The National Catholic Register reports on a gathering at Madrid’s Movistar Arena on June 7, 2026, where actor Antonio Banderas addressed the usurper Robert Prevost (“Pope Leo XIV”), declaring, “I confess that I am a victim of God’s spell.” The event, part of the antipode’s apostolic visit to Spain, brought together figures from culture, sports, academia, and labor under the theme “Lift up your gaze.” The gathering was presented as a dialogue between faith and contemporary art, with the antipode citing his encyclical “Magnifica humanitas” and invoking St. Paul VI’s address to the United Nations. The event exemplifies the conciliar sect’s reduction of the Faith to a cultural commodity, staged for public consumption alongside celebrities and athletes, while the true Church’s mission of salvation is supplanted by a naturalistic humanism dressed in liturgical vestments.
The “Court of the Gentiles”: A Stage for the Religion of Man
The event at Madrid’s Movistar Arena was not a Catholic act of worship or evangelization. It was a theatrical production, a spectacle designed to project an image of relevance and cultural engagement. The presence of Antonio Banderas, a Hollywood actor, as a featured speaker is not incidental. It is symptomatic of the conciliar sect’s obsession with celebrity endorsement and its desperate attempt to appear “modern” and “engaged” with the world. The true Church, founded by Christ to teach, govern, and sanctify souls for eternal salvation, does not require the validation of actors or athletes to legitimize its mission. As Pope Pius XI declared in *Quas Primas*, “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.” This gathering, however, was not an assertion of the Church’s independence but a capitulation to the world’s values, a performance designed to show that the conciliar sect is “with the times.”
The theme of the event, “Lift up your gaze,” is itself a distortion. The true lifting of the gaze is toward the Cross, toward the supernatural end of man, toward the eternal truths of the Faith. Here, the “gaze” is directed horizontally, toward culture, art, economics, and sports — the very things that Pope Pius IX condemned in the *Syllabus of Errors* as the errors of liberalism and modernism. The event’s subtitle, “weaving networks,” is a bureaucratic euphemism for the conciliar sect’s program of dialogue and encounter, which, in practice, means the dilution of Catholic truth in exchange for worldly approval.
Antonio Banderas and the “Spell” of Naturalistic Piety
Banderas’ declaration, “I confess that I am a victim of God’s spell,” is not a Catholic confession. It is a sentimental, naturalistic expression that reduces the supernatural grace of God to a kind of enchantment, a feeling. True Catholic piety is not a “spell” but a response to divine grace, rooted in faith, hope, and charity, expressed through the sacraments and the moral life. Banderas’ invocation of the Holy Week processions of his native Málaga is a reference to popular piety, which, while capable of being a genuine expression of faith, is here instrumentalized as a cultural artifact, a nostalgic backdrop for a secular event. The true Holy Week is a participation in the mysteries of Christ’s Passion, not a cultural performance for the entertainment of the masses.
Banderas’ remarks on art’s ability to “raise deep questions” and recover “the depth and the soul that is trying to be stolen by artificial intelligence” are a perfect example of the conciar sect’s naturalistic humanism. Art, in the Catholic understanding, is ordered to the worship of God and the sanctification of souls. As Pope Pius X taught in *Lamentabili sane exitu*, the pursuit of novelty and the rejection of the Church’s authority lead to “deplorable consequences” and “the most grievous errors.” Here, art is presented as an autonomous sphere, a counterweight to technology, but not as a handmaid of the Faith. The true Church has always fostered art in service of the liturgy and the proclamation of the Gospel, not as a means of cultural dialogue with the world.
Leo XIV’s Encyclical “Magnifica humanitas”: The Theologizing of Naturalism
The antipode’s citation of his encyclical “Magnifica humanitas” is a red flag. The title itself, “Magnificent Humanity,” reveals the conciar sect’s anthropocentric orientation. The true end of man is not humanity but God. As the *Catechism of the Council of Trent* teaches, “The chief end of man is to know God and to enjoy Him forever.” The encyclical’s central question, “What does it mean to be truly human?” is a question that can only be answered in light of the Incarnation, the Redemption, and the supernatural order. But the conciliar sect’s answer, as presented here, is a naturalistic one: Jesus Christ “responds to the great questions about human life and its fullness, already in this world and unto its fulfillment in eternity.” This is a subtle but pernicious error. It suggests that the fullness of human life is attainable “already in this world,” a notion that contradicts the Catholic teaching on the Cross, suffering, and the pilgrimage of this life toward the next.
