The National Catholic Register, mouthpiece of the conciliar sect, reports that the usurper Robert Prevost, styling himself “Pope Leo XIV,” has granted his assent to the election of Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun as archbishop of the Maronite Archeparchy of Damascus. The election was conducted by the Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church of Antioch of the Maronites — a body fully integrated into the post-conciliar counter-church. Maroun, a protosyncellus of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles since 2020 and long-time pastor in Minneapolis, succeeds Archbishop Samir Nassar. The modernist “Archbishop” Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis declares himself “thrilled” at the appointment, praising the “partnership” with Damascus since 2017. This routine bureaucratic announcement masks a grave reality: the continued consolidation of the conciliar sect’s control over Eastern Catholic structures, the imposition of the novelties of Vatican II upon the Maronite tradition, and the legitimization of the false ecumenism and interreligious dialogue that Maroun himself has championed. Non est alia via ad salutem nisi in Ecclesia Catholica (There is no other way to salvation except in the Catholic Church) — and this sect is not the Catholic Church.
The Usurper’s Assent: A Null Act from a Vacant See
The very premise of the report — that “Pope Leo XIV gives assent” — is a theological fiction. The See of Peter has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and now this Leo XIV (Robert Prevost) are not true popes but manifest heretics who, by their public adhesion to the conciliar errors, have ipso facto severed themselves from the Church and lost all jurisdiction. As St. Robert Bellarmine teaches in De Romano Pontifice: “A Pope who is 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”. The Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio of Pope Paul IV declares that the elevation of a heretic, “even if it shall have been uncontested and by the unanimous assent of all the Cardinals, shall be null, void, and of no effect”. Prevost’s “assent” is therefore nullum, vacuum, et irritum — null, void, and without effect. It confers no grace, no jurisdiction, no canonical mission. It is the act of a private individual usurping the chair of Peter.
The Maronite Synod’s “election” is equally void. Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code states that an office becomes vacant “by the mere fact and without any declaration… if the cleric publicly defects from the Catholic faith”. The Maronite hierarchy, by its communion with the conciliar antipopes and its acceptance of Vatican II’s heresies — religious liberty, false ecumenism, collegiality, the new ecclesiology — has publicly defected. Their “synod” is a gathering of men without jurisdiction, electing one of their own to administer a diocese that has been effectively severed from the True Church. As Pope Celestine I wrote of Nestorius: “he could not remove anyone by sentence who himself had already shown that he must be removed”. Those who have departed from the faith cannot confer what they do not possess.
The Linguistic Camouflage: “Ecumenism,” “Interreligious Dialogue,” “New Evangelization”
The article casually notes that Maroun served as “representative for ecumenism and interreligious dialogue” and “representative for new evangelization.” These are not innocent administrative titles; they are badges of apostasy. The Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX condemns the proposition: “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Error 80). Lamentabili sane exitu of St. Pius X condemns the modernist error that “Christ did not proclaim any specific, all-encompassing doctrine suitable for all times and peoples, but rather initiated a certain religious movement, applied or applicable to different times and places” (Proposition 59). “Ecumenism” as practiced by the conciliar sect is the abandonment of the divine mandate to convert all nations to the one true Faith, replaced by a pan-religious dialogue that presupposes the equality of false religions with the Church of Christ. “Interreligious dialogue” is the practical denial of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. “New evangelization” is the modernist rebranding of the Church’s mission, stripping it of its doctrinal content and reducing it to a vague “accompaniment” that refuses to condemn error.
The Maronite Church, once a bulwark of Catholic tradition in the East, has been thoroughly infiltrated. Its liturgy has been “reformed” in the spirit of Bugnini; its hierarchy participates in the “Assisi” abominations; its seminaries teach the novelties of Rahner, Küng, and de Lubac. Maroun’s three-decade tenure in Minneapolis — the heartland of the American conciliar establishment, under the “Archdiocese” of Hebda — guarantees his formation in the spirit of the revolution. He is not a bishop of the Catholic Church; he is a functionary of the neo-church.
