EWTN News portal reports that Abelardo de la Espriella has been elected president of Colombia by a slim margin, pledging to be the president of all Colombians and concluding his victory speech with the cry, “Long live Christ the King!” While this public declaration is a welcome contrast to the secularist silence of most modern politicians, a rigorous examination of the political, social, and theological landscape reveals that such slogans, unmoored from the integral social reign of Christ the King as defined by Catholic doctrine, risk becoming hollow instruments of a “Catholicism-lite” that is powerless to reverse the tide of apostasy.
The Chasm Between the Cry and the Social Reality
De la Espriella’s declaration, “Long live Christ the King,” echoes the 1925 encyclical *Quas Primas* of Pope Pius XI, which instituted the Feast of Christ the King specifically to combat the “plague” of secularism. Pius XI taught that the reign of Christ extends not only to Catholic nations but to “all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” He explicitly condemned the modern apostasy of removing Christ from the laws and constitutions of states, warning that when “authority was derived not from God but from men, the foundations of that authority were destroyed.”
However, the Colombian context exposes the hollowness of mere verbal declarations. The president-elect’s opponent, Iván Cepeda, represents the “Historic Pact” party, a coalition deeply rooted in Marxist liberation theology and the legalization of abortion and drug trafficking—ideologies condemned by the Church as “intrinsically evil.” The fact that Cepeda secured 48.7% of the vote in a supposedly Catholic country demonstrates the profound success of the cultural revolution. As the False Fatima Apparitions document notes regarding the diversion of the Church’s focus, the “main danger” is not merely external communism but “modernist apostasy within the Church.” Colombia’s near-election of a Marxist candidate is the fruit of that internal apostasy.
The “Commitment to Life” and the Limits of Natural Law
De la Espriella’s pledge to sign the “Commitment to Life and Family” is a positive step, yet it must be scrutinized through the lens of unchanging Catholic morality. The document states he pledged to defend “freedoms related to conscience and worship.” In the modernist lexicon, “freedom of conscience” is often a euphemism for religious indifferentism—the condemned idea that every man is free to embrace whatever religion he considers true (Proposition 15 of the Syllabus of Errors).
True Catholic freedom is not the liberty to choose error, but the liberty to choose the Truth. Pope Pius XI in *Quas Primas* stated that the state must recognize the “royal dignity” of Christ and order its laws based on “God’s commandments and Christian principles.” A president who defends “conscience” without explicitly submitting to the Social Kingship of Christ and the objective moral law of the Catholic Church is building on sand. Furthermore, his stance against marijuana as a “gateway drug” is a natural law argument, but without the supernatural grace of the sacraments and the explicit recognition of Christ’s authority, natural law arguments are easily dismantled by the culture of death.
The “Miracle Homeland” Without the True Faith
De la Espriella spoke of a “Miracle Homeland” (*Patria Milagro*). The word “miracle” is a theological term. In Catholic doctrine, miracles are supernatural acts of God that transcend the powers of nature. A “Miracle Homeland” cannot be achieved by an “iron-fist” approach to security or economic prosperity alone. The true miracle of a nation is its conversion to the Catholic Faith. As the Defense of Sedevacantism document emphasizes, a “manifest heretic” cannot be a true member of the Church; similarly, a nation that permits legal abortion and promotes gender ideology cannot be a “miracle” in the eyes of God, regardless of its security statistics.
The False Fatima Apparitions document warns against the “idea of national conversion without evangelization.” Colombia’s situation is a textbook case: the population remains deeply influenced by superstition, syncretism, and the remnants of liberation theology. A president who cries “Long live Christ the King” but governs within a constitutional framework that permits the slaughter of the unborn is like the “two sisters” theory in Fatima—a simulation of piety that masks a deeper subversion.
The Complicity of the “International Community”
The international reaction to De la Espriella’s victory is equally telling. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated him, focusing on “regional security cooperation” and “strengthening economic ties.” The presidents of Ecuador, Argentina, and Chile praised the “path of economic freedom.” This is the language of globalist capitalism, not the Social Reign of Christ the King.
Pope Leo XIII in *Immortale Dei* warned against the separation of Church and State, but he also warned against the reduction of the State to a mere instrument of material prosperity. The “international community” celebrates De la Espriella because he is good for business and will fight drug cartels (which are often funded and protected by globalist intelligence agencies). They do not care about the Kingship of Christ. As long as the “free market” is protected, the secularist globalists will tolerate a “Long live Christ the King” as a cultural artifact, provided it does not translate into the abolition of legal abortion or the establishment of the Catholic Church as the sole religion of the state.
Conclusion: The Danger of “Catholic” Politics in a Post-Conciliar World
Abelardo de la Espriella’s election is a symptom of the confusion that reigns in the post-conciliar world. On one hand, he uses the traditional Catholic language of “Christ the King” and “Life and Family.” On the other, he operates within a democratic system that is structurally incapable of establishing the Social Kingship of Christ because it is founded on the sovereignty of the people—a concept condemned by Pope St. Pius X in *Lamentabili sane exitu* (Proposition 39: “The State… is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits”).
The cry “Long live Christ the King” is a weapon, but it must be wielded with the fullness of the Faith. Without the recognition that the Catholic Church is the only true religion, without the legal prohibition of abortion and gender ideology, and without the submission of the State to the supernatural end of man, such a cry is a simulacrum—a hollow shell that the enemies of the Church will happily fill with their own meaning. The true “Miracle Homeland” will only be realized when Colombia, and all nations, formally consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and accept the Social Kingship of Christ the King not just in speeches, but in their constitutions and laws. Until then, the “Long live Christ the King” of a president-elect is a pious wish, not a political reality.
Source:
Colombia elects Abelardo de la Espriella as new president, according to preliminary vote count (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 22.06.2026