The National Catholic Register reports on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding mifepristone telehealth rules, highlighting the dissenting opinions of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, along with Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan of the Fifth Circuit. The article frames their positions as acts of “genuine judicial courage” against powerful pro-abortion interests. While the piece correctly identifies the gravity of the abortion issue and the corruption within regulatory agencies, it fundamentally operates within a naturalistic framework that fails to address the root cause of societal collapse: the rejection of Christ the King and the abandonment of integral Catholic doctrine.
The Natural Law Argument: Necessary but Insufficient
The article rightly condemns the shipment of abortifacients as a violation of both natural and divine law. Justice Thomas’s invocation of the Comstock Act and his characterization of the manufacturers’ actions as a “criminal enterprise” aligns with the Church’s perennial teaching that abortion is a grave sin against the Fifth Commandment. Similarly, Judge Duncan’s meticulous documentation of the FDA’s regulatory failures echoes the Catholic principle that civil authority must govern according to the moral law.
However, the article’s reliance solely on natural law reasoning—without explicit reference to the supernatural order—reveals a critical deficiency. As Pope Pius XI taught in *Quas Primas*, “the Kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men… not only 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.” To argue for the protection of unborn life without affirming the universal kingship of Christ is to build a house on sand. The natural law, while knowable by reason, finds its fullest expression and enforcement only within the social reign of Christ the King.
The Absence of Supernatural Authority
Notably absent from the article is any mention of the Church’s Magisterium or the binding authority of her pre-conciliar teachings. There is no reference to the anathemas of the Council of Trent against those who deny the necessity of baptism or the gravity of mortal sin, nor is there any citation of papal encyclicals such as *Casti Connubii* or *Humanae Vitae* (the latter being the last authentic exercise of the ordinary Magisterium before the modernist takeover). Instead, the article treats the defense of life as a matter of legal strategy and political will rather than a supernatural duty incumbent upon all men and nations.
This omission reflects the broader malaise within much of contemporary Catholic commentary: a reduction of the Faith to a set of ethical positions rather than a totalizing supernatural reality. As St. Pius X warned in *Lamentabili Sane Exitu*, “the Church is an enemy of the progress of natural and theological sciences” when they are divorced from divine revelation. The article’s silence on the Church’s role in forming consciences and guiding civil society according to God’s law leaves the reader with a truncated vision—one that may win legal battles but loses the war for souls.
The Illusion of Secular Justice
The article praises the “judicial courage” of Thomas, Alito, and Duncan, yet it fails to recognize that true justice cannot exist outside the framework of the Catholic Church. The *Syllabus of Errors* condemns the notion that “authority is nothing else but numbers and the sum total of material forces” (Proposition 60) and that “the State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits” (Proposition 39). In a republic founded on Enlightenment principles rather than Catholic social teaching, the judiciary is inherently limited in its ability to uphold the moral law. The very structure of American government—with its separation of powers and reliance on popular sovereignty—ensures that the demands of the Gospel will always be subordinated to the whims of the majority or the interests of the powerful.
Moreover, the article’s celebration of “states trying to govern themselves” ignores the fact that no state can claim legitimate autonomy apart from the Church. As Pius XI declared, “the Church, established by Christ as a perfect society, demands for itself by a right belonging to it, which it cannot renounce, full freedom and independence from secular authority.” Until civil rulers publicly recognize Christ’s kingship and submit their laws to the judgment of the Church, their efforts—however well-intentioned—will remain futile.
The Deeper Apostasy: A World Without Sacraments
Perhaps the most telling omission in the article is its complete silence on the sacramental life. There is no mention of the necessity of baptism for salvation, no warning about the dangers of receiving communion in a state of mortal sin, no call to repentance and conversion. The fight against abortion is presented as a legal and political struggle rather than a spiritual battle against the forces of darkness.
This reflects the post-conciliar abandonment of the supernatural. Since the modernist takeover beginning in 1958, the conciliar sect has systematically downplayed the reality of sin, the necessity of the sacraments, and the urgency of eternal salvation. The result is a Catholicism that is indistinguishable from secular humanism—a religion of good works without grace, of social justice without the Cross.
Conclusion: Return to Tradition
While the defense of unborn life is a noble cause, it cannot be waged effectively without a return to integral Catholic faith. The article’s reliance on natural law reasoning, its silence on the Church’s authority, and its embrace of secular legal mechanisms reveal the bankruptcy of modernist Catholicism. Only by restoring the social reign of Christ the King, submitting all civil authority to the judgment of the Church, and returning to the sacramental life can we hope to build a civilization worthy of the name.
As the *Syllabus of Errors* reminds us, “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” is the final and most damning error of our age (Proposition 80). Let us pray for the conversion of rulers, the restoration of the Church, and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary—not through false apparitions, but through the unchanging Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.
Source:
Standing Firm: Three Jurists Who Refused to Look Away From Abortion (ncregister.com)
Date: 15.05.2026