EWTN News portal reports on the testimony of Carmen Molina, a pediatric palliative care nurse at the Child Jesus Children’s Hospital in Madrid, who shared her experience accompanying terminally ill children and their families during an event organized for the visit of the antipope Leo XIV to the Movistar Arena in Madrid. The article presents Molina’s reflections on suffering, hope, and the meaning of life, emphasizing that “what counts is the love given or not given” and that “life is not measured by success or productivity but by authenticity and love.” While the testimony contains some superficially religious language, a thorough analysis reveals the complete absence of specifically Catholic supernatural doctrine, reducing the faith to a vague sentimental humanism indistinguishable from secular palliative care philosophy.
The Complete Silence on the Supernatural Order
The most striking and damning feature of this testimony is what it omits entirely. Carmen Molina speaks of “faith,” “hope,” “the hand of God,” and “going to heaven,” yet nowhere does she mention a single specifically Catholic doctrine. There is no mention of the state of grace, no mention of sanctifying grace, no mention of the sacraments — neither Baptism, Confession, nor the Holy Eucharist. There is no mention of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, no mention of Extreme Unction (the sacrament specifically instituted for the dying), no mention of the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and no mention of the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the saints.
This silence is not accidental. It is the hallmark of the post-conciliar neo-church, which has systematically emptied Catholic practice of its supernatural content. As Pope Pius IX declared in the Syllabus of Errors, condemning those who would reduce religion to mere naturalism: “All the truths of religion proceed from the innate strength of reason; hence reason is the ultimate standard by which man can and ought to arrive at the knowledge of all truths of every kind” (Proposition 4). The testimony of Carmen Molina, while cloaked in religious language, operates entirely within this condemned framework.
When Molina states that “the hand of God is always there — always,” and that this presence “becomes visible in sick children and their loved ones,” she offers a purely immanent, naturalistic understanding of divine presence — one that requires no sacraments, no grace, no supernatural faith. This is precisely the error condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu: “Revelation was merely man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God” (Proposition 20). The “God” spoken of here is not the God of Catholic revelation — the Blessed Trinity, Who became incarnate, Who instituted seven sacraments, Who founded one Church — but a vague, immanent presence accessible through human sentiment alone.
The Reduction of Hope to Naturalistic Humanism
Molina’s understanding of hope is explicitly stripped of its supernatural content. She clarifies that it is “not about the hope of a cure, but the hope of living each day with meaning, being at peace, and saying goodbye properly.” She adds: “If you are at peace with yourself and with others, I believe going to heaven is a joy.”
This statement is theologically catastrophic. In Catholic doctrine, hope is a supernatural virtue, infused at Baptism, by which we trust in God’s promises and eternal life. As the Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches, hope is directed toward eternal beatitude — the Beatific Vision of God — and is entirely dependent on grace. To reduce hope to “living each day with meaning” and “being at peace” is to strip it of its supernatural character and reduce it to a psychological coping mechanism.
Furthermore, the statement “if you are at peace with yourself and with others, I believe going to heaven is a joy” implicitly denies the necessity of the Catholic faith and the sacraments for salvation. The Church has always taught, in accordance with Our Lord’s own words, that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), and that “he who does not believe shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). The idea that interior peace with oneself and others is sufficient for salvation is a form of the condemned error of indifferentism, which Pius IX condemned in the Syllabus: “Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation” (Proposition 16).
The Absence of the Sacraments: The Gravest Omission
Perhaps the most scandalous silence in this entire testimony concerns the sacraments. Carmen Molina is a nurse caring for terminally ill children — children who are, in the language of the Church, in articulo mortis, at the point of death. And yet there is not a single mention of the sacraments that the Church has specifically instituted for such moments.
Where is Baptism, without which “no one can enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5)? Where is Confession, by which sins are remitted through the power of the keys? Where is the Holy Eucharist, the Viaticum — the Bread of the Way — which the Church has always given to the dying as their last provision for the journey to eternity? Where is Extreme Unction, the sacrament by which the soul is strengthened against the final assaults of the devil and the remnants of sin are remitted?
The chapel at the Child Jesus Hospital is mentioned only as a decorative detail in a caption: “The chapel at the Child Jesus Children’s Hospital in Madrid.” It is reduced to an architectural feature, a piece of ambiance — not the place where the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered, where Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, where the faithful receive the graces necessary for salvation.
This silence is not merely an oversight. It is symptomatic of the post-conciliar apostasy, which has effectively abandoned the sacramental life of the Church. As the Defense of Sedevacantism document demonstrates, the post-conciliar authorities have introduced a new rite of Mass that is theologically ambiguous and potentially invalid, a new rite of ordination that is almost certainly invalid, and a new rite of Confession that reduces the sacrament to a community celebration rather than a judicial act of absolution. The result is that the faithful — including dying children — are deprived of the sacramental graces that are de necessitate salutis (necessary for salvation).
