EWTN News Vatican Bureau reports that the usurper Robert Prevost, styling himself “Pope Leo XIV,” delivered a message to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in which he declared that “true power comes from virtue, not strength,” and that “the legitimacy of authority depends not on the accumulation of economic or technological strength but on the wisdom and virtue with which it is exercised.” The article, dated April 14, 2026, further notes that this message followed remarks at a “prayer vigil for peace” where the same individual denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” among global leaders, and that he invoked Centesimus Annus — the encyclical of the heretic and false pope John Paul II — to affirm that legitimate power “finds one of its highest expressions in authentic democracy.” The entire discourse is a masterwork of naturalistic humanism stripped of every supernatural reference, a sermon on earthly governance that omits the single most important truth: that all legitimate authority flows from Jesus Christ the King, and that no power on earth — democratic, technological, or otherwise — possesses any legitimacy whatsoever apart from submission to His divine and social Kingship.
A Message Stripped of Christ the King: The Theological Bankruptcy of the Usurper’s Discourse
The most immediately striking feature of this address is what it does not say. In an extensive reflection on power, authority, democracy, the common good, and the concentration of technological and military force, the name of Jesus Christ the King — the One from whom all authority on earth derives its legitimacy — is entirely absent as the foundational principle of governance. The usurper speaks of “divine power” in the most generic, deistic terms: “Divine power does not dominate but rather heals and restores.” This is not Catholic teaching. This is the language of natural religion, of the Enlightenment, of the very liberalism condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors. The Catholic truth, proclaimed infallibly by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas, is that Christ reigns over all nations and states, not merely over individual souls, and that rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Him and obey Him. Pius XI was explicit: “Not only private individuals, but also rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ and obey Him.” The usurper’s message does the precise opposite: it constructs an entire framework of political legitimacy while relegating Christ to a vague, healing abstraction.
This is not an oversight. It is the systematic program of the conciliar sect. Since the false Vatican II council and its declaration Dignitatis Humanae — which contradicted the unanimous teaching of the pre-conciliar Magisterium — the structures occupying the Vatican have consistently reduced the Church’s social teaching to a species of secular humanism baptized with Christian vocabulary. The usurper’s message is a textbook example: “democracy,” “human dignity,” “common good,” “participation” — all terms that, in Catholic doctrine, find their meaning only within the framework of the social Kingship of Christ, but which here float free in a sea of naturalism.
The Heresy of Democracy as the “Highest Expression” of Power
Perhaps the most doctrinally offensive passage in the entire message is the usurper’s invocation of John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus: “legitimate power finds one of its highest expressions in authentic democracy.” The article quotes him further: “Far from being a mere procedure, democracy recognizes the dignity of every person and calls each citizen to participate responsibly in the pursuit of the common good.” This is not Catholic social teaching. This is the heresy of the sovereignty of the people dressed in ecclesiastical vestments.
The Catholic Church has consistently taught that the form of government is a matter of prudential judgment, but that no form of government possesses intrinsic legitimacy apart from its conformity to the law of God and its recognition of the social Kingship of Christ. Pope Pius IX condemned the proposition that “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Proposition 80 of the Syllabus of Errors). Pope St. Pius X, in Lamentabili Sane Exitu, condemned the proposition that “the progress of sciences requires a reform of the concept of Christian doctrine concerning God, creation, Revelation, the Person of the Incarnate Word, and Redemption” (Proposition 64). The usurper’s elevation of democracy to the “highest expression” of legitimate power is precisely the kind of reconciliation with liberalism that the pre-conciliar Magisterium anathematized.
Moreover, the appeal to Centesimus Annus is itself an act of doctrinal corruption. That encyclical, issued by the manifest heretic and false pope John Paul II, is one of the foundational documents of the post-conciliar revolution’s capitulation to the modern world. It accepted the framework of liberal democracy as compatible with Catholic teaching — indeed, as the preferred framework — in direct contradiction to the teaching of Pope Leo XIII in Immortale Dei, who wrote that “the right to rule is not necessarily bound up with any special mode of government” and that “it may take this or that form, provided only that it be of a nature to insure the general welfare.” Leo XIII did not elevate democracy; he subordinated all forms of government to the law of God. The usurper’s selective quotation of John Paul II is not merely poor theology — it is a deliberate act of apostasy from the perennial Magisterium.
