The EWTN News portal reported on March 7, 2026, that the Diocese of El Paso filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to 18 pending lawsuits alleging sexual abuse occurring between 1956 and 1982. Bishop Mark Seitz described the diocese’s financial resources as “very limited” and framed the bankruptcy as “the most prudent course of action” to equitably compensate victims while maintaining essential ministries. The statement omitted any reference to the supernatural nature of the abuse crimes, the eternal damnation due to perpetrators, or the Church’s exclusive jurisdiction over canonical penalties. This financial maneuver, conducted under secular law, starkly reveals the conciliar sect’s abandonment of integral Catholic doctrine in favor of naturalistic, human-centered solutions—a bankruptcy not merely of finances but of faith.
The Conciliar Sect’s Naturalistic Bankruptcy: A Theological Scandal
Omission of Supernatural Justice: The Silence on Sin and Damnation
The statement by “Bishop” Mark Seitz meticulously avoids the language of Catholic dogma. There is no mention of the mortal sin inherent in the alleged abuses, no call for the perpetrators’ excommunication or eternal damnation if unrepentant, and no reference to the sacramental consequences for victims. This silence is not accidental but symptomatic of the Modernist infection condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu: “The pursuit of novelty… leads to the most grievous errors” (I). The conciliar sect reduces profound sins against the Sixth Commandment to mere “harm” requiring financial compensation, thereby stripping the Church of her role as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15) and replacing it with a secular therapeutic model. In authentic Catholic theology, as taught by the Council of Trent, sin is an offense against God deserving of eternal punishment; the primary remedy is sacramental confession and satisfaction, not civil litigation. The omission of these supernatural realities exposes a hierarchy that has internalized the naturalism condemned in the Syllabus of Errors: “Moral laws do not stand in need of the divine sanction” (Error 56) and “All the truths of religion proceed from the innate strength of human reason” (Error 4).
Submission to Civil Power: Violation of Christ’s Kingship and the Syllabus
By voluntarily submitting the diocese’s affairs to a civil bankruptcy court, the conciliar sect explicitly rejects the doctrine of Christ the King as defined by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas. Pius XI taught that Christ’s reign “encompasses all men” and that “rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ and obey Him” (Quas Primas, 34). The State must recognize the Church’s independence and the divine origin of her authority. Yet here, the diocese acknowledges civil authority as supreme over ecclesiastical assets, directly contradicting the Syllabus:
– Error 19: “The Church is not a true and perfect society… it appertains to the civil power to define what are the rights of the Church.”
– Error 24: “The Church has not the power of using force, nor has she any temporal power, direct or indirect.”
– Error 41: “The civil government… has a right to an indirect negative power over religious affairs.”
The bankruptcy filing is a practical endorsement of these condemned errors. It treats the Church as a mere corporate entity subject to secular insolvency laws, rather than the “perfect society” instituted by Christ with her own inviolable rights. The 1917 Code of Canon Law (can. 1552 §1) required diocesan alienation of stable property to have Holy See permission—a canonical safeguard ignored in this conciliar capitulation to civil courts. This is the logical fruit of Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae, which enshrined religious freedom and state neutrality, doctrines Pius IX had anathematized (Syllabus, Errors 15-18).
The Sedevacantist Diagnosis: A Hierarchical Apostasy
From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, the men occupying the sees since Vatican II are manifest heretics and thus ipso facto deposed, as St. Robert Bellarmine taught: “A manifest heretic… by that very fact ceases to be Pope and head” (De Romano Pontifice, II:30). The conciliar sect’s acceptance of Modernist errors—religious liberty, ecumenism, the evolution of dogma—constitutes public defection from the faith. Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code explicitly states: “Every office becomes vacant… if the cleric… publicly defects from the Catholic faith.” The “bishops” and “popes” of the post-conciliar structure have publicly defected by promulgating Vatican II’s heretical documents and embracing the errors of the Syllabus. Therefore, “Bishop” Seitz possesses no valid jurisdiction, and his financial decisions are null. The bankruptcy is not an act of a legitimate pastor but of a usurper managing the assets of a schismatic sect.
The Modernist Playbook: Distraction and Naturalism
The focus on financial restructuring and victim compensation, while ignoring the spiritual remedies of confession, penance, and public reparation, is pure Modernism. St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici gregis described Modernists as “reconciling themselves with the world” and “adapting themselves to the times.” The conciliar sect’s response mirrors this: it adopts the secular legal framework of bankruptcy, a concept rooted in civil law, not canon law. This is the “reduction of the Church’s mission to naturalistic humanism” Pius XI lamented in Quas Primas: when “God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The bankruptcy court becomes the new “authority,” replacing the Church’s canonical tribunals and the ultimate judgment of Christ.
Contradiction with Pre-1958 Doctrine: The Reign of Christ vs. the Reign of Man
Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas established the feast of Christ the King precisely to combat the secularism that “denied Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations.” The Pope warned that when “the Christian religion began to be equated with other false religions,” society collapses into discord, egoism, and the destruction of the family. The El Paso diocese’s action—placing itself under a civil court—is the antithesis of this teaching. It acknowledges the “reign of man” (civil bankruptcy law) over the “reign of Christ” (canon law and supernatural justice). The Syllabus had already condemned the notion that “the civil power may interfere in matters relating to religion, morality and spiritual government” (Error 44). Here, civil power directly interferes in the administration of diocesan assets, which are ecclesiastical goods.
Conclusion: A Call to Separate from the Conciliar Sect
The bankruptcy of the El Paso diocese is not a tragic accident but the inevitable outcome of the conciliar sect’s apostasy. It demonstrates a complete surrender to naturalism, a rejection of Christ’s kingship, and a contempt for the supernatural ends of the Church. The faithful are called to separate from this “abomination of desolation” (Matt. 24:15) and adhere to the immutable faith of pre-1958 Catholicism, which teaches that the Church is a supernatural society, independent of civil power, and that her pastors must govern according to divine law, not secular bankruptcy codes. The true Church endures in those who reject Modernism and recognize the sede vacante; all else is the “synagogue of Satan” (Apoc. 2:9) masquerading as the Bride of Christ.
Source:
El Paso Diocese declares bankruptcy amid abuse filings, 'very limited' financial resources (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 07.03.2026