The EWTN News portal (August 28, 2026) reports that the California Catholic Conference — the administrative arm of the conciliar hierarchy in that state — is urging the faithful to lobby the secular legislature for Bill AB 1709, which would restrict “addictive features” on social media platforms for minors under sixteen. This push coincides with Meta’s $17.1 billion settlement with forty-seven states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram fuel youth addiction and mental illness. The “bishops” frame the issue entirely in naturalistic terms: “mental illness,” “self-harm,” “body image,” “digital literacy,” and “parental rights” detached from the Divine Law. They celebrate the heavy hand of the secular state — the very power the Syllabus condemns as the origin of all rights (Error 39) — as the savior of children. The thesis is clear: the conciliar hierarchy has definitively abandoned the *regnum Christi* for the *regnum mundi*, functioning as a mere NGO lobbying Caesar for crumbs of naturalistic welfare while the souls of children perish for lack of the Kingship of Christ and the grace of the True Mass.
The Naturalistic Reduction of the Episcopal Office
The cited article reveals the total naturalization of the “episcopal” mission. The “California Catholic Conference” speaks not as successors of the Apostles commissioned to docere, sanctificare, regere (to teach, sanctify, govern) for eternal life, but as social workers advocating for “youth mental health services, crisis resources, digital literacy, after-school programs, and school grants.” There is not a single mention of sin, grace, the devil, Original Sin, the Four Last Things, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Rosary, or the necessity of the state of grace. This is the precise fulfillment of the Modernist error condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu: “The dogmas of faith should be understood according to their practical function, i.e., as binding in action, rather than as principles of belief” (Prop. 26). The “bishops” have reduced the Gospel to a therapeutic program for “well-being.”
Pius XI, in Quas Primas, teaches that “the Kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men… not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ”. He warns: “When God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states and when authority was derived not from God but from men, the foundations of that authority were destroyed… the entire human society had to be shaken, because it lacked a stable and strong foundation”. The California “bishops” do not demand that the State acknowledge Christ the King; they beg the State to regulate algorithms. They accept the laicism Pius XI calls the “plague that poisons human society” as the immutable framework, seeking only to mitigate its symptoms.
Collaboration with the Masonic State: The Syllabus Realized
The article details a “bipartisan coalition of 47 states” extracting billions from a tech giant to fund secular programs. This is the civitas envisioned by the Syllabus of Errors: “The State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits” (Error 39); “In the case of conflicting laws enacted by the two powers, the civil law prevails” (Error 42); “The civil authority may interfere in matters relating to religion, morality and spiritual government” (Error 44). The “bishops” do not resist this usurpation; they actively petition for it. Their alert claims: “Children have a right to be children and to parental protection from harmful materials.” But in the conciliar paradigm, this “right” is derived from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child or the secular constitution, not from the jus divinum of the family as a domestic church (Casti Connubii, Pius XI).
The Syllabus condemns: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55). The conciliar sect *lives* this separation. Its “bishops” function as chaplains to the secular order, legitimizing the state’s total jurisdiction over “morality and spiritual government” (Error 44) by asking it to manage “screen time” and “algorithmic feeds.” They have surrendered the potestas spiritualis for a seat at the table of the potestas temporalis.
The “Bishops” as Manifest Heretics: Nullity of Mission
From the perspective of integral Catholic theology, these men are not bishops of the Catholic Church. The Defense of Sedevacantism file establishes the principle: “A Pope-manifest heretic loses his office automatically… A manifest heretic cannot be Pope or a member of the Church.” St. Robert Bellarmine teaches: “A non-Christian in no way can be Pope… he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, and a manifest heretic is not a Christian… therefore, a manifest heretic cannot be Pope.” This applies *a fortiori* to bishops.
The “California Catholic Conference” represents men who profess the heresies of Vatican II: Dignitatis Humanae (religious liberty, condemned by Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII), Unitatis Redintegratio (false ecumenism), Gaudium et Spes (cult of man). By Canon 188.4 (1917 Code), “Every office becomes vacant by the mere fact and without any declaration… if the cleric: 4. Publicly defects from the Catholic faith.” Fr. McDevitt confirms: “Joining, or enrolling in, a non-Catholic sect is not required to establish the publicity which the canon demands.” Public adherence to the conciliar magisterium *is* public defection. Therefore, these men hold no jurisdiction, no teaching authority, no pastoral charge. They are intruders in the sheepfold, “thieves and robbers” (John 10:1), leading the flock not to the True Shepherd but to the slaughterhouse of secular humanism.
