VaticanNews portal reports on May 21, 2026, that the Presidency of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) met with the antipope Leo XIV to discuss a proposal for a new edition of “Rethinking Europe” in fall 2027. Bishop Mariano Crociata, President of COMECE, described the audience as “particularly cordial, direct, and open,” noting “a strong harmony between our work and what the Pope teaches and bears witness to through his magisterium.” The article outlines the conciliar vision for Europe’s future, emphasizing peace, dialogue, multilateralism, and the promotion of “values at the service of humanity.” Archbishop Antoine Hérouard of Dijon spoke of a Europe “founded on unity and peace,” while Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen focused on immigration, lamenting that “unfortunately immigrants are often turned into scapegoats” and highlighting the “enrichment” brought by migrant communities to the Church in Northern Europe. This meeting and its stated objectives represent yet another manifestation of the post-conciliar apostasy, where the counterfeit church actively promotes a naturalistic, Masonic vision of European unity while remaining silent on the supernatural mission of the true Church and the absolute Kingship of Jesus Christ over all nations.
The Silence of Supernatural Truth: A Church Reduced to Humanitarian Activism
The most striking feature of this entire exchange between COMECE and the antipope Leo XIV is what is entirely absent: any mention of the supernatural mission of the Church, the necessity of conversion to the Catholic Faith, the sacramental life, the reality of sin and grace, the obligation of states to recognize the Kingship of Christ, or the eternal destiny of souls. Bishop Crociata declares that “Our task goes beyond divisions, majorities, and minorities: it is to promote values at the service of humanity and of today’s Europe.” This is the language of the United Nations, not of the Church of Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church was not founded to promote vague “values at the service of humanity”—a phrase indistinguishable from Masonic humanitarianism—but to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19). The entire thrust of the conciliar sect, as demonstrated by this meeting, is the reduction of the Church from the Mystical Body of Christ, the one true ark of salvation, to a mere nongovernmental organization advocating for peace, dialogue, and humanitarian concerns.
Pius XI, in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925), established the Feast of Christ the King precisely to combat the secularism and laicism that were already poisoning human society. He taught that “the Kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men” and that “men united in societies are no less subject to the authority of Christ than individuals.” The Pontiff explicitly stated that rulers and states have the duty to publicly recognize and obey Christ the King, and that “what we wrote at the beginning of Our Pontificate about the diminishing authority of law and respect for power, the same can be applied to the present times: ‘When God and Jesus Christ—as we lamented—were removed from laws and states and when authority was derived not from God but from men, the foundations of that authority were destroyed.'” The COMECE bishops and the antipope are not merely silent on this teaching—they actively contradict it by engaging in dialogue with European political institutions as though these institutions were legitimate arbiters of Europe’s future, rather than entities that must submit to the divine law and the social Kingship of Christ.
“Rethinking Europe”: The Masonic Project Rebranded
The proposal for a new edition of “Rethinking Europe” in fall 2027 is particularly revealing. The first edition, held ten years prior, brought together “political representatives of the European Union and its member states, academics, and representatives of the Churches.” This is precisely the model of the post-conciliar church: interreligious and interinstitutional dialogue where the Catholic Church is merely one voice among many, seated at the table as an equal partner with secular powers and false religions. The European Union itself is a Masonic project—born from the ashes of wars that Freemasonry largely engineered—and its foundational principles of religious indifferentism, secular governance, and the exclusion of God from public life are directly condemned by the perennial Magisterium.
Pope Pius IX, in the Syllabus of Errors (1864), condemned the proposition 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” (Proposition 77). He further condemned the idea that “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Proposition 80). The COMECE initiative is nothing less than the practical implementation of these condemned errors. The bishops do not call Europe to repentance, conversion, and submission to the Catholic Church as the one true religion; instead, they propose “reflection and dialogue” on “challenges that Europe and the world as a whole are facing”—language deliberately emptied of any supernatural content.
St. Pius X, in Lamentabili Sane Exitu (1907), condemned the modernist proposition that “The Church is an enemy of the progress of natural and theological sciences” (Proposition 57) and that “Contemporary Catholicism cannot be reconciled with true knowledge without transforming it into a certain dogmaless Christianity, that is, into a broad and liberal Protestantism” (Proposition 65). The “Rethinking Europe” project is exactly this transformation: a dogmaless, broad, and liberal pseudo-Catholicism that seeks harmony with the prevailing secular order rather than the conversion of that order to Christ.
Peace Without Christ: The Devil’s Greatest Deception
Bishop Crociata stated that “The European Union was born as a project of peace, and peace lies at its roots and in its identity.” Archbishop Hérouard spoke of “Creating the conditions to foster dialogue and peaceful coexistence” as a responsibility “that goes beyond laws and institutions.” This language of “peace” and “dialogue” divorced from the recognition of Christ the King is the hallmark of the modernist apostasy. True peace is not the mere absence of armed conflict between nations; it is the “tranquillitas ordinis”—the tranquility of order—that St. Augustine described, which can only exist when God is at the center of individual, family, and social life.
