EWTN News portal reports that Maël Le Lagadec, an 18-year-old French student, spent 14 hours hauling a 77-pound wooden cross to the summit of Aneto Peak in the Pyrenees, replacing an iron cross that had been torn down and thrown down the slope. The original cross, installed in 1951, had been the target of vandalism for years, including being painted yellow in 2018 by Catalan separatists. While the local mayor stated the wooden cross would remain until the original is restored, a group called the “Movement Towards a Secular State” demanded that disciplinary proceedings be opened against the young man for this act of faith. The article presents a simple story of youthful perseverance, but when viewed through the lens of unchanging Catholic doctrine, it reveals the stark spiritual battle between the reign of Christ the King and the murderous hatred of the secular world.
The World Hates the Cross Because It Condemns Sin
The reaction of the “Movement Towards a Secular State” is not merely a political disagreement; it is the natural fruit of a society that has explicitly rejected the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. When Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in Quas Primas (1925), he explicitly stated that the evils of the modern world stem from the fact that “very many have removed Jesus Christ and His most holy law from their customs, from private, family, and public life.” The demand that a young man be punished for placing a cross on a mountain peak is a direct manifestation of this secularism. The secular state views the cross not as a symbol of salvation, but as an intolerable offense against its godless ideology.
From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, the cross belongs on the highest peaks, for Christ is the King of all creation. Pius XI taught that “Christ the Lord is King of hearts because of His love… for there has been and will be no one who has been so loved by all as Christ Jesus.” The secularists, however, operate under the condemned error that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Proposition 55 of the Syllabus of Errors). They demand a public space stripped of all supernatural reality, a desert where the only god is the state or the autonomous individual. The cross is an affront to this idolatry because it proclaims that there is a higher law than the law of the state—the law of God.
The Cowardice of the “Clergy” and the Silence of the Shepherds
What is most striking in this account, and what exposes the spiritual bankruptcy of the post-conciliar era, is the deafening silence of the institutional “clergy.” Where are the “bishops” and “priests” of the conciliar sect? They issue countless documents on climate change, immigration, and social justice, yet when a young man is threatened with legal punishment for honoring Christ Crucified, they remain mute. This silence is a direct consequence of the apostasy that has consumed the Church since the mid-20th century.
St. Pius X warned against the “enemies within” the Church who seek to destroy her from the inside. The modernist “clergy” are terrified of being called “intolerant” or “extremist” by the secular world. They have abandoned their prophetic role. Instead of defending Le Lagadec and condemning the secularists, they would likely urge “dialogue” with the “Movement Towards a Secular State.” This is the same spirit that led to the condemnation of the proposition that “the Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion” (Proposition 21 of the Syllabus of Errors). The modernists have effectively adopted this heresy, treating the Catholic faith as merely one opinion among many in the marketplace of ideas.
The mayor of Benasque, Manuel Mora, offered a tepid, political response: the wooden cross would remain “until the original is restored.” This is the language of bureaucracy, not of faith. It treats the cross as a piece of municipal infrastructure rather than a sacred symbol demanding perpetual veneration. The true response of a Catholic society would be to celebrate the young man’s feat as a public act of reparation and to immediately restore the original cross with full religious honors. Instead, we see a world where the cross is tolerated only as long as it does not disturb the secular peace.
The Cross is a Sign of Contradiction
The secularists’ hatred of the cross is not new; it is the fulfillment of the world’s hatred for Christ Himself. Our Lord declared, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you” (John 15:18). The cross is the ultimate sign of contradiction because it condemns the world’s cherished sins: its pride, its lust, and its greed. The secular state, which Pius XI described as a society that “thought it could do without God and that its religion was impiety and contempt for God,” cannot tolerate the cross because the cross is a constant reminder of the final judgment.
Le Lagadec’s act of carrying the cross up the mountain is a powerful imitation of Christ carrying His Cross to Calvary. It is a physical manifestation of the spiritual truth that the Christian life is a via crucis. The young man endured 14 hours of physical suffering to glorify God. The secularists, in contrast, seek to punish him because their “religion” is the worship of human autonomy. They demand that the cross be removed from the public square because they know that “the annual celebration of Christ the King… will remind states that not only private individuals, but also rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ and obey Him” (Quas Primas).
The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the Defeat of the World
While the secularists rage, the faithful must recognize that the cross, though attacked, will ultimately triumph. The attacks on the Aneto cross—the storm of 1999, the yellow paint of 2018, and the toppling of the iron cross—are reminiscent of the attacks on the Church herself. Yet, just as the Church endures, so too does the cross. The young Frenchman’s determination to replace the fallen cross is a sign of hope in a world that seems to be plunging into darkness.
The “Movement Towards a Secular State” will fail, just as all movements against Christ have failed. The secularists may pass their laws and issue their threats, but they cannot extinguish the light of faith in the hearts of the young. The cross on Aneto Peak stands as a silent but powerful witness to the truth that Christ is King, not only of the Pyrenees, but of the entire universe. As Pius XI proclaimed, “His reign, namely, extends not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.”
The story of Maël Le Lagadec is a microcosm of the modern world: a young man of faith acting with courage, a secular state acting with hostility, and a compromised “clergy” acting with cowardice. The lesson for the faithful is clear. We must not be intimidated by the threats of the secular world. We must continue to carry our crosses, both literal and figurative, to the summits of our lives, knowing that in the end, the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph, and every knee shall bend to Christ the King.
Source:
French youth hikes up mountain with heavy cross on back, installs atop peak (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 22.05.2026