Ecumenical Pact in Bari: Apostasy Masquerading as Christian Unity
Italian bishops’ conference reports (January 24, 2026) that Christian leaders signed an “ecumenical pact” at a symposium in Bari. The document commits participants to “mutual respect,” “dialogue with society,” and “common witness,” while Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Polykarpos invoked a “symphony” of churches maintaining their “differences.” Cardinal Matteo Zuppi questioned how to confront a “secularized culture,” yet the pact conspicuously avoids proclaiming Christ as sole Savior. Archbishop Giuseppe Satriano compared this gathering to the Council of Nicaea – a blasphemous parallel given Nicaea’s condemnation of heresies these very participants propagate.
Theological Abdication Disguised as “Dialogue”
The pact’s promise of “public presence of the church that respects secularity” constitutes formal apostasy. Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (1864) condemned the notion that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55). Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925) declared Christ’s kingship over “individuals, families, and states,” demanding rulers “publicly honor Christ and obey Him.” By contrast, this pact’s embrace of secularity rejects the Social Reign of Christ the King – the very foundation of Catholic social doctrine.
Metropolitan Polykarpos’ statement that “true unity does not cancel differences but transfigures them” inverts divine truth. The Council of Florence (1439) dogmatized: “None who are outside the Catholic Church… can become partakers of eternal life; but they will go into the eternal fire… unless they are united to Her before the end of life.” The Orthodox Churches remain schismatic, while Protestant communities – represented by Federation of Evangelical Churches president Daniele Garrone – explicitly deny sacraments and magisterial authority. To suggest these constitute a “symphony” with Catholicism is to deny the Church’s divine constitution.
Omission of Conversion as Heretical Silence
Nowhere does the pact mention the conversion of non-Catholics – the sole purpose of authentic ecumenism. Pope Pius XI’s Mortalium Animos (1928) forbade participation in pan-Christian assemblies, declaring: “The Apostolic See cannot in any way take part in their assemblies, nor is it in any way lawful for Catholics to assist at or favor such undertakings.” The Bari gathering violates this infallible directive, treating heresy and schism as legitimate “traditions.”
Archbishop Satriano’s reference to Ephesians 4:4 (“one body and one Spirit”) commits scriptural fraud. St. Paul emphasizes unity “in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph 4:13), not coexistence with error. The First Vatican Council (1870) taught that Protestant Bibles lacking deuterocanonical books are “falsely called” Scripture. Yet Pastor Garrone – whose community rejects apostolic succession and transubstantiation – is treated as an equal partner.
Secularist Subversion of Evangelical Mission
Zuppi’s rhetorical question about confronting a “secularized culture” rings hollow while signing a document that capitulates to that culture. The pact’s focus on “social cohesion” and “humanitarianism” reduces the Church to a NGO – precisely the “naturalism” condemned in St. Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane (1907). That decree rejected the notion that “Revelation was merely man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God” (Proposition 20), which underpins this pact’s anthropocentric language.
The symposium’s location in Bari – a city housing St. Nicholas’ relics – compounds the scandal. This saint defended Christ’s divinity against Arians at Nicaea, while today’s participants deny that same truth by validating non-Trinitarian communities. Their appeal to Nicaea’s “prophecy” mocks the Council’s anathemas against those who deny homoousios.
Structural Apostasy of the Conciliar Sect
Cardinal Zuppi’s leadership confirms this pact as a fruit of Vatican II’s heresies. The “Italian way to dialogue” praised by Garrone implements Unitatis Redintegratio’s false ecumenism, which Pius XI’s Mortalium Animos preemptively condemned: “They suppose the Church to be invisible… to which all are bound to belong who believe in Christ.” The true Church “is a visible body… outside of which none can be saved” (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943).
This scandal originates in the 2025 “Nicaea anniversary” invoked by Leo XIV – an antipope lacking all jurisdiction. His predecessor John XXIII initiated the ecumenical betrayal by inviting Orthodox and Protestants to Vatican II as “observers.” The Bari pact consummates that apostasy, substituting pagan pluralism for Catholic exclusivity. As St. Augustine warned: “What is a bigger lie than ‘Let us all be brothers’ when some remain outside the Church?” (Contra Faustum, 32:19).
Source:
Christian churches in Italy sign ecumenical pact (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 11.02.2026