Pius XI was unequivocal: “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” He further taught that “if men were ever to recognize Christ’s royal authority over themselves, both privately and publicly, then unheard-of blessings would flow upon the whole society, such as due freedom, order, and tranquility, and concord and peace.” The COMECE bishops, by contrast, seek peace through dialogue with secular institutions, through the promotion of multilateralism, and through the vague application of “Gospel values” and “the Church’s social teaching”—teaching that has itself been corrupted by the conciliar revolution into a vehicle for the very liberalism and modernism it was originally intended to combat.
The Syllabus of Errors condemned the proposition that “The injustice of an act when successful inflicts no injury on the sanctity of right” (Proposition 61), yet the entire European project is built upon the normalization of injustice: the exclusion of Christ from public life, the legalization of abortion, the promotion of homosexual unions, the erosion of the family, and the subjection of the Church to secular authority. The COMECE bishops do not denounce these injustices; they seek “dialogue” with the very institutions that perpetrate them.
Immigration as Ecclesial Enrichment: The Neo-Church’s Replacement Theology
Bishop Kozon’s remarks on immigration are perhaps the most revealing of the conciliar sect’s theological bankruptcy. He laments that “unfortunately immigrants are often turned into scapegoats, into the enemies of society” and highlights that “the Catholic Church, especially in Northern European countries, is largely composed—in some cases predominantly—of immigrants.” He states that “Their presence is perceived as an enrichment: in situations where some parishes risked disappearing, the arrival of immigrants brought new life.” He concludes that “we have at least two reasons to stand with migrants: on the one hand humanitarian reasons, and on the other genuinely ecclesial reasons.”
This is not Catholic teaching. The Catholic Church has always taught that the primary purpose of the Church’s existence is the salvation of souls through the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and the sanctification of the faithful. The Church does not exist to be “enriched” by demographic influx; she exists to convert, baptize, and sanctify. The notion that immigration is justified by “ecclesial reasons”—that is, because immigrants fill empty pews—replaces the supernatural mission of the Church with a purely sociological and utilitarian calculus. It is the logic of a corporation seeking market share, not of the Mystical Body of Christ seeking the salvation of souls for eternity.
Furthermore, the complete silence on the question of the immigrants’ religion is deafening. In Northern Europe, the vast majority of immigrants are Muslims. The COMECE bishops do not call for their conversion to the Catholic Faith—the only means of salvation—but instead welcome them as an “enrichment” and a source of “new life” for the Church. This is the practical implementation of the religious indifferentism condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors, which rejected the proposition that “Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation” (Proposition 16) and that “Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ” (Proposition 17).
The “Harmony” Between Conciliarism and the European Project
Bishop Crociata’s observation that “The underlying note was a strong harmony between our work and what the Pope teaches and bears witness to through his magisterium” is perhaps the most chilling statement in the entire article. This “harmony” is not surprising—it is the inevitable fruit of the conciliar revolution. Since John XXIII convoked the Second Vatican Council, the structures occupying the Vatican have been systematically aligned with the liberal, Masonic, and modernist project of European integration. The antipopes have consistently promoted religious liberty, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and cooperation with secular institutions—all of which are condemned by the perennial Magisterium.
The “strong harmony” between COMECE and the antipope Leo XIV is the harmony of apostasy. It is the harmony of a counterfeit church that has exchanged the deposit of faith for the spirit of the world, the mission of conversion for the mission of dialogue, and the Kingship of Christ for the reign of humanitarian values. Pius IX warned in the Syllabus of Errors that “the sad and full of perils is the condition of Catholics” in regions where secular governments wage war against the Church, and he identified the cause: “the frauds and machinations of these sects… the synagogue of Satan, which gathers its troops against the Church of Christ.” The COMECE bishops, far from resisting these machinations, are active collaborators in the Masonic project of a Europe without Christ.
Conclusion: The Abomination of Desolation in the Holy Place
The meeting between COMECE and the antipope Leo XIV is not an isolated event; it is a symptom of the comprehensive apostasy that has consumed the structures occupying the Vatican since the mid-twentieth century. The proposal for “Rethinking Europe” in 2027 is not a Catholic initiative—it is a Masonic one, dressed in the borrowed language of the Gospel and stripped of all supernatural content. The bishops of COMECE do not call for the conversion of Europe to the Catholic Faith; they call for dialogue, peace, and the promotion of values. They do not proclaim the Kingship of Christ over the nations; they seek harmony with the European Union, a political entity founded on the exclusion of God from public life.
The faithful must recognize this for what it is: the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place (Matthew 24:15). The response of the true faithful is not to participate in this apostasy, not to seek accommodation with the conciliar sect, but to hold fast to the integral Catholic Faith as taught by the Fathers, the Councils, and the pre-conciliar Popes. Roma locuta est, causa finita est—Rome has spoken, the matter is settled. But the Rome that matters is not the Rome of Leo XIV, COMECE, and the European project; it is the Rome of Pius IX, St. Pius X, and Pius XI—the Rome that proclaimed the Social Kingship of Christ, condemned liberalism and modernism, and declared that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. That Rome endures in the hearts of the faithful who refuse to bow before the idols of the modern world.
Source:
COMECE outlines a vision for Europe’s future against populism and wars (vaticannews.va)
Date: 21.05.2026