EWTN News portal reports on the activities of Father Julio Alonso Ampuero, a Spanish missionary priest evangelizing in the poor peripheries of Lima, Peru. The article describes his ministry of retreats, confessions, and pastoral care at the Holy Family Retreat House and the Sowing Hope shelter for vulnerable men. Ampuero claims to witness “miracles all the time” in the form of conversions and renewed closeness to the faith, emphasizing the transformative power of “encounter with Christ” for those struggling with addiction and the importance of prayer. He contrasts the “great openness to the Gospel” in Peru with the secularization of Spain, and encourages young people not to fear religious vocations, quoting the late usurper Benedict XVI. This article, a typical product of the post-conciliar propaganda machine, presents a vision of the Church’s mission reduced to naturalistic humanitarianism, psychological self-help, and an emotional “encounter” devoid of doctrinal content, sacramental rigor, and the supernatural order, thereby exemplifying the very essence of the modernist apostasy condemned by St. Pius X.
The Reduction of the Miraculous to Emotional Experience
The article’s central claim, that Father Ampuero witnesses “miracles all the time” in the form of “conversions and renewed closeness to the faith,” immediately raises profound theological concerns. In the integral Catholic faith, a miracle is “an event perceptible to the senses, produced by God beyond the ordinary course of nature, to manifest the divine origin of the faith” (Catechism of the Council of Trent). It is an extraordinary intervention of God, a suspension of natural laws, serving as a divine seal upon truth. The post-conciliar mentality, however, has systematically debased this concept, reducing “miracle” to any positive emotional experience, a psychological shift, or a feeling of “renewed closeness.” This is a direct consequence of the modernist error condemned in Lamentabili sane exitu (proposition 20), which defines revelation as “merely man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God.” When “miracle” becomes synonymous with “feeling good” or “having an encounter,” the supernatural order is effectively denied, and the faith is reduced to a subjective, internal phenomenon, a mere “religious experience” devoid of objective, supernatural reality. This is not the Catholic faith; it is the very essence of the “false mysticism” and “sentimentalism” that the Church has always warned against.
The “Gospel” Without Doctrine: A Recipe for Spiritual Starvation
Ampuero’s ministry is described as providing “biblical formation and pastoral care,” yet the article offers no concrete doctrinal content. Instead, we hear of “inner healing,” “silent retreats,” and “strengthening that relationship with the Lord.” This vagueness is not accidental; it is a hallmark of the post-conciliar approach, which systematically avoids clear, defined Catholic dogma in favor of a nebulous “spirituality” that offends no one and transforms nothing. The Council of Trent, in its Decree on Justification (Session VI, Chapter 7), explicitly states that justification involves not only the remission of sins but also “the sanctification and renewal of the interior man,” which is impossible without a clear understanding of the truths of faith and the grace of the sacraments. To speak of “relationship with the Lord” without defining Who the Lord is, what His Church teaches, and what the sacraments truly effect, is to offer spiritual starvation disguised as a feast. This approach directly contradicts the perennial teaching of the Magisterium, as articulated by Pope Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis, where he condemns the modernist tendency to separate “religious facts” from “dogmas,” reducing the latter to mere “interpretations” of the former. The “openness to the Gospel” Ampuero encounters in Peru is, in reality, an openness to a naturalistic, sentimentalized version of Christianity that bears little resemblance to the integral Catholic faith.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation: A Psychological Outlet?
The article notes that people “place a high value on the Sacrament of Reconciliation,” with Ampuero spending “hours hearing confessions.” While the frequentation of this sacrament is objectively good, the post-conciliar context often distorts its true nature. The danger lies in reducing the sacrament to a mere “unburdening of conscience” or finding “a little consolation and hope,” as Ampuero describes it, rather than emphasizing the necessity of true contrition, purpose of amendment, and the absolution of sins by a priest acting in persona Christi. The Council of Trent (Session XIV, Chapter 3) teaches that the Sacrament of Penance is “a tribunal of mercy,” where the priest acts as a judge, and the penitent must confess all mortal sins, “even secret ones,” with a “firm purpose of amendment.” To present it primarily as a source of “consolation and hope” without the rigorous demands of justice and repentance is to turn a tribunal of divine judgment into a psychological counseling session, a “therapeutic” encounter that may soothe the conscience but does not necessarily reconcile the soul with God. This is a grave disservice to the faithful, leaving them in a false sense of security regarding their eternal salvation.
