Jordan’s Archaeological Distortion Masks True Ecclesial Apostasy
EWTN News portal (December 21, 2025) reports the reopening of an Aqaba church ruin as a “rare window into pre-Constantinian Christianity,” framing this archaeological site as evidence of early Christian communal organization while promoting Jordan’s “religious plurality.” The excavation team under Thomas Parker claims the structure dates to 293–303 AD, presenting pottery, glass lamps, and alleged bronze cross fragments as proof of Christian worship before Constantine’s Edict of Milan.
Naturalism Replaces Supernatural Faith
The article reduces Christianity to material artifacts and architectural layouts, stating archaeologists found “preserved walls, glass lamps, pottery, and Roman coins” to validate the site’s chronology. This methodology exemplifies the scientistic positivism condemned by Pope St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907), where he warned against those who “place the foundation of historical truth in the documents themselves” rather than in the Church’s divine authority.
Nowhere does the report acknowledge that true Christian worship requires adherence to apostolic doctrine – not mere physical proximity to objects labeled “Christian.” As Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (1864) declares: “Divine revelation is imperfect, and therefore subject to a continual and indefinite progress” (Proposition 5) constitutes heresy, yet this excavation implicitly endorses evolutionary theology by suggesting early believers worshipped in a manner detached from later dogmatic developments.
Omission of Doctrinal Orthodoxy
While emphasizing the building’s “basilica-style layout” and “organized local Christian community,” the conciliar sect’s journalists suppress critical questions:
Did this community reject Arianism? Did they uphold the Filioque? Did they recognize the Roman Pontiff’s supremacy?
The silence speaks volumes. St. Robert Bellarmine in De Romano Pontifice establishes that valid Christian communities must submit to Peter’s successor: “The fifth true opinion is that a Pope who is a manifest heretic, by that very fact ceases to be Pope and head.” By contrast, this Jordanian site’s theological content remains unexamined, rendering its “Christian” designation meaningless beyond archaeological taxonomy.
Pluralism Contra Unam Sanctam
Jordanian authorities weaponize the excavation to promote “the country’s long-standing religious plurality” – a direct assault on Boniface VIII’s dogma Unam Sanctam (1302): “Outside the Church there is neither salvation nor remission of sins.” Pius IX’s Syllabus condemns the notion that “every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which he shall consider true” (Proposition 15) and that “Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion” (Proposition 18).
The article’s celebration of Aqaba’s “broader Christian landscape” ignores that the true Church is not a geographical network but the Mystical Body united under Christ the King. As Pius XI declared in Quas Primas (1925): “The Church of Christ is the true kingdom of Christ on earth… Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ.”
Archaeological Idolatry
By focusing on “small metal pieces interpreted as parts of a bronze cross,” the report exemplifies modernist substitution of sacramental reality with symbolic fragments. Contrast this with the Council of Trent’s definitive teaching: In the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ Himself becomes present through transubstantiation – an ontological reality no pottery shard can approximate.
The excavation’s presentation as a “significant milestone in early Christian history” constitutes what Pope St. Pius X called “the evolution of dogma” – the heresy that divine truth changes based on historical discoveries. True Catholicism recognizes archaeology as ancillary to Tradition, never its arbiter.
Symptom of Conciliar Apostasy
This EWTN report typifies the conciliar sect’s obsession with ecumenism and archaeological pageantry while abandoning doctrinal combat. Notice the linguistic choices:
1. “Purpose-built Christian worship space” – A naturalistic term avoiding “House of God” or “Domus Dei”
2. “Religious plurality” – Code for indifferentism condemned in Mortalium Animos (Pius XI, 1928)
3. “Rediscovery” timeline – Implies Christianity was “lost” until modernist excavators unearthed it
Pope St. Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane (1907) foresaw such errors, condemning those who claim “the Christian community… is subject to continuous evolution” (Proposition 53). The Aqaba report exemplifies this evolutionary poison by suggesting third-century believers practiced a primitive form of faith later “developed” by councils – a position anathematized by Vatican I’s Dei Filius.
True Catholics must reject this archaeological theater and cling to the unchanging Mass, unchanged doctrine, and visible hierarchy enduring in catacombs outside the occupied Vatican structures. As Christ warned: “If they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out” (Matthew 24:26). The Church resides not in Jordanian ruins but in souls preserving the integral Faith against modernist desolation.
Source:
Church in Jordan reopens as a rare window into pre-Constantinian Christianity (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 21.12.2025