The EWTN News article (January 29, 2026) promotes the “Journey to Redemption 2033,” a global youth initiative endorsed by the Vatican and spearheaded by Spanish “bishop” Mikel GarciandÃa. The project, involving pilgrimages to Rome (2025), Santiago de Compostela (2027), and Jerusalem (2033), claims to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s Redemption. GarciandÃa boasts of securing support from 196 “bishops’ conferences,” with antipope Leo XIV personally signing the initiative’s manifesto. The effort frames itself as restoring “spiritual content” to pilgrimages while exploiting social media to reach youth “who haven’t even heard of Jesus.”
Naturalization of the Supernatural: When Pilgrimage Becomes Parody
The article reduces pilgrimage—a sacramental act of penance and reparation—to a therapeutic exercise in “hope” and “culture.” GarciandÃa’s claim that shrines provide “opportunities where people… are thirsting for something” deliberately omits *what* they thirst for: the unadulterated Catholic faith, not emotional experiences. This aligns with the Modernist heresy condemned by St. Pius X: “Revelation is merely man’s consciousness of his relation to God” (Lamentabili Sane, §20).
Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas (1925) establishes that Christ’s Kingship demands societies submit to His laws, not devise anthropocentric spectacles: “Rulers of states… will never be successful… unless they recognize and promote the kingdom of Christ.” By contrast, “Journey to Redemption” treats the Redemption as a historical milestone to be “commemorated,” not as the singular means of salvation requiring conversion. The project’s silence on the necessity of the Sacraments, the Four Last Things, or the Social Reign of Christ exposes its naturalism.
Undermining Doctrine Through “Transversal” Coordination
GarciandÃa brags about coordinating five Vatican dicasteries for this “transversal” project—a bureaucratic novelty masking doctrinal corruption. The Syllabus of Errors (1864) explicitly condemns the idea that “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization” (§80). Yet Leo XIV’s endorsement exemplifies this condemned error, treating the Church as a non-governmental organization rather than the sole ark of salvation.
The article’s applause for social media’s role in collapsing “ideologies” and “atheism” ignores Pius X’s warning: Modernism seeks to “adapt doctrine to contemporary opinions” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, §13). When GarciandÃa celebrates youth who “have nothing against us,” he implies the Church must cater to indifferent masses rather than call them to repentance—a direct contradiction of St. John the Baptist’s mission.
The Subtext of Apostasy: From Santiago to Syncretism
The choice of Santiago de Compostela—a pilgrimage site historically co-opted by New Age syncretism—and Jerusalem—a city where the Vatican promotes interfaith idolatry—reveals the project’s trajectory. Pius IX’s Syllabus condemns the notion that “popes have exceeded the limits of their power” (§23), yet Leo XIV’s plan to gather global youth in Jerusalem echoes the condemned “pan-Christian” assemblies warned against by Pius XI in Mortalium Animos (1928).
GarciandÃa’s admission that 236,000 youths signed the manifesto in weeks proves nothing except the effectiveness of emotional manipulation. As St. Vincent of Lérins taught: “What has been believed everywhere, always, and by all” defines Catholic truth—not viral campaigns. The article’s focus on quantifiable “support” (100,000 Canadians, 196 conferences) replaces the qualitative measure of doctrinal fidelity with the Modernist cult of numbers.
False Eschatology and the Betrayal of Redemption
The project’s climax—the 2033 Jerusalem event—frames Christ’s Redemption as an anniversary to be celebrated, not a mystery requiring actual redemption from sin. This denies the Council of Trent’s decree that Christ’s sacrifice is “a propitiation for our sins” (Session XXII, Chapter 1). By omitting any mention of the Mass as the unbloody renewal of Calvary, the article implicitly endorses the Protestant heresy that Christ’s sacrifice was a one-time event needing mere commemoration.
St. Paul’s warning against “another gospel” (Galatians 1:8) applies here. When antipope Leo XIV declares, “I am young,” he mocks the Church’s timeless nature. Pius XII condemned such pandering: “The Church cannot be young or old… She marches through the centuries with the same step of the Bride who knows neither wrinkles nor decay” (Discourse to Catholic Youth, 1948).
The “Journey to Redemption 2033” is not a pilgrimage but a parade—a sacrilegious pantomime orchestrated by apostates to replace Catholic dogma with universalist sentiment. As true Catholics recall Pius XI’s mandate: “When nations… renounce the rule of our Savior, they will fall into confusion and disorder” (Quas Primas). This project accelerates that disorder, offering not redemption but ruin.
Source:
Vatican endorses Journey to Redemption 2033, a global youth renewal movement (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 29.01.2026