The “Living Paschal Story”: A Modernist Distortion of Suffering and Sovereignty
The cited article from Vatican News, reporting on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through the lens of Metropolitan Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the pronouncements of the current occupant of the See of Peter, “Pope” Leo XIV, presents a narrative steeped in the naturalistic and humanistic errors definitively condemned by the pre-Conciliar Magisterium. It is a masterclass in the theology of the abomination of desolation, where the language of faith is emptied of its supernatural content and repurposed to serve a project of worldly solidarity utterly divorced from the exclusive reign of Christ the King. The article’s central metaphor—that Ukraine is living a “living paschal story”—is not a confession of Catholic truth but a profound betrayal of it, reducing the unique, once-for-all Sacrifice of Calvary to a generic template for national suffering and human resilience.
1. The Theological Vacuum: Silence on Sin, Judgment, and the Supernatural
The most damning critique lies not in what the article says, but in its monumental omissions. There is a complete and utter silence on the **first cause** of all suffering: sin. The article mentions “the devil, ‘diabolos’, comes from the word ‘diabolene’ in Greek which means to divide,” yet this is presented as a mere psychological or sociological principle of “division” and “doubt,” not as the objective rebellion against God’s law that it is. There is no mention of the **divine judgment** that befell nations for collective sin, a cornerstone of Catholic eschatology (cf. the destruction of Jerusalem, the fall of empires). The “paschal story” is stripped of its essential meaning: the **propitiatory sacrifice** of the God-Man for the redemption of sins, and the subsequent **judgment** of the living and the dead.
Instead, the article substitutes a vague, pantheistic “God’s truth will prevail” and “the Lord is at work.” This is the language of immanentist optimism, not Catholic faith. The true Catholic response to suffering, as taught by Pius XI in *Quas Primas*, is rooted in the recognition that “the entire human society had to be shaken, because it lacked a stable and strong foundation” when “God and Jesus Christ were removed from laws and states.” The article never connects Ukraine’s suffering to the **apostasy of the modern world** or the **divine punishment** for the rejection of Christ’s social reign. It speaks of “defending democracy, religious freedom, freedom of the press, God-given human dignity”—all naturalistic, Enlightenment-era concepts—as the highest goods, while the **salvation of souls** and the **reign of the Catholic Church** as the sole dispenser of grace are conspicuously absent. This is the precise error of the Syllabus of Errors condemned by Pius IX: the separation of Church and State, the elevation of “human dignity” apart from grace, and the idea that the State can have a “right” independent of God (Syllabus, Errors 39, 55, 77).
2. The Reduction of the Church to a Humanitarian NGO
The article celebrates the Church’s presence: “The Church is really with the people that are suffering. The bishops are there, the priests are there, the religious are there, and the laypeople are involved.” This is presented as a **humanitarian service model**, not as the **sacramental and hierarchical institution** willed by Christ. The Church’s primary mission, as defined by the Council of Trent and Pius XI, is the **salvation of souls** through the administration of the sacraments and the teaching of doctrine. Here, the Church is reduced to running “humanitarian projects,” offering “psychological accompaniment,” and fostering “community life” to combat “mental health issues.” This is the “social gospel” of Modernism, where the **Corpus Mysticum** is confused with a temporal association for social work.
The mention of the Ukrainian Catholic University’s Institute of Mental Health, used by the First Lady for a national campaign, is particularly telling. The Church’s expertise is sought not for **doctrinal formation** or **sacramental grace**, but for **anthropology** and **mental health**—the domains of secular psychology. This is the ultimate synthesis: the Church as a certified provider of state-approved social services. This directly contradicts Pius XI’s teaching in *Quas Primas*: the Church is “a perfect society” with rights that “cannot be renounced,” and her mission is to “teach, govern, and lead all to eternal happiness.” The article’s model is a Church that **adapts** to the world’s psychological frameworks, a Church that is “with” the people in their trauma but silent on their **state of grace**, the necessity of **conversion**, and the **reception of the sacraments** as the sole source of supernatural strength. It is the “Church of the New Advent,” a paramasonic structure of good works.
3. The Heresy of “Paschal Story” as Evolutionist Dogma
The phrase “living paschal story” is a loaded term of Modernist evolution. It implies that the **Paschal Mystery** is not a unique, historical, and unrepeatable event that *objectively* redeems the world, but a **mythical pattern** or **archetype** that is “lived out” by various groups throughout history. This is the precise error condemned by St. Pius X in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis* and *Lamentabili Sane Exitu*. Proposition 25 of *Lamentabili* states: “Faith, as assent of the mind, is ultimately based on a sum of probabilities.” The article’s narrative reduces faith to a **subjective experience** of meaning-making in suffering (“they realize… they are doing our dirty work… it’s a biblical story”). The objective, historical facts of the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection are transformed into a **symbolic language** for national resilience.
Furthermore, the article’s description of Ukraine’s struggle as “David standing up to Goliath” and a “biblical story” is a **rationalist, de-mythologized reading**. It extracts the moral lesson while stripping the event of its **sacramental and typological significance** in God’s plan of salvation. The true Catholic reads the Old Testament *in light of* the New, seeing in David a **type of Christ**, not a mere motivational figure for national defense. This evolutionist hermeneutics, where doctrine “develops” from seed to full flower, is the core of Modernism (Lamentabili, Propositions 54, 59, 60).
