EWTN News portal reports on the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, presenting them as living proof of the “catholicity” of the Vatican II sect under its current usurper, “Pope” Leo XIV (Robert Prevost). The article catalogues liturgical traditions, languages, and hierarchical structures—Byzantine, Alexandrian, Antiochene, Armenian, Chaldean—as if these ancient rites retain their supernatural vitality while embedded in a communion that has formally apostatized from the Faith. The piece functions as a travelogue for the *abomination of desolation*, showcasing the preserved externals of Eastern Christianity as decorative vestments for a neo-church that has rejected the *integrum fidei depositum*. The thesis is clear: the conciliar sect parades the corpses of Eastern traditions to mask its own spiritual death.
The Fiction of “Full Communion” with a Usurper
The article’s foundational lie is repeated like a mantra: “All of them are in full communion with the pope, the successor of St. Peter and head of the worldwide Catholic Church.” This assertion collapses under the weight of dogmatic reality. Since 26 October 1958, the See of Peter has been vacant. John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and now Leo XIV are not successors of St. Peter but manifest heretics who, by their public adhesion to the errors of Vatican II—religious liberty, ecumenism, collegiality, the new Mass—have ipso facto severed themselves from the Church. As St. Robert Bellarmine teaches: “A manifest heretic… by that very fact ceases to be Pope and head, just as he ceases to be a Christian and member of the body of the Church” (*De Romano Pontifice*, Lib. II, Cap. 30). The “communion” boasted of by EWTN is therefore communion with a non-Christian, a layman occupying the Chair of Peter invalidly. Cum ex Apostolatus Officio of Pope Paul IV declares such elevation “null, void, and of no effect” regardless of “unanimous assent of all the Cardinals.” The Eastern Churches described are not in communion with Rome; they are in schism from the true Church by their adherence to the conciliar antipopes.
The “Synodal” Governance: A Conciliar Innovation Masquerading as Tradition
The article praises the “robust synodal system” of Eastern Churches, noting that “the synod even elects the patriarch or major archbishop, an election that must subsequently be recognized or confirmed in accordance with norms established by Rome.” It then trumpets a recent motu proprio by “Pope” Leo XIV granting bishops power to convene synods independently and remove patriarchs by a two-thirds vote. This is not Eastern tradition; it is the conciliar principle of collegiality imposed on the East. *Lamentabili Sane Exitu* (1907) condemned the proposition: “The organic structure of the Church is subject to change, and the Christian community… is subject to continuous evolution” (Prop. 53). The synodal model presented—where authority flows from below upward, subject to the “pope’s final approval”—is the very inversion of the monarchical constitution established by Christ: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church” (Matt. 16:18). The “Pope” Leo XIV reform is a further step in the demolition of patriarchal authority, reducing the Eastern hierarchs to functionaries of a bureaucratic sect. The article’s celebration of this “autonomy” reveals the naturalistic ecclesiology of the neo-church: the Church as a federation of autonomous churches, not the *Una, Sancta, Catholica, et Apostolica* Body of Christ.
The “Uniate” Trap: Historical Unions with a False Rome
The article lists the historical unions—Brest (1596), Uzhhorod (1646), the 1724 Melkite schism, the 18th-century Coptic and Syriac unions—as triumphs of Catholic unity. In reality, these unions were contracted with the true Roman Pontiffs of their time. However, the current hierarchs of these Churches have defected from the Faith by recognizing the conciliar antipopes. Canon 188 §4 of the 1917 Code states: “Every office becomes vacant by the mere fact and without any declaration… if the cleric publicly defects from the Catholic faith.” Fr. McDevitt clarifies: “Joining, or enrolling in, a non-Catholic sect is not required to establish the publicity which the canon demands.” By recognizing “Pope” Francis, “Pope” Benedict XVI, and now “Pope” Leo XIV as legitimate Vicars of Christ, these Eastern patriarchs and major archbishops have publicly defected from the Catholic Faith (the Faith *quoad se* includes the visibility and perpetuity of the Papacy). They have thereby lost their offices *ipso facto*. The “Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church” led by “Major Archbishop” Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the “Maronite Church” of “Cardinal” Raï, the “Melkite Church” of “Patriarch” Youssef Absi—all are vacant sees occupied by intruders in communion with the Antichrist’s vicar. The article’s mention of “Pope Francis” beatifying seven Romanian Greek Catholic bishops in 2019 compounds the sacrilege: an antipope “beatifying” martyrs of a previous era to legitimize his own false church.
