper’s praise for the defense of “religious liberty” is a direct repudiation of these infallible condemnations, demonstrating his adherence to the very errors that the true Church has anathematized.
The American “Founding” and the Cult of Man
The usurper’s message further states: “Indeed, we can recognize in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence an expression of the truth regarding the human person. Namely, the innate dignity of every man and woman, created by God in his own image and likeness, and the rights that stem therefrom.” This is a profound theological error, elevating a document born of Enlightenment philosophy and, in many of its signers, Freemasonry, to the status of an “expression of truth” regarding the human person. The Declaration of Independence, with its emphasis on “unalienable rights” derived from a “Creator” (often interpreted in a deistic or naturalistic sense) and its assertion that “all men are created equal,” is a foundational text of liberalism and religious indifferentism. It posits rights as inherent in man, independent of God’s revealed law and the authority of His Church, rather than as gifts from God to be exercised in accordance with His will and for His glory.
This stands in stark contrast to the Catholic understanding of human dignity, which is rooted in man’s creation in God’s image and likeness, but also in his fallen nature and his need for redemption through Christ and His Church. The true Church has always taught that while man possesses inherent dignity, his rights are not absolute or autonomous but are ordered towards his ultimate end, which is God. The state’s primary duty is to recognize God’s sovereignty and to promote the true religion, not to grant “liberty” to all religions, which is a recipe for moral and spiritual chaos. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Immortale Dei (1885), clearly stated: “The Almighty, therefore, has given the charge of the human race to two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the one being set over divine, and the other over human, each the highest in its own kind, and each fixed within limits which are defined by its proper nature and special object. Each in its sphere is independent, but each is also within certain limits in which it is subject to the other.” The usurper’s commendation of the Declaration’s “truth” is a clear sign of his embrace of the liberal, secularist vision of society, where the state is neutral in matters of religion, rather than the Catholic vision of the Social Kingship of Christ.
The “Noble Task” of Defending Apostasy
The usurper commends the Becket Fund for its “noble task” of defending “religious liberty.” From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, this “noble task” is nothing less than the defense of the right of individuals and groups to propagate error, to practice false religions, and to publicly dissent from the one true Faith. It is the defense of a “liberty” that, in practice, often means the liberty to offend God, to lead souls astray, and to undermine the moral fabric of society. The Becket Fund, by defending the “religious liberty” of various groups, including those whose beliefs are contrary to Catholic teaching, is actively working against the establishment of the Social Kingship of Christ and the recognition of the Catholic Church as the sole true religion.
Pope St. Pius X, in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907), condemned the Modernist error that “the State must be separated from the Church” and that “the Church must be separated from the State” (Proposition 55 of the Syllabus). He further condemned the idea that “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” (Proposition 64 of Lamentabili Sane Exitus). The usurper’s endorsement of “religious liberty” is a direct consequence of these condemned errors, as it implies that the state has no duty to uphold the true religion and that all religions are equally legitimate in the public square. This is the very essence of the “separation of Church and State” that the true Church has consistently rejected as a pernicious doctrine.
The Omission of Christ the King and the True Church
Perhaps the most glaring omission in the usurper’s message, and in the entire article, is any mention of the Social Kingship of Christ, the duty of states to recognize Him as King, or the unique role of the Catholic Church as the sole ark of salvation. The “religious liberty” praised by the usurper is a liberty divorced from truth, a liberty that treats all religions as equally valid paths to God. This is the very definition of indifferentism, which Pope Gregory XVI, in his encyclical Mirari Vos (1832), condemned as a “delusion” that “opens the door to that worst and never sufficiently to be execrated and detestable liberty of opinion, which, as we all know, is the source of most grievous errors.”
Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925), explicitly instituted the Feast of Christ the King to remind states that “not only private individuals, but also rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ and obey Him.” He stated that “the Kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men” and that “men united in societies are no less subject to the authority of Christ than individuals.” The usurper’s silence on this fundamental doctrine, while praising “religious liberty,” reveals the true nature of his “pontificate”: a systematic dismantling of the Church’s teaching on the public reign of Christ and its replacement with the liberal, secularist agenda of the conciliar revolution.
