The National Catholic Register (NCR) portal reports that three influential American cardinals—Robert McElroy, Joseph Tobin, and Blaise Cupich—spoke on CBS’s “60 Minutes” about the state of the conciliar sect under the direction of the usurper Leo XIV. The interview covered a range of topics including rising conversions among young people, the meaning of patriotism, the war in Iran, and the impact of immigration enforcement. The cardinals expressed concerns over secularization, the “gamification” of war, and the fear among immigrant communities, while also noting increased interest in the Church and the positive influence of Leo XIV. The interview reveals a leadership class deeply embedded in worldly politics, obsessed with demographic trends, and fundamentally silent on the supernatural mission of the Church, thus demonstrating the complete capitulation of the conciliar structures to the spirit of the age.
The Obsession with Demographics Over Doctrine
The cardinals’ discussion of rising conversions is a masterclass in avoiding the supernatural. Cardinal Cupich speaks of a “deep hunger” and “woundedness” in young people, seeking “meaning” and “healing.” Cardinal McElroy points to a need for “moral leadership.” These are the buzzwords of the therapeutic, man-centered religion of Modernism, condemned in its essence by St. Pius X. The focus is entirely on subjective human needs and feelings—”meaning,” “healing,” “moral leadership”—rather than on the objective truths of the Catholic Faith, the state of grace, the reality of sin, and the necessity of conversion to the one true Church for salvation.
The entire discussion is framed in the language of sociology and marketing. Cardinal Cupich mentions “doing some surveys” to find out what is “motivating” people. This is the language of a corporate CEO or a political campaign manager, not a successor of the Apostles. The Church is not a business seeking to increase its market share; she is the Ark of Salvation, and her mission is to teach, govern, and sanctify souls for eternal life. As Pope Pius XI stated in Quas Primas, the Church’s mission is “to teach, govern, and lead all to eternal happiness,” a mission that is “primarily spiritual and relates mainly to spiritual matters.” The cardinals’ focus on “record numbers” and “elevated numbers of Easter baptisms” is a substitution of worldly success metrics for the spiritual health of souls. Are these converts being taught the fullness of the Catholic Faith, including the necessity of belonging to the true Church for salvation (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)? Are they being taught about sin, hell, purgatory, and the necessity of penance? Or are they being offered a feel-good message of “meaning” and “community” that is indistinguishable from any other self-help group?
Furthermore, Cardinal Cupich’s attempt to deflect from the sex abuse scandal by noting that “other religions are seeing declines in membership as well” and blaming “secularization” and “people have a lot more options on Sunday” is a breathtaking act of cowardice and evasion. The crisis of faith is not merely a sociological trend; it is the direct fruit of the conciliar revolution itself. The Modernist destruction of doctrine, the corruption of the liturgy, and the infiltration of perverts into the clergy are the causa causans of the exodus. As the False Fatima Apparitions document notes, the main danger facing the Church is not external threats like communism, but “modernist apostasy within the Church since the beginning of the 20th century,” a warning issued by St. Pius X that these men utterly ignore.
Patriotism: Love of Country Above Love of God
The cardinals’ discussion of patriotism in light of the 250th anniversary of the United States founding is a textbook example of the “cult of man” condemned by the Syllabus of Errors. Cardinal McElroy states, “We love our country because of what it aspires to be… because of its aspirations of democracy, justice, equality, of freedom.” Cardinal Cupich defines patriotism as “being united in the common task of creating the opportunities for everyone to flourish.” This is not Catholic teaching; this is the language of the American Civil Religion, a form of nationalism that places the aspirations of a secular, liberal republic at the center of a Catholic’s identity.
Where is the recognition that all authority comes from God? Where is the teaching of Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas that “Christ reigns in the minds of men… because He Himself is Truth, and men must draw truth from Him and accept it obediently”? Where is the acknowledgment that the state has a duty to publicly recognize and obey Christ the King? Pius XI explicitly states that “rulers of states… 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 cardinals’ vision of patriotism is entirely horizontal, focused on “creating opportunities for everyone to flourish” in this life, with no mention of the ultimate end of man: to know, love, and serve God in this life and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
This is the natural fruit of the conciliar sect’s embrace of religious liberty and the autonomy of earthly affairs, condemned by Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos and by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors (proposition 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 cardinals do not see the United States as a nation that must conform itself to the laws of Christ the King; they see it as a secular project whose “aspirations” they can baptize and call Catholic. This is the very definition of the “hermeneutic of continuity” applied to patriotism—a shameless attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable: the Catholic Faith with the liberal, secular order.
The War in Iran: Moral Equivalence and the Rejection of Just War
The cardinals’ comments on the war in Iran reveal a profound ignorance of, or contempt for, the Church’s traditional teaching on just war. Cardinal McElroy declares that the war is not a just war because it does not have a “focused aim” to “restore justice and restore peace,” and he warns of “the possibility of war after war after war.” Cardinal Cupich criticizes the “gamification” of war, calling it “sickening” and “dehumanizing.”
