The Fox Nation series “The Saints,” produced by Martin Scorsese and Matti Leshem, purports to showcase “extraordinary Catholic men and women” including St. Patrick, St. Peter, and the controversial Carlo Acutis. The project claims inspiration from Leshem’s childhood in an Assumptionist school, framing saints as mere “stories of humanity” rather than supernatural exemplars of virtue. Jesuit Fr. James Martin participates in post-episode discussions alongside secular commentators, completing this syncretic approach to hagiography. The series explicitly targets youth amid what Leshem calls a “spiritual crisis,” presenting sanctity as psychological resilience rather than doctrinal fidelity.
Naturalization of Supernatural Reality
The reduction of saints to inspirational figures devoid of doctrinal substance constitutes sacrilegious minimalism. Leshem’s admission that he “reveres the saints” while maintaining Jewish identity exposes the series’ ecumenical agenda, directly contradicting Pope Pius XI’s condemnation: “False mysticism… tends to obliterate the notion of truth and the meaning of faith” (Encyclical Mortalium animos, 1928). By featuring Carlo Acutis – canonized by the Bergoglio antipapacy – alongside authentic saints, the series implicitly validates the conciliar sect’s invalid canonization process, which Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis (1943) declared impossible without the Church’s divine authority.
“I want believers to be reignited in their faith and I want every atheist that watches the series to be interested…” (Leshem)
This statement reveals the project’s naturalistic foundation. True Catholic hagiography exists not to “interest atheists” but to instruct the faithful, as the Roman Martyrology demonstrates through its unadorned recording of martyrdoms. The inclusion of graphic violence while omitting the saints’ theological significance reduces martyrdom to spectacle, ignoring St. Augustine’s teaching: “Non poena, sed causa martyrem facit” (Not the punishment, but the cause makes the martyr).
Subversion of Canonization Criteria
The series’ treatment of “St.” Maximilian Kolbe exemplifies modernist distortion. Kolbe’s death – however noble – fails to meet the traditional martyrdom standard requiring odium fidei (hatred of the faith), as established by Benedict XIV in De Servorum Dei Beatificatione. The conciliar sect’s 1971 “canonization” under antipope Paul VI constituted revolutionary innovation, anticipating Bergoglio’s abolition of the miracle requirement. Scorsese’s portrayal implicitly validates these invalid processes, committing the error condemned by St. Pius X: “To confuse the divine with the human… is the tendency of the Modernists” (Encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis, 1907).
“Carlo [Acutis] is a really good example of that resurgence of faith that I hope that we’re seeing.” (Leshem)
This statement encapsulates the series’ dangerous equivalence between authentic Tradition and conciliar innovations. Acutis’ “sainthood” promotes Bergoglio’s naturalistic “encounter theology,” substituting Eucharistic adoration with computer-based exhibitions. Contrast this with St. Pius X’s definition: “The Holy Eucharist is the perfect expression of the love of Jesus Christ for men” (Decree Sacra Tridentina Synodus, 1905). The spectacle of children venerating Acutis’ body in Assisi constitutes material idolatry, forbidden by the Council of Trent’s anathema against unauthorized relics (Session 25).
Ecumenical Betrayal of Martyrological Integrity
Leshem’s Jewish perspective contaminates the series’ presentation of apostolic saints. His claim that “a lot of our saints are Jews” ignores the Church’s teaching on conversion’s transformative power. St. Paul ceased being Jewish upon conversion, as Pope Benedict XV affirmed: “He who becomes Christian loses nothing of what was truly Jewish… but finds it fulfilled” (Encyclical Spiritus Paraclitus, 1920). The series’ ecumenical framing – including Jesuit heretic Fr. James Martin – fulfills Pius XI’s warning about “the false opinion of those who think that all religions are more or less good” (Mortalium animos).
The project’s psychological reductionism manifests in Leshem’s description of saints as “people who are actually willing… to die for the thing you believe in.” This relativistic formulation permits any ideology’s martyrs equal standing with Catholic saints, directly opposing Pius XI’s establishment of Christ’s Kingship: “When once men recognize… Christ’s royal prerogatives… society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony” (Encyclical Quas primas, 1925).
Symptomatic of Conciliar Apostasy
The series’ adult content warning about “graphic violence” while ignoring spiritual dangers epitomizes the conciliar sect’s inversion of priorities. Traditional martyrologies – like St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Victories of the Martyrs – emphasize grace overcoming suffering, not gratuitous violence. This desensitization strategy parallels the conciliar sect’s elimination of Hell from catechesis, condemned by Pope Leo XIII: “The church… has never ceased to assert… the eternity of the future punishment which awaits the wicked” (Encyclical Divinum illud munus, 1897).
Scorsese’s involvement completes this sacrilegious parody. The director of The Last Temptation of Christ – condemned by the authentic Church for blasphemy – now presumes to teach sanctity, fulfilling Pius X’s prophecy: “The Modernists… put themselves forward as reformers of the Church” (Pascendi). The series constitutes psychological warfare against remaining believers, substituting true devotion with emotional resonance – the very “cult of man” denounced in Pius XII’s Humani generis (1950).
The Path Forward: Resisting Synthetic Sanctity
Authentic Catholic response requires uncompromising rejection of this neo-hagiographic fraud. As Pius XII taught: “The saints must be imitated as well as invoked” (Encyclical Mediator Dei, 1947) – impossible when their doctrinal foundations are erased. The series’ omission of saints’ warnings against heresy (e.g., St. Peter Canisius’ battles with Protestantism) exposes its anti-dogmatic agenda. True faithful must cling to pre-1958 martyrologies and the Roman Breviary, recognizing that conciliar “saints” constitute what Pius X called “the synthesis of all heresies” – Modernism’s ultimate victory in rewriting the Church’s memory.
Source:
Scorsese’s ‘The Saints’ spotlights extraordinary Catholic men and women (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 20.11.2025