The “Encounter with Christ”: A Modernist Mantra
Ampuero’s assertion that “faith in Christ, the encounter with Christ, that can most radically set you free” from addiction is a classic example of modernist rhetoric. While true faith in Christ is indeed liberating, the post-conciliar “theology of encounter” often substitutes a vague, emotional experience for the objective realities of grace, merit, and the theological virtues. The Council of Trent (Session VI, Chapter 7) defines justification as “a translation from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God, through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior.” This is not merely an “encounter” but a fundamental ontological change in the soul, a participation in the divine nature. To reduce this to an “encounter” that “heals all wounds” is to fall into the very error condemned by St. Pius X: the reduction of the supernatural to the natural, the divine to the human. Furthermore, the article’s silence on the necessity of the sacraments, particularly Baptism and Penance, for true liberation from sin and its effects, reveals a profound theological void. The “love of God” Ampuero speaks of is presented as a vague sentiment, not as the theological virtue of charity, which “is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us” (Romans 5:5).
The “Privilege” of the Priesthood: A distortion of In Persona Christi
Ampuero’s statement that priests are “privileged” because “people open their consciences to them” and “one sees miracles constantly” subtly distorts the nature of the Catholic priesthood. The true privilege of the priest lies not in hearing confessions or witnessing emotional conversions, but in his power to consecrate the Holy Eucharist, to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and to absolve sins in persona Christi Capitis (in the person of Christ the Head). The Council of Trent (Session XXIII, Chapter 1) teaches that the priesthood was instituted by Christ “to offer His Body and Blood under the form of bread and wine, and to remit or retain sins.” To focus solely on the “opening of consciences” and the “seeing of miracles” without emphasizing the priest’s primary role as alter Christus (another Christ) in the Holy Sacrifice and the administration of the sacraments, is to reduce the priesthood to a form of spiritual counseling or social work. This is a direct consequence of the conciliar revolution’s “democratization” of the Church, where the hierarchical, sacramental nature of the priesthood is obscured in favor of a more “accessible” and “pastoral” image.
The Call to Vocations: A Call to What?
The article concludes with Ampuero’s message to young people considering religious or consecrated life: “Don’t be afraid. When God calls us to something, he will always provide the means to carry it out.” While this sounds encouraging, the critical question remains: a call to what? In the context of the post-conciliar structures, a “vocation” often means joining an order or congregation that has embraced the errors of Vatican II, participating in the “new evangelization” that is merely a repackaged modernism, and perpetuating the very system that has led to the ruin of countless souls. The true call of God is to the integral Catholic faith, to the religious life as it was lived before the conciliar upheaval, characterized by strict observance, clear doctrine, and a total separation from the spirit of the world. To encourage vocations without this crucial distinction is to lead the young into the jaws of the conciliar sect, where they will be formed not in the perennial traditions of the Church, but in the novelties of modernism. As Pope Pius IX declared in the Syllabus of Errors (proposition 80), “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” is a condemned error. The call to vocations must be a call to the true Church, not to the structures of the abomination of desolation.
The Silence of Supernatural Truths
Perhaps the most damning aspect of this article is what it omits. There is no mention of the necessity of the true Mass, the Traditional Latin Mass, for the salvation of souls. There is no mention of the dangers of receiving “Communion” in the conciliar structures, where the Mass has been reduced to a “table of assembly” and the rubrics violate the theology of the propitiatory sacrifice. There is no warning that receiving “Communion” in these structures, where the Real Presence is often denied or obscured, constitutes if not “just” sacrilege, then idolatry. There is no mention of the necessity of the true Sacraments, validly administered by priests ordained according to the ancient rite, for the conferral of sanctifying grace. There is no mention of the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. There is no mention of the necessity of the state of grace for salvation. There is no mention of the dangers of modernism, the conciliar sect, or the usurpers on Peter’s throne. This silence is not accidental; it is the very essence of the post-conciliar apostasy, which systematically avoids the hard truths of the faith in favor of a comfortable, naturalistic, and ultimately soul-destroying “spirituality.” As Our Lord Himself warned: “The light of the body is the eye. If then thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If then the light that in thee be evil, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23). The “light” offered by Ampuero and the conciliar structures is not the light of Christ, but the darkness of naturalism and modernism, leading souls to perdition under the guise of “evangelization.”
Source:
Priest evangelizing in the peripheries of Lima says he sees ‘miracles all the time’ (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 30.05.2026