The Omission of the Supernatural: A Message Fit for the Rotary Club
Read the usurper’s message as quoted in the article and ask: could this have been delivered at a United Nations assembly, a World Economic Forum meeting, or a secular university conference on political philosophy? The answer is unequivocally yes. There is nothing in this message that would distinguish it from the naturalistic humanism of any secular institution. The “common good” is mentioned. “Human dignity” is invoked. “Democracy” is praised. “Charity” is referenced as a vague animating principle. But where is the necessity of the Catholic faith for salvation? Where is the obligation of states to profess the Catholic religion? Where is the reality of sin, grace, and the final judgment? Where is the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as the center of Christian civilization?
These omissions are not accidental. They are the very essence of the post-conciliar apostasy. Pope Pius XI, in Quas Primas, warned precisely against this kind of naturalism: “The plague of our times is the so-called secularism of our times, its errors and wicked endeavors… It began with the denial of Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations; the Church’s authority to teach men, to issue laws, to govern nations, which authority she received from Christ the Lord to lead men to eternal happiness, was denied.” The usurper’s message is a perfect embodiment of this plague. It discusses power, authority, democracy, and the common good as though the supernatural order did not exist, as though the Church had no divine mission to teach and govern nations, as though the salvation of souls were irrelevant to the ordering of the earthly city.
Pius XI further taught: “The state is happy not by one means, and man by another; for the state is nothing else than a harmonious association of men.” And: “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 usurper’s message does not merely fail to teach this — it implicitly denies it by constructing an entire political theology without reference to the Kingship of Christ.
The “Delusion of Omnipotence” — A False Pope’s False Prophecy
The article notes that the usurper, at a “prayer vigil for peace” on April 11, denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” among global leaders. This phrase is revealing in its imprecision and its naturalism. The Catholic understanding of the delusion of power is rooted in the reality of divine judgment: “The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ” (Acts 4:26). The delusion is not merely that human leaders overestimate their strength — it is that they forget God, defy His law, and set themselves against His Christ. The usurper’s formulation reduces this supernatural reality to a psychological observation about political hubris.
Furthermore, the very concept of a “prayer vigil for peace” organized by the structures occupying the Vatican is itself suspect. True peace — the pax Christi — is only possible through the social Kingship of Christ, through the submission of nations to His law and His Church. Pius XI taught: “Oh, what happiness we would enjoy if individuals, families, and states allowed themselves to be governed by Christ.” The usurper’s “vigil” is not a call to this submission. It is a naturalistic exercise in moral posturing, indistinguishable from the peace vigils organized by any secular or interfaith body. It is, in the language of the pre-conciliar Magisterium, false peace without Christ — which is no peace at all but a prelude to further disorder.
The Invocation of John Paul II: Compounding Apostasy Upon Apostasy
The usurper’s explicit appeal to Centesimus Annus and to “St. John Paul II” deserves particular scrutiny. John Paul II — the false pope Karol Wojtyła — was a manifest heretic and apostate whose entire pontificate was dedicated to the destruction of Catholic doctrine and the implementation of the conciliar revolution. He was the pope who kissed the Koran, who prayed with animists at Assisi, who promoted the theology of religious liberty that the pre-conciliar Magisterium condemned as heresy, and who “canonized” individuals whose sanctity is at best doubtful and at worst a scandal to the faithful.
To invoke John Paul II as an authority on Catholic social teaching is to build upon a foundation of sand — or rather, upon a foundation of heresy. The usurper’s appeal to Centesimus Annus is not merely a theological error; it is a declaration of continuity with the conciliar apostasy. It tells us everything we need to know about the nature of this “pontificate”: it is not a restoration of Catholic truth but a continuation and deepening of the post-conciliar revolution.
