Summary: The Vatican News portal reports on a statement by Neil Thorns, Director of Advocacy and Communications at CAFOD—the official aid agency of the conciliar church in England and Wales—marking one year since UK aid cuts. Thorns argues, citing the antipope Paul VI, that “the way to work for peace in the world is to work for justice,” claiming that aid investment creates stability and prevents violence. The article highlights impacts on children’s education, clean water, gender inequality, and the Sudan crisis, urging the UK to use its G20 leadership to address global debt. It frames Catholic action as parish-based lobbying for increased secular aid. This represents a complete apostasy from Catholic social doctrine, replacing the supernatural reign of Christ the King with a naturalistic, humanistic program of material welfare that the pre-conciliar Church condemned as secularist error.
The Supernatural Kingdom vs. Materialist “Stability”
The cited article from Vatican News presents the perspective of CAFOD, a body operating within the post-conciliar structure occupying the Vatican. Its core argument—that peace is achieved through material aid and “justice” defined by secular metrics—is a profound repudiation of the Catholic doctrine on the Social Kingship of Christ. Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925), which the conciliar sect has never formally abrogated but systematically ignores, declared: “When God and Jesus Christ—as we lamented—were removed from laws and states and when authority was derived not from God but from men, the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The CAFOD position is the very secularism Pius XI identified as the “plague that poisons human society.” It speaks of “stability,” “harmony,” and “justice” in purely natural terms, with no reference to the necessary subordination of all human affairs to the law of Christ, the sacraments, or the salvation of souls. This is not Catholic social teaching; it is the humanitarianism of the Masonic lodges, which the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX (1864) anathematized in its very first section on pantheism and naturalism.
Silence on the Supernatural: The Mark of Modernism
The analysis must focus on what the article omits, as this silence is the gravest accusation. There is not a single mention of:
- The necessity of the Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation) for the eternal destiny of the Sudanese or any other people.
- The Sacrifice of the Holy Mass as the true source of peace and justice, which propitiates God for sin.
- The role of the Catholic State in publicly recognizing Christ the King and enacting laws in conformity with His divine law, as taught by Leo XIII in Immortale Dei.
- The duty of rulers to protect the rights of the Church and to curb blasphemy and heresy, as defined by the Syllabus (Errors 21, 24, 29, 34).
- The concept of sin as the root cause of social disorder, and the need for individual conversion and penance.
The entire framework is naturalistic. “Justice” is reduced to economic distribution and gender parity. “Peace” is reduced to the absence of violence stemming from poverty. This is the “synthesis of all heresies” condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici gregis (1907)—Modernism—which “regards dogmas as… a certain interpretation of religious facts, which the human mind has worked out.” CAFOD’s program is a perfect embodiment of the Modernist error: it treats religion as a means to a natural end (worldly peace) rather than an end in itself (the glory of God and the salvation of souls). The article’s language—”artisans of their own destiny,” “tackling root causes of poverty”—is pure sociological jargon, the vocabulary of the UN and NGOs, not of the Apostolic See before 1958.
Heresy in Action: The “Paul VI” Quote and Its Implications
Thorns invokes “Pope Paul VI” to claim: “the way to work for peace in the world is to work for justice.” This quote, from the antipope’s 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio, is a cornerstone of the conciliar sect’s naturalistic “option for the poor.” It must be condemned in light of Catholic doctrine. The pre-conciliar Magisterium taught that true peace (pax) is the tranquility of order, which can only exist when all things are ordered to God (ordo ad Deum). As Pius XI wrote in Quas Primas: “Then at last… so many wounds can be healed, then there will be hope that the law will regain its former authority, sweet peace will return again… when all willingly accept the reign of Christ and obey Him.” The “justice” of Paul VI is a vague, immanentist concept divorced from divine law. The Syllabus of Errors, in Proposition 56, condemns the notion that “Moral laws do not stand in need of the divine sanction, and it is not at all necessary that human laws should be made conformable to the laws of nature and receive their power of binding from God.” CAFOD’s advocacy for secular governments to increase aid budgets, based on a “justice” that is not explicitly rooted in the Ten Commandments and the rights of the Church, is a direct propagation of this condemned error. They promote a “peace” that is not the peace of Christ, which the world cannot give (John 14:27), but a fragile, material equilibrium that ignores the war of man against God.
Gender Ideology and the Sulpician Error
The article states: “Over the last year of aid cuts, women and girls were the hardest hit… 40% of countries made no progress or actually regressed on gender equality.” This propagates the modernist, egalitarian dogma that is anathema to Catholic doctrine on the natural differences and complementary roles of the sexes. Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus, in Proposition 68, condemns the error that “The Church has not the power of establishing diriment impediments of marriage, but such a power belongs to the civil authority… The canons of the Council of Trent… must be understood as referring to such borrowed power.” The underlying principle is that the Church has no authority to define the natural law regarding marriage and family. CAFOD’s focus on “gender equality” as a metric of “justice” aligns with the secularist agenda that seeks to dismantle the Catholic family, as condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus (Propositions 65-73). It echoes the Modernist proposition from Lamentabili sane exitu (1907), Proposition 63: “The Church is incapable of effectively defending evangelical ethics, because it steadfastly adheres to its views, which cannot be reconciled with modern progress.” CAFOD has clearly chosen the side of “modern progress” against evangelical ethics.