The “Partnership” of Damascus and Minneapolis: A Union in Apostasy
Archbishop Hebda’s statement reveals the true nature of the “partnership” between the Archeparchy of Damascus and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since 2017: “It is wonderfully providential that our Archdiocese has already been in a partnership with the Archeparchy of Damascus since 2017… It is my hope that the relationship will only grow stronger in the days ahead.” This “partnership” is not a bond of Catholic charity but a collaboration in the conciliar project. Damascus, suffering under war and persecution, is being used as a poster child for the “Church of the peripheries” — the Francis/Leo XIV narrative of a “poor Church for the poor” that substitutes temporal humanitarianism for the supernatural mission of saving souls. The “beacon of hope” language applied to the outgoing Nassar is pure naturalism: hope in what? In the survival of a diocese? In ecumenical goodwill? Not in the Kingship of Christ, not in the conversion of Syria to the true Faith, not in the triumph of the Immaculate Heart. As Pius XI teaches in Quas Primas: “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 has removed Christ from the public order; its “partnerships” are building on sand.
The Eastern Rite as a Trophy of the Conciliar Revolution
The article emphasizes Maroun’s “Eastern identity,” his preference for the title “Abuna,” his role in Télé Lumière International (a media outlet deeply embedded in the conciliar ecumenical project). This is the strategy of the neo-church: preserve the externals of Eastern tradition — vestments, chant, married clergy — while hollowing out the substance. The Maronite Church is held up as a “bridge” to Orthodoxy, a model of “unity in diversity” that legitimizes the false ecumenism of Vatican II’s Unitatis Redintegratio. But true unity comes only through submission to the Roman Pontiff — the true one — and acceptance of all defined dogmas. The “Maronite” hierarchy today recognizes the antipope; therefore it is not in communion with Rome. It has become a uniate sect in the pejorative sense: a body that retains Eastern rites while serving a Western modernist master.
The mention of Maroun’s flight from Lebanon in 1983, his ordination in 1989, his long service in the United States — this is the profile of a man formed entirely in the post-conciliar vacuum. He knows no other “Church.” His “faith” is the faith of the Novus Ordo, the faith of the Catechism of 1992, the faith of Amoris Laetitia, Fiducia Supplicans, Dignitas Infinita. He is a product of the system.
Theological Verdict: A Non-Event in the Economy of Salvation
From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, this “appointment” is a non-event. It changes nothing in the spiritual order. The Maronite faithful in Damascus remain without a true bishop, without a true pastor, without the guarantee of valid sacraments administered by a priesthood ordained in the true rite by bishops with true jurisdiction. The “Mass” celebrated in their churches is the Novus Ordo Missae — a Protestantized meal service that expresses a false theology. The “Absolution” given in their confessions lacks the juridical power of the keys. The “Confirmation” conferred is invalid matter and form. The faithful are sheep without a shepherd, scattered by the wolves in miters.
The duty of every Catholic — cleric or lay — is to reject this counterfeit hierarchy, to withdraw from communion with the conciliar sect, to seek out the true Mass and true sacraments where they exist (in the hands of bishops and priests who have never accepted the Vatican II revolution), and to pray for the restoration of the Papacy and the hierarchy. As St. Athanasius wrote: “The floor belongs to you, the Church is yours; we are the ones who have been cast out.” Today, the true Church is the “little flock” (Luke 12:32) that keeps the deposit of faith entire, outside the structures of the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place (Matt 24:15).
Sede vacante, sedes non deficit — the See is vacant, but the See does not fail. Christ the King reigns. His Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and no assent of an antipope, no synod of heretics, no “partnership” of modernists can build it. Viva Cristo Rey!
Source:
Pope Leo XIV Gives Assent to Election of New Archbishop of Maronite Archeparchy of Damascus (ncregister.com)
Date: 28.08.2026