The pre-conciliar Magisterium is unambiguous on the question of democracy and the sovereignty of the people. Pope Gregory XVI, in Mirari Vos (1832), condemned the proposition that “the will of the people, manifested by what is called public opinion or in some other way, constitutes a supreme law, free from all divine and human control.” Pope Pius IX, in the Syllabus of Errors, condemned the proposition that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Proposition 55). Pope Leo XIII, in Immortale Dei, taught that “the Almighty, therefore, has given the charge of the human race to two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the one being set over divine, and the other over human, each supreme in its own kind, and each fixed within limits which are defined by its own nature and special object.” The usurper’s message contradicts all of this.
The Language of Virtue Without the Supernatural Order
The usurper’s central thesis — that “true power comes from virtue, not strength” — sounds superficially Christian. But in the context of his message, “virtue” is stripped of its supernatural content. In Catholic theology, virtue is not a natural quality; it is a supernatural habit infused by God that perfects the soul to enable it to act in accordance with the divine will. The theological virtues — faith, hope, and charity — are impossible without sanctifying grace. The cardinal virtues — prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance — are only truly virtues when ordered toward the supernatural end of the beatific vision.
The usurper’s “virtue” is a naturalistic virtue, a civic virtue, a virtue that any atheist or agnostic could possess and exercise. It is the virtue of the Enlightenment, not the virtue of the Gospel. Pope Pius XI, in Quas Primas, taught that “Christ reigns in the mind of man, whose duty it is to accept revealed truths with complete submission to the divine will and to believe firmly and constantly in the teaching of Christ; let Christ reign in the will, which should obey God’s laws and commandments; let Him reign in the heart, which, having despised desires, must love God above all and belong only to Him.” This is the Catholic understanding of virtue: it is Christ reigning in the soul. The usurper’s understanding is Christ excluded from the public square, replaced by a vague “logic of charity” that animates the “earthly city” without any reference to the heavenly one.
The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences: A Platform for Apostasy
The venue of this address — the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences — is itself a product of the conciliar revolution. Founded by John Paul II in 1994, this academy has served as a platform for the promotion of the post-conciliar Church’s naturalistic social teaching, indistinguishable in its conclusions from the social teaching of liberal Protestantism or secular humanism. That the usurper chose this venue for his message is significant: it signals that his “pontificate” will continue to use these institutions to promote the conciliar agenda.
The pre-conciliar Church had no need of “Pontifical Academies of Social Sciences” because her social teaching was already complete, already proclaimed, already binding on all the faithful. The social teaching of the Church is found in the encyclicals of Leo XIII, Pius XI, and their predecessors — not in the deliberations of academic committees staffed by modernist theologians and secular social scientists. The very existence of such an academy is a symptom of the conciliar Church’s loss of confidence in her own Magisterium and her desperate need to seek validation from the world.
Conclusion: The Abomination of Desolation Speaks
The usurper Robert Prevost’s message to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences is a perfect specimen of the post-conciliar apostasy. It is a discourse on power and authority that omits the Kingship of Christ. It is a political theology that elevates democracy to the highest expression of legitimate power. It is a moral teaching that speaks of virtue without grace, charity without the faith, and peace without the Cross. It is a message that could have been delivered by any secular leader or interfaith organizer — and that is precisely the point.
The faithful who cling to the integral Catholic faith must recognize this message for what it is: not a development of doctrine, not a pastoral application of perennial truth, but a continuation of the systematic destruction of Catholic civilization that began with the false Vatican II council and continues unabated under every usurper who occupies the Vatican. The remedy is not reform of the conciliar structures — those structures are irreformable, as the manifest heresy of their occupants demonstrates. The remedy is the unchanging teaching of the pre-conciliar Magisterium: the social Kingship of Christ, the necessity of the Catholic faith for salvation, the obligation of states to profess the true religion, and the absolute primacy of the supernatural order over every earthly arrangement.
As Pope Pius XI proclaimed in Quas Primas: “His reign, namely, extends not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church, even though their erroneous opinions have led them astray or discord has separated them from love, but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” No message from the structures occupying the Vatican that omits this truth can be anything other than an act of apostasy. The usurper’s message is not Catholic teaching. It is the world’s teaching, dressed in the borrowed garments of a Church that has ceased to be the Church of Christ and has become, in the words of the pre-conciliar Magisterium, the synagogue of Satan.
Source:
Leo XIV: True power comes from virtue, not strength (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 14.04.2026