Let us be clear: the Church’s teaching on just war is not pacifism. The conditions for a just war, as outlined by theologians like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, include a just cause (such as self-defense or the defense of the innocent), legitimate authority, right intention, proportionality, and last resort. The fact that Cardinal McElroy can say that the Iranian regime “should be removed” because it is “abominable,” while simultaneously condemning the war to remove it, is a glaring contradiction. If a regime is truly abominable—sponsoring terrorism, persecuting Christians, seeking nuclear weapons to destroy other nations—then military action to remove it could very well meet the criteria of a just cause.
The cardinal’s concern about “war after war after war” is the language of the peace-at-any-price movement, which has been a tool of the enemies of the Church for over a century. As the Syllabus of Errors condemns (proposition 62), “The principle of non-intervention, as it is called, ought to be proclaimed and observed.” This is the voice of a man who has more in common with the secular foreign policy establishment than with the Church’s martial tradition. Where is the voice of a Pope St. Peter Damian or a Pope Pius V, who called for the defense of Christendom against its enemies? Instead, we get the bureaucratic language of “focused aims” and “restoring justice,” as if war could be managed like a corporation.
Cardinal Cupich’s criticism of the “gamification” of war, while perhaps understandable on a human level, misses the entirely supernatural point. The real “dehumanization” is the conciliar sect’s own liturgical revolution, which has stripped the Mass of its sacrificial character and reduced it to a “celebration of community.” The real “sickening” reality is that these men occupy the highest positions in a structure that has abandoned the Faith, while they concern themselves with the optics of military operations on social media.
Immigration: Fear of the State, Silence on the Soul
The cardinals’ comments on immigration enforcement are perhaps the most revealing of their complete immersion in the political categories of the secular world. Cardinal Tobin criticizes ICE tactics, saying they “can actually violate other guarantees of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.” Cardinal McElroy notes that attendance at Spanish Masses has dropped 30% due to “fear,” and he describes the “roundup of people” who have been “living good, strong lives.” Cardinal Cupich praises Leo XIV for “sending a message that his top priority right now is to be with those who are downcast and marginalized.”
The entire discussion is framed in the language of secular human rights and constitutional law. Where is the teaching of the Church on the right of a sovereign nation to control its borders? Where is the recognition that civil authority has the duty to protect its citizens and to govern according to the common good? Pope Leo XIII, in Immortale Dei, taught that the civil power has the authority to enact laws for the welfare of the community, and that obedience to lawful authority is a moral duty. The cardinals do not even acknowledge the legitimacy of border enforcement; they only object to the “tactics” and the “fear” it creates.
More importantly, where is the pastoral concern for the souls of the immigrants themselves? Where is the reminder that the ultimate “marginalization” is not deportation but the loss of one’s soul? Where is the call to conversion, to the sacraments, to the life of grace? Instead, the cardinals reduce the Church’s mission to that of a social service agency or an advocacy NGO. This is the logical end point of the conciliar sect’s embrace of the “preferential option for the poor” and the religion of “human dignity” condemned in the Syllabus of Errors (proposition 58: “No other forces are to be recognized except those which reside in matter, and all the rectitude and excellence of morality ought to be placed in the accumulation and increase of riches by every possible means, and the gratification of pleasure”). The Church is not a political lobby; she is the Mystical Body of Christ, and her mission is the salvation of souls, not the reform of immigration policy.
The Usurper Leo XIV: The Right Man for the Wrong Time
Cardinal Tobin’s statement that “I believe that Pope Leo is the right man at this time” is a chilling admission. The “time” in question is the terminal phase of the conciliar revolution, a period marked by accelerating apostasy, the collapse of religious practice, and the complete assimilation of the conciliar structures into the globalist order. Leo XIV is indeed the “right man” for this moment—because he is the man chosen to preside over the final dismantling of whatever remains of Catholic identity within the conciliar sect.
The entire interview is a testament to the spiritual bankruptcy of the current leadership. There is no mention of the supernatural, no mention of the sacraments as the indispensable means of grace, no mention of the reality of sin and the necessity of penance, no mention of the Four Last Things, no mention of the Social Kingship of Christ. Instead, we get a conversation about demographics, patriotism, war ethics, and immigration policy that could have taken place at any secular think tank or university faculty lounge. This is the “abomination of desolation” spoken of by Our Lord (Mt 24:15)—a temple that still bears the name of Catholic but from which the presence of God has been utterly removed.
As the False Fatima Apparitions document concludes, the message of the conciliar sect is “theologically contradictory to Catholic doctrine,” “a tool to divert attention from modernism,” and “a potential Masonic ‘psychological operation’ against the Church.” The cardinals’ performance on “60 Minutes” is merely the latest evidence of this truth. The faithful must reject this counterfeit church and return to the immutable Tradition of the Catholic Faith, the only ark of salvation in a world hurtling toward perdition.
Source:
‘60 Minutes’ Takes Stock of Catholic Church Under Leo With Top Cardinals (ncregister.com)
Date: 13.04.2026