The National Catholic Register, a portal aligned with the post-conciliar establishment, published a commentary on May 15, 2026, by Claire Lai, daughter of imprisoned Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai. The article recounts how her father’s incarceration under Beijing’s national security law has purportedly deepened the family’s faith, citing his manual labor, fasting, and longing for sacraments as evidence of spiritual fortitude. While the narrative of suffering is presented as a testament to divine grace, a rigorous examination through the lens of pre-1958 Catholic doctrine reveals a troubling reliance on false devotions, a silence on the true nature of the Church’s authority, and a dangerous conflation of natural virtue with supernatural justification — all hallmarks of the modernist infiltration that has hollowed out the faith since the Second Vatican Council.
Invocation of the “Blessed Mother of Fatima”: A Masonic Distraction
Perhaps the most glaring theological error in Claire Lai’s account is her father’s alleged experience on May 13, 2021 — the so-called feast day of “Our Lady of Fatima.” She writes: “It was the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, and it reminded me and him that the Blessed Mother intercedes for the weakest among us — a sign of hope in turmoil and a reminder that even at our weakest, we can aid in the conversion of souls through her intercession.”
This statement, while emotionally resonant, is built upon a foundation of sand. As documented in the file False Fatima Apparitions, the events at Fatima in 1917 bear the hallmarks of a Masonic psychological operation against the Church. The date itself — 1917 — corresponds to the centenary of the founding of modern Freemasonry in 1717, and the subsequent canonization of the visionaries in 2017 completes a ritualistic 200-year cycle. The “miracle of the sun” is explicable as a natural optical phenomenon combined with mass hysteria and autosuggestion. More critically, the Fatima message theologically contradicts Catholic doctrine by promoting “hyper-acts” of worship (such as the consecration of Russia) that undermine the centrality of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacramental life of the Church.
The invocation of “Our Lady of Fatima” is not merely a pious error; it is a diversion from the true dangers facing the Church. As the file notes, the Fatima message focuses on external threats like communism while ignoring the primary danger: modernist apostasy within the Church itself, warned against by St. Pius X in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907) and the decree Lamentabili sane exitu. By invoking “Fatima,” the Lais unknowingly align themselves with a narrative that serves to obscure the real enemies of the faith — those who have infiltrated the hierarchy and corrupted the deposit of faith from within.
Silence on the True Church and the Usurpers in Rome
The article’s most damning omission is its complete silence on the true state of the Church. Jimmy Lai is described as a “Catholic free speech advocate,” and his family prays for his release alongside “Catholics around the world.” But which Church? The post-conciliar structures occupying the Vatican, led by the line of usurpers beginning with John XXIII and continuing through the current antipope, Leo XIV (Robert Prevost), have systematically dismantled the Catholic faith. They have imposed a counterfeit “Mass” that is a mere assembly table, promoted false ecumenism with schismatics and heretics, and embraced the very religious liberty condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors (propositions 77-79).
The Lais’ appeal to “Catholics around the world” implicitly recognizes these usurpers as legitimate authorities. Yet, as the file Defense of Sedevacantism demonstrates, a manifest heretic — and the post-conciliar antipopes have repeatedly professed heresies condemned by the Magisterium — ceases to be Pope and head of the Church by that very fact, as St. Robert Bellarmine taught in De Romano Pontifice. The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 188.4) confirms that every ecclesiastical office becomes vacant by the mere fact of public defection from the Catholic faith, without any declaration required. The Lais, by appealing to the structures of the neo-church, are unwittingly lending legitimacy to an anti-church that has betrayed Christ the King.
Fasting Without the Sacraments: Natural Virtue Masquerating as Sanctity
Claire Lai describes her father’s fasting every Friday, his endurance of cold and hunger, and his refusal to yield to temptation: “When I looked at the picture of Christ on the Cross I put on the wall… I realized how trivial my shivering was compared to what the Lord suffered for our sins.” While these acts of self-denial are commendable in the natural order, they are spiritually barren without the sacramental life of the true Church.
Jimmy Lai is described as being “denied the sacraments in his imprisonment.” But what sacraments? If he is receiving sacraments from priests ordained under the post-conciliar rite — a rite whose validity is gravely suspect due to changes in the essential form and intention — he is not receiving true sacraments at all. The post-conciliar “Eucharist” is not the true Body and Blood of Christ but an empty symbol; their “confession” is not a true absolution but a psychological exercise. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas (1925), Christ’s kingdom encompasses all men and all aspects of life, and His authority is not merely spiritual but extends to the temporal order. The Lais’ focus on personal piety while ignoring the usurpation of Christ’s authority by the conciliar sect is a form of spiritual bypassing that leaves the soul exposed to deception.
Moreover, the Lais’ fasting and suffering, while admirable, cannot substitute for the grace conferred by the true sacraments. As the Council of Trent taught, the sacraments are not mere signs but instrumental causes of grace. Without access to a validly ordained priest offering the true Mass, Jimmy Lai’s fasting is akin to a man building a house on sand (Matthew 7:26).
The Illusion of “Grace” Without the True Church
The article’s central thesis — that suffering leads to greater faith and that “everything that happens is all grace” — is a distortion of Catholic teaching. While it is true that God can bring good out of evil, and that suffering can be meritorious when united to the Cross of Christ, this is only possible within the context of the true Church and the sacramental life. As St. Cyprian taught, extra Ecclesiam nulla salus — outside the Church there is no salvation. The Lais’ appeal to “grace” without reference to the true Church’s authority, the true Mass, and the true sacraments is a naturalistic humanism dressed in spiritual language.
The quote from St. Thérèse of Lisieux — “everything that happens is all grace” — is taken out of context. St. Thérèse lived and died within the true Church, receiving the true sacraments, and her “little way” was rooted in absolute obedience to the Magisterium. The Lais, by contrast, invoke her words while participating in a system that has rejected the Magisterium’s authority and replaced it with the “spirit of Vatican II” — a spirit condemned by every Pope from St. Pius X to Pius XII.
Conclusion: A Call to True Faith
The story of Jimmy Lai and his family is, at its core, a tale of natural virtue in the face of injustice. But natural virtue is not sanctifying grace. Without the true Church, the true Mass, and the true sacraments, the Lais’ faith is built on a foundation that cannot withstand the trials of the present apostasy. The invocation of “Fatima,” the silence on the usurpers in Rome, and the reliance on personal piety without sacramental grace are all symptoms of the modernist infection that has spread throughout the visible structures of the Church since 1958.
The path forward is not to seek comfort in the false devotions and compromised structures of the neo-church, but to return to the immutable Tradition of the Catholic faith — the faith of the martyrs, the Fathers, and the saints who suffered not for “human rights” or “free speech,” but for the reign of Christ the King over all nations and every aspect of human life. As Pope Pius XI proclaimed, “The peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ” — and that kingdom is not of this world, nor can it be reconciled with the spirit of modernism, liberalism, or the “new civilization” condemned by the Syllabus of Errors.
Source:
Jimmy Lai’s Daughter: How My Father’s Imprisonment Has Strengthened My Family’s Faith (ncregister.com)
Date: 15.05.2026