The antipode’s invocation of St. Paul VI’s address to the United Nations is also telling. Paul VI’s speech, in which he declared, “You are experts in the affairs of man,” is a classic example of the conciliar sect’s abandonment of the Church’s supernatural mission in favor of a naturalistic humanism. The true Church does not come to the United Nations to dialogue with the world on its own terms. She comes to preach Christ and Him crucified, to call all men and nations to conversion and obedience to the Gospel. As Pope Pius XI taught in *Quas Primas*, “The state must leave the same freedom to the members of Orders and Congregations, both male and female, who are indeed the most valiant helpers of the Pastors of the Church and contribute most to the expansion and establishment of Christ’s Kingdom.” The conciliar sect, by contrast, seeks not to expand Christ’s Kingdom but to build bridges with the world, to “weave networks” of dialogue and cooperation.
The Omission of the Supernatural: The Gravest Accusation
The most striking feature of this event is what it omits. There is no mention of the sacraments, no call to conversion, no mention of sin, grace, or the last things. The word “salvation” does not appear. The event is entirely horizontal, focused on culture, art, economics, and sports. This is the religion of man, the “new Christianity” that Pope Pius X condemned in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis* as the “synthesis of all heresies.” The true Church is not a cultural organization. She is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Ark of Salvation, the only means by which souls can be saved. As Pope Pius IX declared in the *Syllabus of Errors*, “The Church is a true and perfect society, entirely free, and endowed with proper and perpetual rights of her own, conferred upon her by her Divine Founder.” The conciliar sect, by contrast, has reduced the Church to a NGO, a partner in dialogue with the world, a “bridge builder” between God and man.
The antipode’s question, “Is it really possible to believe that Europe — which we love so much — would be itself without the imprint of faith?” is a rhetorical question that reveals the conciliar sect’s nostalgia for Christendom, but without the supernatural means to achieve it. The true Christendom was built on the sacraments, the Mass, the preaching of the Gospel, and the obedience of nations to Christ the King. The conciliar sect, by contrast, seeks to “reconcile eternity with everyday life” through dialogue, culture, and “disinterested service.” This is a naturalistic parody of the Faith, a religion without sacrifice, without the Cross, without the supernatural.
The “Weaving of Networks”: A Bureaucratic Parody of the Communion of Saints
The antipode’s metaphor of “weaving networks” is a bureaucratic euphemism for the conciliar sect’s program of dialogue and encounter. The true communion of the Church is not a network of social actors but the Communion of Saints, the union of all the faithful, living and dead, in the Body of Christ. The true “network” is the hierarchy of the Church, the bishops and priests who teach, govern, and sanctify the faithful. The conciliar sect, by contrast, has replaced the hierarchy with a web of partnerships and alliances, a “Court of the Gentiles” where the world is welcomed on its own terms.
The antipode’s citation of the great classics of Spanish literature — Lope de Vega, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. John of the Cross, and Calderón de la Barca — is a selective appropriation of the Catholic cultural heritage, stripped of its supernatural content. These authors were not cultural figures to be cited at a secular event. They were saints and doctors of the Church, whose writings were ordered to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. To invoke them in the context of a “dialogue between faith and culture” is to instrumentalize their legacy for the purposes of the conciliar sect’s naturalistic humanism.
Conclusion: The Theatrical Religion of the Conciliar Sect
The event at Madrid’s Movistar Arena is a microcosm of the conciliar sect’s apostasy. It is a theatrical production, a spectacle designed to project an image of relevance and cultural engagement, while the true mission of the Church — the salvation of souls — is abandoned. The presence of Antonio Banderas, the invocation of St. Paul VI, the citation of “Magnifica humanitas,” the metaphor of “weaving networks” — all of these are symptoms of the conciliar sect’s reduction of the Faith to a cultural commodity, a partner in dialogue with the world. The true Church, the Church of all ages, does not need the validation of actors or athletes. She needs the fidelity of her children, the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and the obedience of nations to Christ the King. As Pope Pius XI declared in *Quas Primas*, “The feast of Christ the King, which we shall henceforth celebrate annually, will bring society back to our most beloved Savior.” The conciliar sect, by contrast, has brought society to the Movistar Arena, where the “spell” of God is reduced to a cultural performance, and the “gaze” is lifted not to Heaven but to the stage.
Source:
Antonio Banderas Tells Pope Leo XIV: ‘I Am a Victim of God’s Spell’ (ncregister.com)
Date: 08.06.2026