Liturgical Preservation as Idolatry of Form
The article dwells lovingly on liturgical languages (Syriac, Ge’ez, Coptic, Church Slavonic), ancient rites, curtains, drums, ceremonial umbrellas, and floral processions. This is the religion of aesthetics divorced from truth. St. Pius X in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis* identified the Modernist tactic: preserving external forms while hollowing out their dogmatic content. The “Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom” celebrated in communion with a heretical “pope” is not the Holy Sacrifice; it is a simulacrum, a sacrilegium. The article notes the “Maronite Church is the only Eastern Catholic Church that has never broken communion with Rome.” This claim is historically dubious (the Maronites were out of communion for centuries in the Middle Ages) but theologically irrelevant today: they broke communion with the true Rome in 1958 by adhering to John XXIII. The use of Aramaic—”the language spoken by Jesus”—becomes a magical incantation when the *intentio* of the celebrant is united to a false head. Ex opere operato requires a valid minister intending to do what the Church does; the conciliar “priests” and “bishops” intend to do what the neo-church does—a Protestantized memorial meal. The Eastern liturgies in the neo-church are idolatry of the rite, preserving the shell while the kernel of grace is absent.
The Syllabus of Errors: The Article Condemns Itself
Every paragraph of the EWTN piece violates the *Syllabus* of Pius IX. The article assumes:
– Error 19: “The Church is not a true and perfect society… but it appertains to the civil power to define what are the rights of the Church.” The article treats the Eastern Churches as entities defined by “canon law” reformed by a “pope” who is a layman, subject to the “norms established by Rome” (the neo-church bureaucracy).
– Error 21: “The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion.” The article presents the Eastern Churches as one “lung” of a church that officially teaches (Vatican II, *Unitatis Redintegratio*) that schismatics and heretics are “separated brethren” belonging to the “Church of Christ.”
– Error 55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.” The article mentions the “Eparchy of St. John XXIII of Sofia” (named after the arch-heresiarch) coexisting with Latin dioceses in Bulgaria—a model of the “pluralism” condemned by *Quanta Cura*.
– Error 80: “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization.” “Pope” Leo XIV’s reform of Eastern canon law to allow synodal removal of patriarchs is precisely this: capitulation to modern democratic governance.
The “Martyrs” of the Conciliar Sect
The article cites the beatification of seven Romanian Greek Catholic bishops by “Pope Francis” (2019) and the canonization of Bishops Gojdič and Hopko by the same antipope. These are not canonizations. An antipope possesses no jurisdiction, no infallibility, no authority to bind the faithful. The true martyrs of Romania suffered under Communism for the Catholic Faith; their memory is profaned by being “canonized” by a heretic who placed a Pachamama idol in the Vatican gardens. The article’s mention of “Pope Francis” establishing the Eritrean Catholic Church in 2015 is equally void: a layman cannot erect a *sui iuris* Church. These acts are null, void, and of no effect (*Cum ex Apostolatus Officio*).
The Name “Leo XIV”: A Masonic Mockery
The article repeatedly names “Pope Leo XIV” as the authority behind the Eastern canon law reform and the recipient of Eastern prelates. The choice of the name “Leo” by Robert Prevost is a deliberate parody of Leo XIII (the last true Pope to write extensively on the Social Kingship of Christ in *Quas Primas* and *Rerum Novarum*) and Leo XII (who condemned secret societies). *Quas Primas* declares: “Peace is only possible in the kingdom of Christ… When God and Jesus Christ were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The conciliar sect, under its “Leo XIV,” does the opposite: it builds a “kingdom of man” where Eastern rites are museum pieces for a “fraternity” without the Father. The 200-year cycles noted in the Fatima file (1717, 1917, 2017) find a grim echo in the 2026 date of this article—nine years after the 2017 “canonization” of the Fatima seers by the antipope Francis, a ritualistic sealing of the Masonic operation.
Conclusion: The Eastern Rites Are Not the Church
The EWTN article is a masterpiece of deception: it shows the species of Catholicism—rites, languages, hierarchies, martyrs—while the forma (the true Faith, the true Papacy, the true Sacrifice) is absent. The Eastern Catholic Churches as described are ecclesiastical Potemkin villages, maintained by the conciliar sect to lure the Orthodox into a false union and to comfort conservative Catholics with the illusion of “tradition.” True Eastern Catholics—those few clergy and faithful who have rejected the conciliar antipopes and hold the integral Faith—are the only living heirs of those traditions. They are not found in the “synods” of the neo-church, nor under the omophorion of “patriarchs” who kiss the ring of the Antichrist’s vicar. Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia—but Peter is not in the Vatican. He is wherever the Faith of Peter is preserved, *sine macula et ruga*. The article’s final line—”This story was first published by ACI Prensa… translated and adapted by EWTN News”—is the signature of the propaganda machine of the *paramasonic structure*. Let the faithful flee this Babylon. Exite de medio eius, populus meus (Jer. 51:45).
Source:
The 23 Eastern Catholic Churches: Ancient traditions in communion with Rome (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 20.09.2026