Vatican Conference Distorts Church History to Promote False Ecumenism
The Vatican News portal (22 January 2026) reports on a conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Joint Declaration between Patriarch Athenagoras I and antipope Paul VI. The event, held at the Œcumenicum Institute, featured Cardinal Kurt Koch and Metropolitan Job Getcha falsely claiming the 1054 mutual excommunications involved “no anathemas” and “no schism,” while promoting the heretical concept of “sister Churches.”
Subversion of Historical Truth
The article claims the 1054 excommunications were merely personal censures against individuals rather than a definitive rupture. Metropolitan Job declares “there was no schism” in 1054, while Cardinal Koch asserts Pope Leo IX’s death rendered the bull “canonically invalid.” This contradicts the Church’s perennial teaching that the Greek schism formally began when Patriarch Michael Cerularius rejected papal supremacy and the Filioque doctrine. The Council of Florence (1439) definitively condemned the Greek errors, stating: “The Holy Roman Church… believes professes and preaches that no one remaining outside the Catholic Church… can become partakers of eternal life” (Session 11).
The 1965 Joint Declaration’s call to “commit these excommunications to oblivion” constitutes apostasy. Pius IX condemned such false irenicism: “It is not permissible to proceed in any way along the path of perdition with the hope that sometime those who are walking along it may finally enter upon the path of salvation” (Qui Pluribus, 1846).
Heretical “Sister Churches” Doctrine
Cardinal Koch promotes an “ecclesiology of sister Churches” leading to eventual Eucharistic communion. This directly contradicts Pope Pius XII’s teaching: “Only those are really to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not unhappily withdrawn from Body-unity or for grave faults been excluded by legitimate authority” (Mystici Corporis Christi, 22). The Orthodox reject papal supremacy, purgatory, and the Filioque – doctrines defined as de fide by ecumenical councils.
Leo XIII condemned pan-Christian unity as diabolical: “The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it” (Satis Cognitum, 1896). The article’s reference to antipope Leo XIV omitting the Filioque during ecumenical vespers reveals the conciliar sect’s doctrinal bankruptcy, as the Filioque was dogmatically defined at Lyons II (1274) and Florence.
Modernist Revisionism and Omissions
The article praises Metropolitan Job’s citation of Martin Jugie, a theologian whose writings attempted to minimize Orthodox errors. It ignores Jugie’s own admission that the Orthodox deny defined Marian dogmas like the Immaculate Conception. The silence about the Orthodox rejection of papal infallibility – defined at Vatican I (1870) – exposes the conference’s deliberate obfuscation.
Pius XI condemned such false dialogue: “There is but one way in which the unity of Christians may be fostered, and that is by furthering the return to the one true Church of Christ all who are separated from it” (Mortalium Animos, 1928). The article’s call for “broader reception” of ecumenical progress among laity constitutes the heresy of collegiality condemned in Lamentabili Sane (1907).
The Masonic Roots of False Ecumenism
The 1965 Joint Declaration’s rhetoric of “healing memories” follows the Masonic strategy documented in the “False Fatima Apparitions” file: “Stage 3 (1958-2000): Takeover of the narrative by modernists, concealment of the Third Secret, ecumenical reinterpretation.” Cardinal Koch’s dismissal of the 1054 schism as a misunderstanding aligns with Freemasonry’s goal to destroy the Church’s visible unity.
Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors condemns proposition 17: “Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ“ – precisely the error promoted by this conference. The article’s celebration of Koch and Getcha’s collaboration confirms St. Pius X’s warning: “The enemies of the Church disguise their plans with the mask of tolerance, respect, and love” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 1907).
Source:
The ‘lifting of the anathemas’, sixty years on (vaticannews.va)
Date: 22.01.2026