VaticanNews portal reports on May 6, 2026, about the presentation of the volume “Free under Grace” at the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome, a collection of writings by Robert Francis Prevost from his time as Prior General of the Augustinian Order. The event, attended by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Dicastery for Communication Prefect Paolo Ruffini, served as a hagiographic exercise to cement the ideological foundations of the current usurper on Peter’s throne, Pope Leo XIV, promoting a vision of the Church steeped in modernist apostasy, religious indifferentism, and a naturalistic horizontalism that betrays the integral Catholic faith.
The “Illuminating” Text of Apostasy
The very title, “Free under Grace,” culled from the Rule of Saint Augustine, is a masterful piece of modernist co-option. While the Bishop of Hippo exhorted monks to live “not as servants under the law, but as men free under grace,” this was always understood within the immutable framework of Catholic dogma, the necessity of the Church, and the absolute sovereignty of God. For Prevost and his apologists, however, this “freedom” becomes a vehicle for the very errors condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors. Error 77, for instance, condemned the idea that “in the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.” Prevost’s entire trajectory, as presented in this volume, is a lived testament to this condemned proposition, where the “freedom” he espouses is not freedom from sin and error for the truth, but freedom from the truth itself, reducing the Church to a mere facilitator of human “journey” rather than the divinely instituted ark of salvation.
The “Search for God” as a Denial of Possessing Truth
Perhaps the most insidious theological error parroted in this volume, and highlighted by Cardinal Parolin, is Prevost’s assertion that believers are not “people who ‘possess’ the truth,” but rather “fellow travelers, brothers and sisters who journey together in the adventure of life.” This is a direct repudiation of Catholic doctrine. The Church has always taught, and the Syllabus of Errors explicitly condemned (Error 15: “Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true”), that the Catholic Church does possess the fullness of revealed truth. As Pope Leo XIII unequivocally stated in Immortale Dei, “The Church… is the one true and legitimate guardian and interpreter of the teachings of the Gospel.” To claim that the Church does not “possess” truth is to deny her divine mandate, her infallibility, and the very purpose of Revelation. It transforms the deposit of faith from an immutable divine gift into a subjective, evolving human “adventure,” a hallmark of the modernist heresy condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis and Lamentabili Sane Exitu. This “journey” is not towards God, but towards a relativistic abyss where all paths lead to the same “One,” a concept utterly foreign to the Catholic understanding of the One True Church.
The “Church That Goes Forth” into the World’s Embrace
The volume repeatedly echoes the conciliar revolution’s mantra of a “Church that goes forth,” a concept that, in practice, means the Church going forth to embrace the world on its own terms, rather than calling the world to conversion and submission to Christ the King. Prevost’s insistence that “it is not sufficient to repeat the solutions of the past,” but rather to be “capable of communicating the Gospel message in a language intelligible to contemporary culture,” is a thinly veiled call for the adulteration of doctrine. This is precisely the error condemned by St. Pius X, who warned against those who, “under the guise of more serious criticism and in the name of historical method, they aim at such a development of dogmas as appears to be their corruption” (Lamentabili, Prologue). The “solutions of the past” are the immutable truths of faith and morals, the sacramental system, and the hierarchical constitution of the Church. To suggest they are insufficient is to declare divine wisdom inadequate and to elevate human “contemporary culture” as the arbiter of divine truth. This “missionary spirit” is not one of conversion, but of accommodation, leading to the “globalization of indifference” that the neo-church claims to combat, while actively fostering it through its very structures and teachings.
The “Cry of the Poor” as a Substitute for the Cry of Souls
The emphasis on “the cry of the poor,” “poverty,” and “migrants” (mentioned 195 times, according to Parolin) is a classic modernist tactic: reducing the Church’s spiritual mission to a purely naturalistic, socio-political agenda. While the Church has always advocated for the poor and vulnerable, this was always within the context of their spiritual welfare and the ultimate goal of their salvation. Prevost’s focus, as presented, aligns perfectly with the condemned errors of socialism and communism (Syllabus, Section IV), which seek to reorder society based on materialistic principles, often at the expense of spiritual truths. The “unjust poverty” he decries is real, but the solution offered by the neo-church is not the supernatural grace of Christ, the sacraments, and the true Church, but rather “diplomacy, multilateralism, dialogue” – the very tools of a secularized world order. This horizontalism completely ignores the primary mission of the Church: the salvation of souls through the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and the call to repentance and conversion. The “Church poor and for the poor” becomes a mere humanitarian NGO, stripped of its divine mandate and supernatural efficacy.
The “Distinction” of Secularism: A Modernist Smokescreen
Prevost’s distinction between “secularization” (not inherently negative) and “secularism” (which excludes religious values) is a modernist smokescreen. True Catholic teaching, as articulated by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas, unequivocally calls for the public reign of Christ the King over all nations and every aspect of life. “Secularization,” in the sense of a society moving away from God’s laws and the Church’s influence, is always a negative process, a descent into error and moral decay. To suggest otherwise is to deny the social kingship of Christ and to accept the very separation of Church and State condemned by Pope Pius IX (Syllabus, Error 55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church”). The neo-church’s acceptance of a “secularized” society, while claiming to combat “secularism,” is a contradiction in terms, a surrender to the world’s dictates while maintaining a facade of spiritual concern.
The “Loneliness of the Young” and the Failure of the Neo-Church
The writer Maria Grazia Calandrone’s reflections on the “loneliness of the young” in the age of social media, while perhaps superficially sympathetic, completely omit the true cause and solution. The loneliness and superficiality of youth are direct consequences of the neo-church’s abandonment of authentic Catholic formation, its dilution of doctrine, and its embrace of worldly values. The “concrete example of another possibility of life” she proposes is not the radical witness of true Catholic holiness, martyrdom, or the pursuit of perfection, but rather a vague “life of availability toward others” within a community that has itself capitulated to modernism. The true solution lies in the unadulterated Gospel, the sacraments, and the unchanging moral law of God, which the neo-church has systematically undermined. The “fascinating model” offered is merely another iteration of the world’s false promises, dressed in religious garb.
Conclusion: A Testament to Systemic Apostasy
The volume “Free under Grace” is not merely a collection of Prevost’s writings; it is a manifesto for the continued dismantling of the Catholic Church and its replacement by a humanistic, relativistic, and ultimately satanic counterfeit. Every theme presented – the denial of possessing truth, the embrace of a “Church that goes forth” into the world’s errors, the reduction of the Church’s mission to social justice, the acceptance of secularization, and the superficial treatment of spiritual ills – is a direct fruit of the conciliar revolution and its inherent modernism. This book, presented with the full backing of the Vatican’s communication apparatus and its highest “cardinals,” serves as further undeniable evidence that the structures occupying the Vatican are not the Catholic Church, but the “abomination of desolation” prophesied by Our Lord. It is a call to reject this neo-church entirely and to hold fast to the integral Catholic faith, the only path to true freedom under Grace.
Source:
“Free under Grace,” a book to get to know Prevost in dialogue with the world (vaticannews.va)
Date: 06.05.2026