The National Catholic Reporter portal publishes an opinion piece by “Bishop” John Stowe of Lexington and Charlene Howard, executive director of Pax Christi USA, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The article abandons all supernatural perspective to advance a purely naturalistic pacifism, praising the antipopes Francis and Leo XIV for a “paradigm shift toward nonviolence” while attacking legitimate state authority, border enforcement, and nuclear deterrence. **This is not Catholic social teaching but Masonic humanitarianism masquerading as Christianity.**
The Naturalistic Reduction of the Gospel to Humanitarian NGOs
The cited article opens with the identification of its authors: “bishop president and executive director of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement.” **Pax Christi is a fruit of the conciliar revolution**, founded in 1945 but radicalized after Vatican II into a vehicle for liberation theology, nuclear disarmament unilateralism, and the “consistent ethic of life” that equates abortion with capital punishment and war. Stowe, ordained in 1995 in the Novus Ordo rite by invalid “bishops,” possesses no jurisdiction, no sacramental character, and no authority to teach. Howard is a laywoman exercising a teaching office reserved to the hierarchy. **The very premise of their “mission” usurps the Church’s divine constitution.**
We are carrying on the work and mission shaped over decades by bishops, religious women and lay leaders — work that was sorely tested by the tragic events nearly 25 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001.
**Sorely tested?** The only test for a Catholic bishop on 9/11 was whether he would preach the Social Reign of Christ the King (Pius XI, Quas Primas: “His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ”) and the necessity of conversion for salvation (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus). Instead, Pax Christi issued a statement urging “resist the impulse to vengeance” — as if the just punishment of aggressors were vengeance. **St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that vindicta (punishment) is an act of justice, not passion (ST II-II, q. 108).** To call the defense of the innocent “vengeance” is to invert the moral order.
The Heresy of “Creative Nonviolence” and the Repudiation of Just War
While earlier popes spoke out against war and violent conflict, Francis and Leo have clearly expressed support for creative nonviolence and for nuclear weapons abolition.
**This is a lie against the Magisterium.** Pius XII, in his 1948 Christmas Address, explicitly taught: “The Church does not condemn war in itself as a moral evil… war can be a just title for the use of force.” The same Pope, in 1953, addressed the question of nuclear weapons: “It is not the possession of such weapons that is illicit, but their unjust use.” The Catechism of the Council of Trent (art. 5, Commandment V) teaches: “The civil power… has the right to inflict capital punishment… and to wage just war.” **The “creative nonviolence” slogan originates from the Modernist John Howard Yoder and the Catholic Worker movement — not from Catholic tradition.** It denies the ius gladii (Rom 13:4: “non sine causa gladium portat”), entrusted by God to the civil magistrate for the punishment of evildoers.
Thanks to efforts such as Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, now 10 years old, deeper discussions are taking place about a paradigm shift toward nonviolence in our church and the world.
**Paradigm shift is the language of Kuhnian Modernism, condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907): “The dogmas which the Church proposes as revealed are not truths of divine origin but are a certain interpretation of religious facts, which the human mind has worked out with great effort” (Lamentabili, prop. 22).** There is no “paradigm shift” in the deposit of faith. Traditio non proficitur sed confirmatur (Tradition does not progress but is confirmed). The “Catholic Nonviolence Initiative” is a Masonic front to disarm the Church Militant.
Idolatry of “Human Dignity” Detached from Supernatural End
As Catholic people whose faith by its name is universal, we must unceasingly uphold the dignity and value of all human beings.
**Dignitas hominis is not an absolute.** Man’s dignity derives from his creation ad imaginem Dei and his ordination to the Beatific Vision. **Pius XI in Quas Primas teaches: “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).** To speak of “human dignity” while ignoring the necessity of baptism, the state of grace, and the Final Judgment is to preach Pelagian humanitarianism. The article mentions “transgender people” as a protected class — **thereby affirming the gender ideology that denies the Creator’s order** (Gen 1:27: “male and female He created them”). This is not “upholding dignity”; it is cooperating in the mutilation of souls.
We insist that ICE agents end their vicious attacks on immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
**The Church has always taught the right and duty of the State to control its borders.** Pius XII, Exsul Familia (1952): “The sovereign right of States to regulate migration… must be respected.” St. Thomas, ST I-II, q. 105, a. 3: “Man’s relations to his fellow men require… the determination of certain fixed abodes.” To call lawful enforcement “vicious attacks” is to side with the civitas diaboli against the civitas Dei. The article’s silence on the duty of immigrants to respect the laws of the host nation reveals its revolutionary character.
Nuclear Disarmament: The Masonic Dream of a Defenseless Christendom
After 25 years, we still have an overabundance of weapons of war, including nuclear weapons which are an existential threat to God’s creation.
