Hollow Humanitarianism Masks Apostasy in Pakistani “Liberation”
The EWTN News portal (November 16, 2025) reports on “Father Rico,” an Argentine priest of the “Order of St. Elias,” and a Spanish layman Diego, who allegedly liberated three Christian families from debt bondage in Pakistan by paying Muslim businessmen $1,700. The article praises their efforts to build “PaX communities” for economic rehabilitation, collaborating with Joseph Janssen of the Neocatechumenal Way.
Naturalism Replaces Supernatural Charity
The article reduces Christian charity to a purely socio-economic endeavor, stating the liberated slaves will engage in “construction, agriculture, livestock farming, and production of construction materials.” This ignores the primacy of spiritual salvation (Mt 6:33), reducing the Church’s mission to secular activism. Pius XI condemned such naturalism in Quas Primas, emphasizing that Christ’s Kingship demands the “submission of individuals and states to the sweet yoke of Christ” (1925), not material comfort divorced from sacramental life.
Illegitimate Sacraments and False Ecumenism
“Father Rico” claims he administered sacraments immediately after liberation, including baptism. However, sacraments administered by clergy operating outside the true Church’s authority (e.g., post-1958 sects) are invalid. The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 846) requires priests to have jurisdiction, which modernist clergy lack. Moreover, paying Muslim slavers constitutes implicit approval of their unjust system, violating Pius IX’s condemnation in the Syllabus of Errors (1864) of all cooperation with false religions (Error 77).
“Thanks to our supporters and their prayers, we were able to rescue 11 people… I was able to give them the sacraments, including baptism. It was a day of dual liberation!”
This statement reveals theological incoherence: If these individuals were already Christian, why rebaptize them? If not, baptism requires catechism and repentance—impossible in a single day. The reckless administration of sacraments exposes a Protestantized view of grace, detached from the Church’s sacramental discipline.
Neocatechumenal Way: Trojan Horse of Modernism
The collaboration with Joseph Janssen of the Neocatechumenal Way—a movement spawned from Vatican II’s ecclesial revolution—confirms the operation’s doctrinal corruption. St. Pius X warned in Lamentabili Sane (1907) that Modernists reduce faith to “a sum of probabilities” (Proposition 25), precisely embodied in the Neocatechumenal emphasis on emotional “community experiences” over doctrinal clarity.
Omission of Christ’s Social Kingship
While detailing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and persecution, the article never demands the public reign of Christ the King over Muslim nations. This silence betrays acceptance of religious pluralism, condemned by Pius IX: “It is false that the civil liberty of every cult… does not lead to the corruption of morals” (Syllabus, Error 79). True liberation requires abolishing sharia law and establishing Catholic civil order—not building interfaith “communities.”
Dangerous Romanticization of Suffering
The article quotes a convert, Dominic, who claims:
“Their beatings, insults, and the breaking of wooden crucifixes cannot stop the Church from growing… the true cross lives in our hearts.”
This echoes the Quietist heresy, which glorifies passive suffering while neglecting the duty to combat injustice through Catholic action. Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum (1891) upheld workers’ rights to just wages and conditions—rights these “liberated” slaves are denied in the PaX project’s sweatshop-style labor plans.
Conclusion: Humanitarianism Without the Cross
This operation exemplifies the conciliar sect’s apostasy: replacing the Church’s divine mission with secular NGO activism. As Pius XI taught, “When God and Jesus Christ are removed from laws and states… the foundations of authority are destroyed” (Quas Primas). Until missionaries preach Christ’s Kingship and demand Pakistan’s conversion, their “charity” merely perpetuates the very slavery they claim to oppose.
Source:
Priest and layman liberate Christian slaves from bondage in Pakistan (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 16.11.2025