Missionary Work Subverted: Naturalism Masquerading as Charity in Bolivia
The Vatican News portal (January 20, 2026) reports on the Idente Mission in Chiquitanía, Bolivia, detailing its educational, musical, and agricultural programs for youth in impoverished rural communities. The article emphasizes “faith and culture becoming education, music, play and hope,” framing missionary work as a tool for social development through after-school tutoring, a youth orchestra, sports programs, and environmental initiatives. Missionaries claim “holiness also means bread, school, and dignity,” asserting that “faith is not proclaimed with words alone, but when a family has food to eat.” The report omits any mention of sacraments, catechesis, or the salvation of souls, reducing the Church’s mission to socio-economic activism.
Reduction of the Church’s Mission to Naturalistic Humanism
The Idente Mission’s activities epitomize the post-conciliar inversion of Catholic priorities, substituting the supernatural end of the Church—the salvation of souls—with a purely naturalistic focus on temporal welfare. By boasting that “after-school programmes are not a luxury but a matter of dignity,” the missionaries tacitly reject the Church’s raison d’être: to lead souls to eternal life through the grace of the sacraments and doctrinal fidelity. This aligns with the modernist heresy condemned by Pope St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907), which exposed how “the Church’s institutions are being adapted to modern needs”—code for replacing divine revelation with humanitarian sentiment.
The claim that “holiness is measured in small steps every day” through bread and schooling distorts the Catholic definition of holiness as “the state of being perfected by supernatural grace” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II, q. 81). Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas (1925) unequivocally states that Christ’s kingship demands the subordination of all earthly endeavors to the supernatural order: “When men recognize… the royal prerogatives of Christ… unheard-of blessings flow upon society.” Here, “holiness” is reduced to material provision—a betrayal of the Church’s divine commission.
Horizontalism: Faith Erased by Earthly Activism
The mission’s programs—music, football, and agricultural training—exhibit a horizontalist heresy that elevates human solidarity above divine worship. The statement “Faith becomes a profession and a livelihood” exposes this inversion: faith is no longer a virtue directing man toward God but a mere instrument for social cohesion. St. Pius X warned in Lamentabili Sane (1907) that modernists reduce revelation to “man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God,” erasing its objective, supernatural character.
When missionary Deisy Choque states, “Our dream was to accompany younger generations without losing the roots of their identity,” she substitutes Catholic identity with cultural preservation. The Jesuits’ historic missions in Chiquitanía, which fused liturgy and catechesis with indigenous art, ad maiorem Dei gloriam, are now distorted into secularized “cultural belonging.” The orchestra and football school, divorced from sacramental life, become ends in themselves—a violation of Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (1864), which condemns the idea that “the Church ought to be separated from the State” (Proposition 55).
Omission of the Supernatural: A Silent Apostasy
The article’s silence on sacraments, Mass, and doctrine is deafening. Nowhere do the missionaries mention Confession, Eucharistic adoration, or instructing children in the Catechism of St. Pius X. Instead, “faith” is reduced to ethical camaraderie—”respect and friendship” on the football field. This mirrors the modernist tactic described in Pascendi: “To pass over in silence the mysteries of faith, or to mention them only briefly, as if of little importance.”
The mission’s environmental focus—”protecting our land is part of our faith”—further subordinates religion to naturalism. While stewardship of creation is licit, the Church’s primary duty is to combat spiritual, not ecological, degradation. As Pius XI taught, when nations “renounce the reign of our Savior,” they invite “internal disorder” and “destruction” (Quas Primas). The missionaries’ fixation on “sustainable agricultural practices” and “traditional medicine” ignores the true crisis: souls starved of sanctifying grace.
Apostolic Mission Subverted by Modernist Heresy
The Idente Mission operates as a satellite of the conciliar sect’s broader apostasy, where “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6) is redefined as secular NGO activism. The claim that “we invest in the collective future” while battling “dispersion of communities” and “fuel crisis” confirms the abandonment of the apostolic mandate: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…” (Matthew 28:19).
Pope Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis Christi (1943) clarifies that missionaries must “preach the Gospel to every creature” so that “all may attain salvation through faith, Baptism, and the observance of the Commandments.” By contrast, this mission’s “second family” of sports and music—devoid of sacramental life—constitutes a “counterfeit church” (St. Augustine, Contra Cresconius).
True Catholic missions—like those of St. Francis Xavier or the North American Martyrs—prioritized the Crucifix over the football, the Mass over the orchestra. Until the Idente Mission restores the lex orandi to its rightful place, its work remains a dangerous parody of charity—one that leads souls not to Christ the King, but to the dead end of materialist despair.
Source:
Bolivia: Idente Mission offers hope for younger generations in rural outskirts (vaticannews.va)
Date: 20.01.2026