**This is the rhetoric of the Kremlin and the UN, not the Vicar of Christ.** Pius XII, Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1953): “Science has placed in man’s hands weapons of tremendous power… The Church cannot condemn the possession of such weapons as intrinsically evil.” The conditional legitimacy of nuclear deterrence was reaffirmed by John Paul II (who, as a Modernist, cannot be cited as authority, but the principle stands in continuity with Pius XII). **Unilateral disarmament is suicide — and suicide is a mortal sin.** The “blasphemous increase in military spending” accusation ignores that the primary duty of the State is the common good, which includes defense (Salus populi suprema lex). Pax Christi’s position serves the enemies of Christendom.
The “Resurrection” as a Slogan for Social Activism
In the face of violence and despair, our belief in the message of the Resurrection compels us to act with justice and compassion.
**The Resurrection is not a “message” compelling social work.** It is the historical fact of Christ’s victory over sin and death, the foundation of our justification (Rom 4:25), and the pledge of our own resurrection. **St. Paul: “If Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Cor 15:14).** Stowe and Howard reduce the Resurrection to a motivational poster for NGO activism. **No mention of the Mass, the Sacraments, the conversion of sinners, the Four Last Things.** This is the “religion of humanity” prophesied by the Syllabus of Errors (prop. 80: “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization”).
False Popes as Authority: The Antichurch’s Self-Referential Circle
In the time after 2001, we have been blessed with the papacies of Francis and Leo XIV.
**Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini — but these men come in their own name.** Francis (Bergoglio) publicly taught heresies on communion for adulterers (Amoris Laetitia), religious indifferentism (Fratelli Tutti), and the legitimacy of false religions (Abu Dhabi Declaration). Leo XIV (Prevost) continues this apostasy. **A manifest heretic cannot be Pope (St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice: “A manifest heretic… ceases to be Pope and head… by which things he may be judged and punished by the Church”).** Canon 188.4 (1917 Code): “Every office becomes vacant by the mere fact… if the cleric publicly defects from the Catholic faith.” **To cite antipopes as authorities is to participate in the Great Apostasy (2 Thess 2:3).**
The “Universal Faith” as Religious Indifferentism
As Catholic people whose faith by its name is universal, we must unceasingly uphold the dignity and value of all human beings.
**Catholic means universal in truth, not universalist in error.** The Athanasian Creed: “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.” The article’s “universal” faith includes Muslims (mentioned as victims of “distrust”), transgender activists, and illegal immigrants — **but excludes the explicit confession of Christ as King.** Pius XI, Quas Primas: “Let rulers of states therefore not refuse public veneration and obedience to the reigning Christ… For what we wrote at the beginning of Our Pontificate about the diminishing authority of law and respect for power… ‘When God and Jesus Christ were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.'” **Stowe and Howard are the agents of this destruction.**
Symptomatic Level: The Conciliar Church as the Abomination of Desolation
This article is the perfect specimen of the ecclesia novae adventus — the “Church of the New Advent” occupying Vatican structures. Its characteristics:
1. **Total naturalism:** No grace, no sacraments, no eschatology. Only “housing, food, healthcare, education” — the corporal works of mercy severed from the spiritual.
2. **Democratic rhetoric:** “civil discourse,” “civil liberties,” “human rights” — the language of the French Revolution, condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus (prop. 55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” — condemned; prop. 77: “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State” — condemned).
3. **Feminized clergy:** A “bishop” who sounds like a social worker; a laywoman directing a “Catholic” movement. **Mulieres in ecclesiis taceant (1 Cor 14:34).**
4. **Pacifism as suicide:** “Refuse to become the oppressor” — meaning: refuse to exercise justice. **St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei XIX.7: “Peace is the tranquility of order.”** Order requires the sword.
5. **Ecumenism with the world:** “drawing closer to those who suffer, cultivating understanding in the midst of suspicion, finding truth in the arguments of those with whom we disagree” — **this is the “dialogue” condemned by Pius XI in Mortalium Animos (1928): “The Apostolic See cannot take part in such assemblies… nor can it by any means give them its support or approval.”**
Conclusion: The Only Peace Is the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ
The article ends with a prayer: “God forgive us for what we have done, for what we have failed to do, and give us the courage and strength to move forward with love.” **This is the prayer of the Pharisee who thanks God he is not like other men (Luke 18:11) — but inverted: the Modernist thanks God for his own humanitarian virtue.** True Catholic prayer on this anniversary would be: Domine, non sum dignus; a call for the conversion of the United States to the Social Kingship of Christ; the restoration of the True Mass; the condemnation of the Novus Ordo sect; and the recognition that **Pax Christi in Regno Christi — there is no peace outside the Reign of Christ the King.**
Stowe, Howard, Pax Christi, and the entire conciliar apparatus are **lupi rapaces (Matt 7:15)** devouring the flock under the guise of peace. Their “nonviolence” is violence against the truth. Their “compassion” is cruelty to souls. **Anathema sit.**
Source:
25 years after 9/11, peace still eludes us (ncronline.org)
Date: 02.09.2026