Antichurch Scorsese and the Conciliar Church: A Dialogue with Modernist Relativism
L’Osservatore Romano portal reports on a tribute to Martin Scorsese at “La Milanesiana” festival in Milan (June 25, 2026), where Fr. Antonio Spadaro, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, attended and Scorsese delivered a video message about his film “The Last Temptation of Christ,” describing his approach to Jesus as exploring mystery and questioning, and expressing gratitude for his reception by “Pope” Francis and friendship with Spadaro. This event reveals the complete integration of Hollywood naturalism into the conciliar apparatus, where a filmmaker who openly questioned Christ’s divinity is embraced by modernist clergy as a dialogue partner.
The Reduction of Christ to a “Question”
Scorsese’s statement reveals a fundamentally modernist approach to the Incarnation. He describes dealing with Jesus as entering “mystery territory” and “uncharted” ground, framing the central mystery of Christianity not as a divine truth to be believed but as an open question: “what is the life of Jesus?” This epistemological skepticism mirrors the condemned modernist proposition that “revelation was merely man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God” (Proposition 20, Lamentabili sane exitu, 1907).
His treatment of the hypostatic union is particularly revealing: “To what extent was Jesus human? Was he human, and to what extent was he divine? Fully human and fully divine. That particular question was at the core of my approach.” The repetition and hesitancy expose a mind incapable of accepting the defined dogma. The Council of Chalcedon definitively taught that Christ is “perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man… acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” This is not territory to be “uncharted” but the defined faith of the Church. Scorsese’s approach exemplifies what Pius XI condemned as the modernist error that “dogmas… are not truths of divine origin but are a certain interpretation of religious facts” (Proposition 22, Lamentabili).
The Naturalist Heresy of “The Last Temptation”
The film in question, based on Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel, presents the temptation to “lead a normal life” as the final and greatest trial of Christ. Scorsese explicitly states: “the last temptation was simply to lead a normal life, because a normal life, in most cases, is very, very blessed.” This is not Catholic theology but Protestant liberalism dressed in cinematic language. The entire redemptive mission of Christ—His sacrificial death on Calvary—is implicitly diminished by suggesting that an ordinary human existence represents a valid alternative to the divine plan.
The Church has always taught that Christ’s Passion and Death were not accidental but essential to the economy of redemption. As the Council of Trent declares, “the cause of the salvation of the world” was accomplished through Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross (Session XXII, Chapter 2). Scorsese’s framing reduces the Incarnation to a psychological drama about human choice, eliminating the supernatural dimension entirely. This is precisely the error condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis: the reduction of all religious facts to psychological and historical phenomena.
The Conciliar Embrace of Heretical Art
The most damning element of this event is the enthusiastic reception Scorsese received from the conciliar structures. He states: “You can’t imagine how much it meant to me to be received so warmly by Pope Francis, to be welcomed at the Vatican, and to find a good friend in Fr. Antonio Spadaro.” This demonstrates the complete abdication of the Church’s duty to guard the deposit of faith. Rather than correcting a filmmaker whose work fundamentally misrepresents Christ, the conciliar sect embraces him as a dialogue partner.
Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., represents the quintessential modernist clergy. His presence at this event and his “abiding friendship” with Scorsese exemplify the post-conciliar abandonment of fraternal correction. The duty of bishops and theologians to protect the faithful from error is explicitly taught by the Council of Trent and reaffirmed by every orthodox pontiff. Yet here we see a “priest” celebrating friendship with a man whose artistic work denies the very foundations of Catholic Christology.
This reception violates the explicit warning of Pius XI in Quas Primas (1925): “the entire human society had to be shaken, because it lacked a stable and strong foundation” when Christ and His law are removed from public life. The conciliar structures have not merely failed to resist this shaking but have actively promoted it by legitimizing artists who undermine faith.
The “Dialogue” as Apostasy
Scorsese describes his intention: “to begin a dialogue about Jesus. A serious dialogue, a good dialogue. To rethink and to bring Jesus into our hearts, our lives, and our souls in the present.” This language of “dialogue” and “rethinking” is the characteristic vocabulary of modernist relativism. The Catholic position is not dialogue about Christ but submission to Christ’s defined teaching. As St. Pius X taught in Pascendi, the Church does not “dialogue” with errors but condemns them.
The entire framework assumes that the two-thousand-year tradition of Catholic Christology is insufficient and requires “rethinking” through the lens of contemporary filmmaking. This is the essence of the modernist proposition that “truth changes with man, because it develops with him, in him, and through him” (Proposition 58, Lamentabili). Scorsese’s approach treats the Gospel narratives as raw material for artistic exploration rather than as the inspired Word of God.
The Absence of Supernatural Faith
What is most striking in Scorsese’s statement is the complete absence of supernatural faith. He speaks of “mystery” and “awe” but never of belief, never of the defined dogmas of Nicaea and Chalcedon, never of the reality of the Incarnation as an historical fact requiring supernatural faith. His Christ is a character to be explored, not the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to be adored.
This naturalistic approach reflects the conciliar abandonment of the supernatural order. The “Church” that welcomes Scorsese has itself largely abandoned the language of dogma, sacrifice, and supernatural grace in favor of psychological “experience” and artistic “exploration.” The embrace of Scorsese is simply the logical culmination of five decades of modernist catechesis that has reduced Catholicism to a form of aesthetic humanism.
Conclusion: The Judgment of Reality
This event demonstrates with perfect clarity the spiritual bankruptcy of the conciliar structures. An artist who openly questions the divinity of Christ, whose work presents the Redeemer’s sacrifice as a temptation to be resisted, is welcomed as a friend by the highest authorities of the post-conciliar sect. This is not merely a failure of judgment but a manifestation of the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place where it ought not.
The true Church of Christ continues to teach, as she has taught for two millennia, that Jesus Christ is “God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father” (Nicene Creed), and that this truth is not subject to “rethinking” or “dialogue” but to the obedience of faith. Those who seek Christ as He has revealed Himself must separate entirely from the conciliar structures that have made themselves enemies of the Cross.
Source:
Martin Scorsese on the sense of wonder in filmmaking (vaticannews.va)
Date: 26.06.2026