The VaticanNews portal (November 29, 2025) reports on a joint declaration signed by “Pope” Leo XIV and “Ecumenical Patriarch” Bartholomew I in Istanbul. The document claims to “reaffirm their commitment to the path toward full communion” while “forcefully rejecting any use of religion to justify violence.” It invokes the 1,700th anniversary of Nicaea, celebrates shared Easter dates, and commemorates the 60th anniversary of Paul VI’s 1965 agreement with Patriarch Athenagoras. The declaration frames Christian unity as essential for world peace, stating: “We reject any use of religion and the name of God to justify violence” while promoting “authentic interreligious dialogue” as “essential for the coexistence of peoples.”
Reduction of the Church’s Mission to Naturalistic Humanism
The declaration’s central thesis – “the goal of Christian unity includes the objective of contributing… to peace among all peoples” – inverts the divine order. Nowhere does it mention that the Church’s primary mission is the salus animarum (salvation of souls) through the proclamation of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside the Church – Council of Florence, Session 11). Pius XI condemned this humanitarian reductionism in Quas Primas: “When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.” The document’s silence about the Social Kingship of Christ proves its revolutionary character. By declaring peace as the goal rather than the fruit of conversion to Catholic truth, the signatories place man’s temporal comfort above God’s eternal glory.
Betrayal of Nicaea: Substituting Dogma for Sentimentalism
The sacrilegious invocation of Nicaea’s legacy – “a providential event of unity” – deliberately omits that the Council defined Christ’s homoousios (consubstantiality) with the Father precisely to condemn heretics. St. Athanasius, present at Nicaea, teaches: “The Arians endeavor to shift the meaning of the Scriptures according to their own will… but the Faith confessed by the Fathers at Nicaea is sufficient for the overthrow of all heresy” (De Decretis, 31). By contrast, this declaration treats Nicaea as mere historical symbolism while praising theological dialogue that examines “issues that have historically been regarded as divisive” – a euphemism for dismantling dogmatic boundaries. The document’s reference to “mutual respect” toward “shared challenges” constitutes the modernist heresy condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili (Proposition 65): that Catholicism must be “transformed into a certain dogmaless Christianity… broad and liberal Protestantism.”
False Gestures Toward Unity: Apostasy Disguised as Charity
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Paul VI’s 1965 agreement reveals the declaration’s rotten foundation. Pius XII in Mystici Corporis (29) warned: “Not every sin… severs a man from the Body of the Church… but only those which… make a man no longer a member.” The Orthodox have been formal heretics since rejecting Florence’s decrees (1439), yet the document praises the 1965 lifting of excommunications as a “decisive gesture” opening paths of “trust, esteem and mutual charity.” This violates the apostolic mandate: “A man that is a heretic, avoid” (Titus 3:10). St. Robert Bellarmine explains: “Public heretics are outside the Church, even if no excommunication has been issued against them” (De Romano Pontifice II.30). By encouraging “those still hesitant about dialogue to listen attentively to the Holy Spirit“, the signatories blasphemously imply the Spirit contradicts His own Bride – the indefectible Magisterium.
Promotion of Indifferentism Under Guise of Peace
The declaration’s claim that “authentic interreligious dialogue is essential for the coexistence of peoples” constitutes rank indifferentism condemned by Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos (13-14): “This perverse opinion is spread… that freedom of conscience must be claimed for everyone. From this comes… that absurd and erroneous proposition… that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone.” By invoking Nostra Aetate – a document praising false religions – the text confirms its adherence to Vatican II’s apostasy. Pius IX’s Syllabus (Proposition 15) anathematizes the notion that “every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which… he shall consider true.” The declaration’s plea to “resist indifference” rings hollow while promoting dialogue that treats truth and error as equals.
Naturalization of Christian Hope
The document’s closing entreaty – “God will not abandon humanity” – substitutes eschatological hope for worldly utopianism. Contrast this with Our Lord’s warning: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matt 10:34). True peace comes through submission to Christ’s reign, not interfaith platitudes. Leo XIII’s Annum Sacrum (25) teaches: “When all men shall acknowledge… the empire of Christ… it will be seen how… His sovereignty is full of blessings… for human society.” The declaration’s worldly humanitarianism ignores the Cross – the only source of peace – instead offering a Masonic vision where “persons of different traditions and cultures” coexist without conversion. This confirms the analysis in St. Pius X’s Pascendi (39): “For the Modernists, both history and science… must be subject to the believer… Hence the distinction… between the Catholic and the Protestant theologian disappears.”
The Istanbul declaration epitomizes the conciliar sect’s betrayal: using Christian vocabulary to preach anti-Christian universalism while abandoning souls to eternal peril. As Our Lady of La Salette warned: “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.”
Source:
Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew reject violence in the name of God (vaticannews.va)
Date: 29.11.2025