The National Catholic Register reports that a federal judge has ruled the U.S. government may deposit $183,071 to seize land belonging to the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, for border fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The diocese had sought to block the deposit while it contests the eminent domain action, but U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales ruled the deposit would “allow for the safekeeping of funds pending resolution” of the dispute. The land in question runs along the base of Mount Cristo Rey, site of a 29-foot statue of Christ and a shrine that draws thousands of annual pilgrims. The diocese argued the seizure would “constitute a significant infringement on religious freedom and the rights of worship.” This case exposes the utter impotence of the conciliar structures in defending even the most basic temporal rights of the Church, a direct consequence of the apostasy inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council’s false declaration on religious liberty, *Dignitatis Humanae*.
The Erosion of Ecclesiastical Immunity and the Triumph of Secular Absolutism
The ruling by Judge Gonzales is not merely a legal setback for one diocese; it is a symptom of the complete capitulation of the post-conciliar Church to the secular state. The judge’s assertion that transferring title to the United States is “in no way a final or irrevocable action” is a legal fiction designed to expedite the government’s seizure while offering the diocese a hollow right to “contest the validity of the taking.” This is the logic of the world, the logic of Caesar, imposed upon the Church. Where is the voice of the conciliar hierarchy thundering against this violation? Where is the invocation of the Church’s inherent rights, divinely instituted by Christ the King? The silence is deafening, because the conciliar sect has no theological ground upon which to stand. It has surrendered the public reign of Christ over nations, and now it reaps the whirlwind.
The Ghost of *Dignitatis Humanae*: Religious Liberty as a Tool of Subjugation
The diocese’s appeal to “religious freedom” and “rights of worship” is a tragic admission of its own theological bankruptcy. These are the very concepts condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors, which anathematized the proposition that “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Proposition 80). The conciliar Church, having embraced the heresy of religious liberty at Vatican II, now finds itself hoist with its own petard. It cannot claim the Church’s traditional rights because it has denied the Church’s divine constitution and mission. The state, operating on the very principles the conciliar Church legitimized, now treats the Church as just another private corporation, subject to its absolute will. This is the fruit of *Dignitatis Humanae*, a document that opened the floodgates to the secularization of society and the subjugation of the Church to the powers of this world.
The Sacredness of Place and the Profanation by the State
The land in question is not merely a parcel of real estate; it is the base of Mount Cristo Rey, crowned by a statue of Christ and a site of annual pilgrimages. This is sacred ground, consecrated by the devotion of the faithful and the presence of the image of Our Lord. The government’s seizure of this land for border fencing is a profanation, a desecration of a place set apart for the worship of God. The diocese’s weak protest, framed in the language of “religious freedom,” fails to grasp the gravity of the offense. This is not a matter of “rights” granted by the state; it is a matter of the Church’s divine right to possess and protect her own property for the service of God. As Pope Leo XIII taught in Rerum Novarum, the right of property is a natural right, and the Church has a sacred duty to safeguard her temporal goods for the fulfillment of her spiritual mission. The conciliar diocese, by failing to assert this divine right, has betrayed its trust.
The Impotence of the Conciliar Hierarchy: A Consequence of Apostasy
The inability of the Diocese of Las Cruces to effectively resist this seizure is a direct consequence of the apostasy of the conciliar Church. A Church that has denied the social kingship of Christ, that has embraced religious liberty and ecumenism, that has reduced the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to a mere communal meal, has no spiritual authority or temporal power to resist the encroachments of the secular state. The conciliar structures are a hollow shell, devoid of the supernatural life that once animated the Church and made her a bulwark against the world. The faithful are left without shepherds, their lands seized, their shrines desecrated, and their worship impeded, while the conciliar hierarchy offers nothing but legalistic protests and appeals to the very principles that have led to their ruin.
The Duty of the Faithful: Resistance and Return to Tradition
In the face of this outrage, the faithful must not despair but must redouble their efforts to resist the encroachments of the secular state and to return to the immutable traditions of the Church. They must reject the false principles of *Dignitatis Humanae* and reaffirm the social kingship of Christ, as proclaimed by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas: “The empire of Christ 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.” The faithful must support those few priests and bishops who remain faithful to the true Mass and the unchanging doctrine of the Church, and they must resist, by all lawful means, the seizure of Church property and the profanation of sacred sites. The conciliar Church has failed; it is the duty of the faithful to preserve the deposit of faith and to defend the rights of Christ the King, even in the face of a hostile world and an apostate hierarchy.
Source:
Federal Judge Says Government Can Deposit Money to Seize Diocesan Land for Border Fencing (ncregister.com)
Date: 18.06.2026