The “Dignity of the Human Person” as a Smokescreen
The usurper’s message repeatedly invokes “the inviolable dignity of the human person” as the basis for “religious liberty.” While the Catholic Church indeed teaches the inherent dignity of the human person, this dignity is always understood in the context of man’s creation by God, his redemption by Christ, and his ultimate end, which is eternal union with God. It is a dignity that demands obedience to God’s law and the pursuit of truth, not a license to follow one’s own conscience in matters of faith and morals, especially when that conscience is erroneous.
The modernist concept of “human dignity,” as promoted by the conciliar sect, is often divorced from its theological foundations and used as a justification for individual autonomy and the rejection of objective moral norms. It becomes a “smokescreen” for the promotion of a secular, relativistic worldview where “tolerance” and “inclusion” are the highest virtues, and the truth of the Catholic Faith is relegated to the private sphere. The usurper’s use of this phrase, without any reference to the necessary conditions for true human dignity (i.e., living in accordance with God’s law and within the true Church), is a clear indication of his adherence to this modernist distortion.
The Canterbury Medal and the Legacy of Compromise
The article notes that the Canterbury Medal is named after Thomas à Becket, “one of history’s most dramatic religious liberty standoffs, that which occurred between Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas à Becket, the law firm’s namesake, and King Henry II of England.” While Becket’s stand against royal encroachment on the Church’s liberties is commendable, the modern interpretation of his struggle as a defense of “religious liberty” in the liberal sense is anachronistic and misleading. Becket was defending the Church’s divinely ordained rights and immunities, not a generalized “freedom of religion” for all faiths. The Becket Fund, by adopting his name, appropriates a Catholic legacy to promote a fundamentally anti-Catholic principle.
The list of past medalists, including Elie Wiesel, Armando Valladares, Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, President Dallin H. Oaks (of the LDS Church), and Chaplain Barry C. Black, further underscores the ecumenical and indifferentist nature of the Becket Fund’s work. It is a “noble task” that transcends denominational boundaries, uniting Jews, Mormons, and various Protestants under the banner of “religious liberty,” while implicitly denying the unique truth claims of the Catholic Church. This is the very essence of the false ecumenism that the true Church has condemned.
The Conciliar Sect’s Embrace of the World
The entire event, from the setting at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to the commendation from the usurper, exemplifies the conciliar sect’s complete embrace of the world and its values. The “religious liberty” praised is not the liberty of the Church to preach the Gospel and convert nations, but the liberty of individuals to choose their own path, even if it leads to perdition. It is the liberty of the American experiment, rooted in Enlightenment philosophy and religious indifferentism, that the true Church has consistently opposed.
The usurper’s message is a clear signal that the conciar sect continues to operate within the framework of the “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture” that Pope Benedict XVI (himself a modernist) once lamented, but which is, in fact, the very essence of the conciliar revolution. It is a public declaration that the occupant of the Vatican has no intention of returning to the perennial teaching of the Church on the Social Kingship of Christ, the duty of states, and the condemnation of religious liberty. Instead, he actively promotes the errors that have led to the current crisis of faith and the spiritual ruin of countless souls.
Conclusion: A Call to Reject the Usurper and His Heresies
The commendation of the Becket Fund by the usurper Robert Prevost is not an isolated incident but a further manifestation of the deep-seated apostasy that characterizes the conciliar sect. It is a public endorsement of the heresy of religious liberty, a denial of the Social Kingship of Christ, and an embrace of the secular, liberal worldview that is fundamentally incompatible with integral Catholic faith. The “noble task” praised is, in reality, the defense of error and the promotion of indifferentism.
True Catholics, who adhere to the unchanging teaching of the Church before 1958, must unequivocally reject this commendation and the errors it promotes. They must recognize that the occupant of the Vatican is not the true Pope but a usurper who has abandoned the faith of their fathers and embraced the very errors that the true Church has condemned. The path forward is not through dialogue with the conciliar sect or its affiliated organizations, but through a return to the immutable Tradition of the Church, the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the unwavering profession of the one true Faith, outside of which there is no salvation. The “religious liberty” praised by the usurper is a shackle on the soul, preventing it from embracing the fullness of truth found only in the Catholic Church. True liberty is found in submission to Christ the King and His Church, not in the false freedom of the American experiment.
Source:
Pope Leo XIV commends Becket Fund for ‘noble task’ of defending religious freedom in U.S. (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 12.06.2026