4. The False Ecumenism and Religious Indifferentism of “Solidarity”
Metropolitan Gudziak states: “Only a certain part of the students is Catholic. The country is about 12% Catholic, mostly Eastern Catholic, and so there are students of different confessions. But all of the students value Catholic social doctrine…” This is a breathtaking admission of **indifferentism**. The “Catholic” university, funded and operated by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, proudly proclaims that its unifying principle is not the **Catholic faith** but a shared appreciation for “Catholic social doctrine” among **non-Catholics**. This is the logical outcome of the conciliar revolution’s “ecumenism” and “dialogue,” condemned by the Syllabus (Error 18: “Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion…”) and by St. Pius X’s condemnation of the idea that the Church should “tolerate the errors of philosophy, leaving it to correct itself” (Lamentabili, Prop. 11).
The “solidarity” promoted is a **natural, horizontal bond** based on shared suffering and democratic values, not the **supernatural, vertical bond** of membership in the **Mystical Body of Christ**. The article quotes Gudziak saying Ukrainians are defending “freedom of religion, freedom of the press, God-given human dignity—not only of Ukrainians but of Europeans and people at large.” This is the language of the **Masonic declaration of the rights of man**, not the language of the **Social Reign of Christ the King**. Pius XI in *Quas Primas* stated that Christ’s reign “encompasses all men” but that they must be “subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The article inverts this: it presents human rights as the ultimate good to be defended, with Christ’s truth as a vague background, not the **sole source of all law and authority**.
5. The Apostasy of Papal Diplomacy and the “See of Peter”
The article meticulously documents the diplomatic and spiritual activities of “Pope” Leo XIV: speaking about Ukraine 400 times, working for prisoners, commending collections, meeting with Zelensky. This is presented as the pinnacle of papal duty. Yet, this is the exact **naturalistic, diplomatic model** of the papacy that Pius IX condemned in the Syllabus (Errors 19-27, 41-43). The Pope is portrayed as a **moral statesman** and **global chaplain**, not as the **Vicar of Christ** and **Supreme Pastor and Teacher** of all souls with the duty to **condemn error** and **demand the social reign of Catholic doctrine**.
Where is the **dogmatic clarity**? Where is the **condemnation of the errors** that led to this war—the secularism, the religious indifference, the rejection of Christ’s Kingship that Pius XI said poisons society? Where is the call for the **consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary** in the **true Catholic sense**, as demanded by the authentic (pre-1958) understanding of Fatima, which this analysis holds as a genuine supernatural intervention? The article mentions no such thing. Instead, we have a Pope who “welcomed Eastern Catholics” and “pointed out the injustice,” but never **preached the Gospel to the powerful**, never **excommunicated** those promoting abortion or gender ideology, never **defended the exclusive rights of the Catholic Church**. This is the papacy of *Ubi arcano*, where the Pope laments the fruits of defection from Christ but does nothing to **remedy the cause** by restoring the **public worship of Christ the King** and the **Catholic State**.
Conclusion: The Antichurch’s Narrative of Worldly Hope
The Vatican News article is not a report on a geopolitical tragedy; it is a **theological manifesto of the Antichurch**. It replaces:
* The **Sacrifice of Calvary** with a “paschal story” of national suffering.
* The **Supernatural Church** with a humanitarian NGO.
* **Divine Judgment** with humanistic “God’s truth will prevail.”
* **Catholic Unity** (in faith, sacraments, and governance) with indifferentist “solidarity” among confessions.
* The **Social Kingship of Christ** with the defense of secular “human rights” and “democracy.”
* The **Petrine Ministry** as a doctrinal and disciplinary authority with a diplomatic and spiritual cheerleading role.
The faithful are called not to **conversion and penance**, but to “prayer, to inform and to be informed, and to help by entering into partnership.” The “partnership” is with a nation fighting for secular values, not with the **Catholic and Apostolic Faith** that alone can save souls and order societies. This is the ultimate synthesis of the errors of Modernism: using the vocabulary of faith to build a tower of Babel, a humanistic project that has **no reference to the supernatural**, no fear of **final judgment**, and no acknowledgment that **outside the Church there is no salvation**.
The article’s thesis—that Ukraine’s witness is a “living paschal story”—is therefore the precise opposite of Catholic truth. It is a **symptom of the apostasy** foretold by St. Pius X and Pius IX. The true “paschal story” for Ukraine, as for every nation, is not its heroic resistance, but its **conversion to the one, true faith** and its **submission to the sole Reign of Christ the King**, as Pius XI commanded in *Quas Primas*. Until that happens, all suffering, even that of a heroic people, remains under the dominion of the “prince of this world” and is not a “paschal” mystery in the salvific sense. The article offers the consolations of the **world**, not the **grace** of the **Church**.
Source:
Ukraine four years on: ‘It is a living paschal story’ (vaticannews.va)
Date: 24.02.2026