The Usurper at La Sapienza: A Masterclass in Modernist Evasion and Naturalistic Paternalism
The National Catholic Register reports that on May 14, 2026, the individual currently occupying the Vatican, Leo XIV (Robert Prevost), visited the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Europe’s largest university. Addressing students in the Aula Magna, he denounced a “great lie” causing youth anxiety, stating, “We are not the sum of what we have, nor matter randomly assembled in a mute cosmos,” and “We are a desire, not an algorithm!” He criticized a system that “reduces people to numbers,” warned against military spending and artificial intelligence, cited the encyclical *Laudato Si’*, and encouraged students to be a “radical ‘yes’ to life.” The article notes the warm reception by students and omits any mention of the 2008 controversy when Benedict XVI’s planned visit was canceled due to protests. This address, while cloaked in seemingly benign language, is a textbook example of the conciliar sect’s strategy: substituting the supernatural truths of the Faith with a naturalistic, humanistic paternalism that utterly fails to address the true spiritual crisis of our times.







