The Naturalistic Reduction of Peace to Human Goodwill
The conciliar structure’s “Pope Leo XIV” (Robert Prevost) presents a preface for his book “Peace Be With You!” that systematically eviscerates the Catholic doctrine of peace, reducing it to a generic, naturalistic humanism. The text speaks of peace as a “gift from God” and a “responsibility,” but meticulously avoids defining the gift in supernatural terms or the responsibility in relation to the Social Kingship of Christ. It replaces the *peace of Christ*—which is the tranquillity of order in a society fully subject to the law of God—with a vague “culture of reconciliation” and “non-violent workshops” born of human effort and “good will.” This is not a Catholic teaching on peace; it is the secular humanist “globalization of powerlessness” cloaked in quasi-spiritual language. The entire framework is horizontal, centered on human psychology (“peaceful hearts”), dialogue, and political mediation, with the vertical dimension mentioned only in abstract, decontextualized references to the Incarnation and Resurrection that carry no doctrinal weight. The result is a peace that is fundamentally Pelagian, relying on human striving rather than grace, and indifferentist, as it makes no demand for the public recognition of the Catholic faith as the sole path to true peace.
The Omission of the Social Kingship of Christ: A Direct Affront to Quas Primas
The most glaring and damning omission is the complete silence on the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the very foundation of Catholic peace. Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925), dogmatically taught that true peace is impossible without the reign of Christ over individuals, families, and states. He declared: “When God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed… the entire human society had to be shaken.” The antipope’s text, however, never once mentions that Christ is King, that His law must govern nations, or that public authority must honor Him. Instead, it speaks of “politics and the international community” facilitating “dialogue and diplomacy,” as if these neutral, secular processes can yield “just and lasting peace” without Christ. This is a direct repudiation of Quas Primas, which stated unequivocally: “Let rulers of states therefore not refuse public veneration and obedience to the reigning Christ, but let them fulfill this duty themselves and with their people, if they wish to maintain their authority inviolate and contribute to the increase of their homeland’s happiness.” The conciliar text’s evasion of this truth exposes its allegiance to the “secularism of our times” which Pius XI identified as the “plague that poisons human society.”
False Use of Augustine: Distorting the Doctor of Grace
The text attempts to ground its naturalism in St. Augustine, quoting: “no one can be known except through friendship” and “the salutation of salvation.” This is a cunning misappropriation. Augustine’s “friendship” (amicitia) is rooted in the charity of Christ, which orders all things to God. His peace (pax) is the “tranquillity of order” (tranquillitas ordinis), an order whose first principle is the subordination of all things to God. For Augustine, as for the entire Patristic tradition, peace is exclusively the fruit of Christ’s victory on the Cross and the operation of His grace in the soul and in society. The antipope’s text strips Augustine’s thought of its supernatural essence, reducing “friendship” to mere human empathy and “salutation” to a pleasant wish. Augustine never conceived of peace as a product of “non-violent workshops” or “listening to others’ stories” apart from the dogmatic faith and the sacramental life of the Church. This distortion is a hallmark of Modernism, condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici gregis (1907), which targets those who “under the guise of more serious criticism… aim at such a development of dogmas as appears to be their corruption.”
The Silence of the Supernatural: Sacraments, Grace, and the Church
A thorough analysis must focus on what the article omits. There is not a single mention of:
- The Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the true and proper sacrifice which propitiates God for sin and is the source and summit of peace.
- The Sacrament of Penance, the only ordinary means by which the soul, wounded by sin (the root of all conflict), is reconciled to God.
- The necessity of sanctifying grace and the state of grace for the soul to be an instrument of peace.
- The Catholic Church as the only true Church, outside of which there is no salvation (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus), and therefore no true peace, for peace requires justice, and justice requires truth, and truth requires the faith delivered by Christ to His Church.
- The Final Judgment, the ultimate establishment of peace by the just Judge, which gives urgency to the earthly task of subjecting all things to Christ.
- The absolute, non-negotiable primacy of God’s Law over all human laws and “dialogue.”
This deafening silence on the supernatural order is not accidental; it is the very essence of the conciliar “new evangelization” and the “hermeneutics of continuity.” It is the language of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place, offering a peace that is purely immanent, psychological, and social—a peace that the world can give (John 14:27), but which is not the peace of Christ.
Modernist Errors Condemned: Syllabus and Lamentabili
The article’s core assumptions are explicitly condemned by pre-1958 Magisterium.
The Syllabus of Errors (Pius IX, 1864) anathematizes:
- Error #77: “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State.” The antipope’s message, by never demanding the Catholic faith as the public standard, implicitly endorses this error.
- Error #79: “It is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship… conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people.” By promoting “dialogue” and “respect” for all without privileging the true religion, the text assumes the falsehood that religious indifferentism is beneficial.
- Error #55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.” The entire article operates on this separation, discussing “politics” and “the international community” as autonomous spheres, never subject to Christ the King.
Lamentabili Sane Exitu (St. Pius X, 1907) condemns propositions that mirror the article’s spirit:
- Prop. 59: “Truth changes with man, because it develops with him, in him, and through him.” The article’s “peace” is a fluid concept, defined by contemporary “globalization of powerlessness” and “climate anxiety,” not by immutable divine law.
- Prop. 65: “Contemporary Catholicism cannot be reconciled with true knowledge without transforming it into a certain dogmaless Christianity, that is, into a broad and liberal Protestantism.” The article’s peace is precisely such a “dogmaless” concept, stripped of the dogma of Christ’s Kingship, the dogma of the Church’s necessity, and the dogma of the sacrifice of Calvary.
- Prop. 64: “The progress of sciences requires a reform of the concept of Christian doctrine concerning… Redemption.” The text reduces Redemption to a vague “gift” that “calls into action the responsibility of our answer,” not to the objective, once-for-all sacrifice that reconciles the world to God and demands the submission of all human powers.
The Symptomatic Apostasy: A Peace Without Christ
This document is not merely erroneous; it is a symptom of the systemic apostasy of the post-conciliar sect. It represents the final stage of the “disinformation strategy” described in the analysis of the Fatima apparitions: the replacement of the supernatural, hierarchical, and missionary Church with a “humanitarian NGO” whose gospel is psychological well-being and social harmony. The antipope speaks as a moral therapist, not as the Vicar of Christ. He offers a peace that the world can achieve through its own efforts, thus making Christ superfluous. This is the peace of the Antichrist, who will present a false global tranquility built on the rejection of the true King. As Pope Pius IX warned in the Syllabus, the ultimate goal of these errors is to “submit the Church of God to the most cruel servitude, to undermine the foundations on which it rests.” A Church that preaches a Christless peace has already undermined its own foundations.
Conclusion: A Call to Reject and Return
The preface to “Peace Be With You!” is a masterclass in theological minimalism and spiritual bankruptcy. It is a document of the “neo-church,” speaking the language of the world to gain the world, while betraying the Gospel. It offers a peace that is not from God but from man, a peace that requires no conversion, no submission to the Catholic faith, no reign of Christ the King. It is the peace of the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not to be (Mark 13:14). The only response for a Catholic is the one given by Pius XI in Quas Primas: to reject this naturalistic drivel and to work for the restoration of all things in Christ (instaurare omnia in Christo), which means the public and exclusive reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ over every nation and every aspect of life. True peace is found only in the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, in the Sacrament of Penance, and in obedience to the immutable law of God as taught by the one true Church. The conciliar structures and their antipopes have nothing to do with this peace.
Source:
Pope Leo XIV: Only peaceful hearts can build just and lasting peace (vaticannews.va)
Date: 24.02.2026