The Sudan Obsession: A Distraction from the Real Crisis
Thorns laments that Sudan does not receive enough attention. While the humanitarian suffering is real, the focus on a single conflict zone, while ignoring the global “plague of secularism” (Quas Primas), is symptomatic. The pre-conciliar Church, in documents like the Syllabus and the encyclicals of Leo XIII, identified the primary crisis as the attack on the Church’s rights by secular states and the error of religious indifferentism. Sudan’s problems, from a Catholic perspective, are ultimately rooted in the lack of the Social Kingship of Christ—in the dominance of Islam or pagan tribalism, and the absence of a state that publicly worships the true God and enacts His law. CAFOD’s solution—more diplomatic pressure and “effective aid plans” designed with “local actors”—is a recipe for syncretism and compromise with evil. It ignores the teaching of Pius IX in the Syllabus, Proposition 55: “Kings and princes are not only exempt from the jurisdiction of the Church, but are superior to the Church in deciding questions of jurisdiction.” CAFOD’s model accepts this Masonic principle of state supremacy, seeking to lobby the state for more aid, rather than calling the state to subject itself to Christ the King.
The “Artisan of His Own Destiny” Heresy
Thorns says the poor “can be artisans of their own destiny.” This phrase is pure Pelagianism and Modernism. It suggests that man, by his own efforts and with material help, can achieve his own fulfillment, bypassing the necessity of grace, the sacraments, and submission to the Church. St. Pius X, in Pascendi, condemned the Modernist who “regards dogmas as… a certain interpretation of religious facts, which the human mind has worked out.” The “destiny” of man is eternal life or eternal damnation, achieved only through the grace of God, the merits of Christ, and the sacraments of the Church. To reduce “destiny” to economic self-sufficiency is to preach a false gospel. The Syllabus, in Proposition 3, condemns the rationalist error that “Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil.” CAFOD’s “artisan” rhetoric places human reason and effort at the center, with God and the Church at best as auxiliary supports.
Parish Activism: A Substitute for Catholic Action
The article applauds that “more than 500 parishes have engaged in community actions to call for the UK to do more on debt.” This is not Catholic action; it is conciliar activism. It reduces the parish, the sacred space of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments, to a lobbying hub for secular policy change. It inverts the order: the primary duty of Catholics is to pray, sacrifice, and convert souls, not to pressure the state for material redistribution. The pre-conciliar social doctrine, as seen in Quas Primas, taught that rulers must be reminded of their duty to Christ, but the means were public confession of faith, not secular lobbying for budget lines. Pius XI wrote that the feast of Christ the King would “remind states that not only private individuals, but also rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ and obey Him… in the issuing of laws and in the administration of justice.” CAFOD’s method is to ask the state to be more charitable, not to command it in the name of Christ. This is a capitulation to the secular order.
The Caritas Internationalis Abomination
CAFOD is part of Caritas Internationalis. This umbrella organization, recognized by the conciliar “popes,” is a structure of ecumenical and syncretistic humanitarianism. It operates on the principle of “serving all, no matter their religion,” which is the error of indifferentism condemned by Pius IX (Syllabus, Propositions 15-18). The true Catholic charity, as taught by the Fathers and Doctors, is caritas—a supernatural virtue that orders all love to God first, and then to neighbor for God’s sake. It is always ordered to the ultimate end of salvation. Caritas Internationalis, by its very multi-religious, secularized structure, promotes a naturalistic philanthropy that is a “deadly scourge” (Pius IX, Syllabus) against the unique rights of the Church and the necessity of Catholic faith for true justice.
Conclusion: Apostate Naturalism
The CAFOD article, and the mindset it represents, is a thoroughgoing rejection of the integral Catholic faith. It replaces:
- The Social Kingship of Christ with the sovereignty of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- The supernatural virtue of charity with secular humanitarianism.
- The salvation of souls as the primary end with material “stability” and “harmony.”
- The authority of the Church to teach and govern with the “expertise” of “local actors” and NGOs.
- The divine law with the evolving “norms” of international development.
This is the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place (Matt. 24:15). The directors of CAFOD, by promoting this program, are not Catholic agents but functionaries of the conciliar sect’s apostate social engineering. Their work, however well-intentioned it may seem, serves to cement the secular order that Pius XI declared to be the “plague” and to divert souls from the one necessary thing: the reign of Christ the King in their souls and in society. As the true Church teaches, “There is no peace for the wicked” (Is. 48:22), and a peace built on the denial of Christ’s exclusive and absolute sovereignty is a diabolical illusion.
Source:
One year on from UK aid cuts: Investing in aid creates peace (vaticannews.va)
Date: 25.02.2026