VaticanNews portal reports on the funeral Mass of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, presided over by the antipope Leo XIV, who eulogized the deceased as a “wise and diligent shepherd.” This event is not merely a liturgical ceremony for a prelate who died at the age of 95; it is a public display of the continuity of the conciliar sect, a gathering of the architects and beneficiaries of the post-1958 apostasy, and a stark reminder that the structures occupying the Vatican remain firmly in the hands of those who have dismantled the Catholic Church from within. The entire spectacle, from the words of the homily to the presence of the “cardinals” and “bishops,” is a testament to the triumph of Modernism and the burial of true Catholic tradition.
The “Shepherd” of the Conciliar Desert
The antipope Leo XIV, in his funeral homily, described Cardinal Ruini as a “wise and diligent shepherd” who served the Church “both in the humblest tasks and in those laden with the greatest responsibility.” This description, while flattering to the deceased, is a chilling indictment of the state of the so-called “Church” since 1958. A true shepherd protects the flock from wolves; Ruini, as a key figure in the Italian Church for decades, served as a functionary of the very system that has led countless souls into the abyss of error and indifferentism. His “diligence” was employed not in defending the immutable truths of the Faith, but in administering the ruinous reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Ruini served as Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome and Archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran from 1991 to 2008, and as President of the Italian Episcopal Conference from 1991 to 2007. These were not merely administrative roles; they were positions of ideological enforcement. As the head of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Ruini was instrumental in implementing the conciliar revolution in Italy, a country that was once the heartland of Christendom and is now a spiritual wasteland. His “service” was the management of decline, the administration of sacraments emptied of their true meaning, and the promotion of a “Church” that is indistinguishable from any secular humanitarian organization.
The Idolatry of “Truth” Without Christ
The antipope highlighted the motto chosen by Ruini for his episcopate: “The truth will set you free.” This phrase, taken from the Gospel of John (8:32), is a favorite of Modernists who seek to reduce the Catholic Faith to a vague, evolving concept of “truth” detached from the Person of Jesus Christ and His unchanging Magisterium. In the mouth of a conciliar prelate, this motto is a mockery. The truth that sets men free is not a fluid, historically conditioned “consciousness,” but the eternal, immutable Truth that is Jesus Christ, Who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).
The Modernists, as St. Pius X warned in Pascendi Dominici gregis, “subject” the Faith to philosophy and history, reducing dogmas to mere interpretations of religious facts. Ruini’s motto, as praised by Leo XIV, is a perfect encapsulation of this heresy. It is a “truth” that is compatible with the “evolution of dogmas,” a “truth” that does not require submission to the authoritative teaching of the Church, but rather the “constant search for God’s designs” through the lens of human experience. This is the very antithesis of the Catholic Faith, which holds that truth is fixed, objective, and handed down infallibly from the Apostles.
The Canonization of a Modernist “Saint”
The most scandalous element of the funeral homily was the antipope’s claim that Ruini had the opportunity to work “with some of the great saints of recent times, such as Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II.” This statement is a blasphemous assertion that the architects of the conciliar revolution are worthy of veneration. Paul VI and John Paul II are not saints; they are the very individuals who, by their public heresies and scandalous actions, have caused the near-total destruction of the Church’s visible structure.
John Paul II, in particular, was a manifest heretic who promoted the cult of man, engaged in false ecumenism, and participated in pagan rituals. His “canonization” by the antipope Francis was a farce, a cynical move to legitimize the conciliar revolution by creating a pantheon of Modernist “saints.” To suggest that Ruini absorbed anything good from John Paul II is to admit that Ruini was a disciple of the very heresy that has ruined the Church. The antipope’s words are a clear signal that the conciliar sect continues to venerate its own destroyers, further confirming its complete separation from the true Catholic Faith.
The Liturgical Abomination
The description of the funeral Mass itself is a sad parody of the true Catholic rite. The image of the cardinal’s coffin resting on a carpet in front of the altar, bearing the open Book of the Gospels, is a poignant symbol of a Church that has abandoned the spirit of the Gospel while retaining its external forms. The “prayers in Latin,” the sprinkling of holy water, and the incensing of the coffin are the hollow rituals of a Church that has lost its supernatural faith. These are the rites of the “Church of the New Advent,” a paramasonic structure that uses the language of Catholicism to mask its true nature as a servant of the world.
The true Catholic funeral rite, as codified by the Council of Trent, is a solemn plea for God’s mercy for the departed, a recognition of the reality of sin and judgment, and a profession of hope in the resurrection of the body. The conciliar rite, with its focus on the “celebration of life” and the “community’s” grief, is a naturalistic parody that denies the supernatural destiny of man. The funeral of Cardinal Ruini was not a Catholic Requiem; it was a memorial service for a functionary of a dying institution.
The Silence of the “Sheep”
The article concludes with a call to “keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter” and to “support us in bringing the Pope’s words into every home.” This is the language of corporate marketing, not of the Church of Christ. The conciliar sect, having lost the Faith, now relies on marketing and media manipulation to maintain its relevance. The “great mission” of bringing the words of the antipope into homes is not a mission of evangelization, but of propaganda. It is the promotion of a false “pope” who teaches false doctrine, leading the faithful further into error.
The funeral of Cardinal Ruini is a microcosm of the conciliar revolution: a celebration of a life spent in the service of Modernism, presided over by an antipope who is the chief heresiarch of our times, and attended by a “hierarchy” that has lost the Faith. It is a stark reminder that the true Church, the Church of all ages, is not found in the basilicas of Rome, but in the faithful remnant who cling to the traditional doctrine, liturgy, and morality of the Catholic Faith. The conciliar sect is a dying beast, and its funerals are the death rattle of an institution that has rejected its Divine Founder.
Source:
Pope remembers Cardinal Ruini as a 'wise and diligent shepherd' (vaticannews.va)
Date: 18.06.2026