Pope Paul IV’s Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio declares the promotion of a heretic “null, void, and of no effect” even if “uncontested and by the unanimous assent of all the Cardinals.” The “ordinations” and “consecrations” of the conciliar rite (post-1968) are dubious at best, invalid at worst, but even granting valid orders, the *office* is lost by heresy. They are laymen in purple, functioning as administrators of the “abomination of desolation” (Matt 24:15) occupying the visible structures.
Diversion from the True Apostasy: The “Fatima” Strategy Applied to Tech
The False Fatima Apparitions file identifies a key tactic of the enemy: “Diversion from Apostasy… The message focuses on external threats (communism), omitting the main danger: modernist apostasy within the Church.” Here, the external threat is “social media algorithms,” “Meta,” “addictive features.” The “bishops” rally the faithful against the *tool* (technology) while ignoring the *cause* (sin, loss of faith, abolition of the True Mass, corruption of the priesthood, public schools teaching atheism — Syllabus Errors 45, 47, 48).
The article notes: “About 20 U.S. states have enacted social media and minor-safety laws, but so far enforcement is a patchwork.” The “bishops” want *uniform enforcement* by Caesar. They do not demand the restoration of the Catholic confessional state, the banning of pornography *as a crime against God* (not just “harmful content”), the criminalization of abortion, the restoration of the Index of Forbidden Books, or the public recognition of Christ the King. They want “chronological feeds” and “age verification.” This is the Jansenist rigorism of the false Fatima seers transposed to the digital age: “mortifications of the children (fasting, self-harm) bear the marks of Jansenist rigorism, not Catholic asceticism.” Here, the mortification is “two hours a day cap,” “overnight access blocked,” “likes hidden.” It is a legalistic, externalist substitute for interior conversion and supernatural grace.
The Symptomatic Level: Fruits of the Conciliar Revolution
This action is not an anomaly; it is the necessary fruit of the conciliar revolution. The “Church of the New Advent” defines itself by “dialogue,” “accompaniment,” “care for the common home,” “digital continent.” Its “bishops” are CEOs of a religious NGO. The settlement funds — “youth mental health services, crisis resources, digital literacy” — are the thirty pieces of silver for betraying the Kingship of Christ. The money goes to the civitas terrena, not the Civitas Dei.
The article mentions “Australia became the first country to ban social media accounts for youth under 16… France later became the first EU country to pass a similar ban.” The “bishops” hail this as a “new standard” (per related EWTN articles). They applaud the paramasonic globalist state (Australia, France, California) extending its totalitarian control over the private lives of families under the pretext of “protection.” This is the Novus Ordo Seclorum: the State as God, the “Church” as its chaplain.
Silence on the Supernatural: The Gravest Accusation
Nowhere in the “bishops'” alert is the name of Jesus Christ invoked as King and Lawgiver. Nowhere is the Holy Name of Mary invoked as Mediatrix of All Graces. Nowhere is the remedy proposed: “Restore all things in Christ” (St. Pius X, E Supremi). The “bishops” say: “Establishing the age of receiving a social media account at 16 helps preserve children’s social and emotional development.” This is Pelagianism — salvation by human legislation and psychological hygiene. It denies “You were redeemed not with corruptible gold or silver… but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:18-19, cited in Quas Primas).
The “bishops” tell parents: “Parents will also have the option to permanently make their children’s Facebook news feeds ‘chronological’.” This is the summit of their pastoral solicitude: a toggle switch on a demonic platform. They do not tell parents: Throw out the smartphone. Restore the family Rosary. Send your children to true Catholic schools (or teach them at home). Attend the True Mass of the Ages. Confess your sins. Keep the Lord’s Day holy. Because the conciliar sect does not believe in these things. It believes in Meta, in the State, in “digital literacy,” in the “common good” defined by Masonic lodges.
Conclusion: Come Out from Among Them
The California “bishops” are blind guides leading the blind into the pit (Matt 15:14). Their petition for AB 1709 is an act of spiritual treason. They recognize the competence of the secular state over the souls of children, denying the plenitudo potestatis of Christ the King (Quas Primas). They collaborate with the “synagogue of Satan” (Pius IX, Syllabus context) (Meta, State AGs, bipartisan coalitions) to build a “safer” cage for the children of the Kingdom.
Faithful Catholics must ignore these hirelings. They have no authority. Their “conference” is a fiction. Their “alert” is waste paper. The duty of the hour is Non possumus to the neo-church and its works. The remedy for the youth is not a California statute, but the Social Reign of Christ the King, realized in the family, the true parish, the true school, the true Mass. “He who gives the Kingdom of Heaven does not take away earthly things!” (Quas Primas, citing hymn). The conciliar sect takes away the Kingdom of Heaven to offer a regulated Facebook feed. Anathema sit.
Source:
California bishops push for social media regulation as Meta pays billions after youth safety lawsuit (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 28.08.2026