The Dignity of the Person: A Distortion of Catholic Teaching
Molina speaks eloquently about the dignity of each person, stating that it “depends neither on the time lived — whether long or short — nor on the health one enjoys or the illness one suffers,” and that “it is something so intrinsic and so infinite that we are called to protect, care for, appreciate, and attend to the person in a holistic way.”
While this language echoes certain Catholic principles, it is fundamentally distorted by its context. In Catholic doctrine, the dignity of the human person is rooted in the fact that man is created ad imaginem Dei (in the image of God) and is called to the supernatural end of eternal beatitude. The dignity of the person is not “intrinsic” in the sense of being self-grounding; it is derived from God and ordered toward God. As Pope Leo XIII taught in Rerum Novarum, the dignity of the person is inseparable from the moral law and the supernatural order.
By contrast, Molina’s language reflects the post-conciliar “cult of man” — the anthropocentric shift that St. Pius X identified as the essence of Modernism in Pascendi Dominici Gregis: “The whole of Modernism lies in this: that it substitutes the human for the divine, the natural for the supernatural, the subjective for the objective.” When Molina says that dignity is “intrinsic and infinite,” she echoes the language of the post-conciliar declaration Dignitatis Humanae, which grounded religious freedom in the “dignity of the human person” rather than in the objective truth of the Catholic faith — a document that is fundamentally incompatible with the teaching of Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos and Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors.
The Cross Reduced to a “Companion in Suffering”
Molina states that patients and their families have found “strength in faith, in prayer, and in the cross, understood as a companion in suffering.” This formulation is deeply problematic. In Catholic doctrine, the Cross is not merely a “companion in suffering” — it is the instrument of our redemption, the means by which Our Lord Jesus Christ offered the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world. As St. Paul declares: “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness” (1 Cor 1:23).
To reduce the Cross to a “companion in suffering” is to strip it of its soteriological significance — to make it a symbol of human solidarity rather than the means of divine redemption. This is precisely the kind of naturalistic reduction that the Church has always condemned. As Pope Pius XI taught in Quas Primas, Christ reigns as King not merely as a moral example or a companion in suffering, but as the divine Redeemer who “acquired the Church with His Blood” and who possesses “unlimited right over all that is created.”
The Event Context: Testimony at an Antipope’s Gathering
It is essential to note the context in which this testimony was shared: “a gathering organized for Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the Movistar Arena in Madrid.” Leo XIV (Robert Prevost) is the current usurper of the Chair of Peter — an antipope who, like his predecessors from John XXIII onward, has assumed the full authority of the papacy while promoting doctrines and practices that are incompatible with the Catholic faith.
The fact that this testimony was presented at an event organized for the antipope’s visit is not incidental. It reveals the neo-church’s strategy of using superficially religious testimonies to lend a veneer of spirituality to what is fundamentally a naturalistic, humanistic enterprise. The testimony of Carmen Molina, with its vague references to “God’s hand” and “going to heaven,” serves to legitimize the post-conciliar apparatus by presenting it as somehow connected to the Catholic faith — when in reality it has abandoned that faith in all its essential elements.
As the Defense of Sedevacantism document establishes, a manifest heretic cannot be the Pope, and the post-conciliar authorities have consistently promoted doctrines that are heretical — religious liberty, ecumenism, the evolution of dogmas, the democratization of the Church. To present a testimony at an event organized by such authorities is to participate in the abomination of desolation — the occupation of the Temple by those who have emptied it of its divine content.
The Final Reduction: “Loving and Letting Yourself Be Loved”
The ultimate message of Molina’s testimony is summarized in her final exhortation: “It’s about living a life of integrity and caring for your family, friends, and those around you. Ultimately, life is not measured by success or productivity but by authenticity and love.”
This is not Catholic teaching. This is secular humanism dressed in religious language. The Catholic faith teaches that life is measured by fidelity to God’s commandments, by the reception of the sacraments, by the practice of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, and by the avoidance of mortal sin. Our Lord Himself said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
To reduce the meaning of life to “authenticity and love” — without any reference to the supernatural order, the sacraments, the moral law, or the final judgment — is to preach a gospel that is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is, in the words of St. Paul, “another gospel” — and those who preach it are anathema (Gal. 1:8-9).
Conclusion: The Bankruptcy of Post-Conciliar “Spirituality”
The testimony of Carmen Molina, as presented by EWTN News, is a perfect specimen of post-conciliar “spirituality” — a spirituality that uses the vocabulary of the Catholic faith while emptying it of all supernatural content. It speaks of God without mentioning the Blessed Trinity, of hope without mentioning eternal life, of the Cross without mentioning redemption, of heaven without mentioning the Beatific Vision, of love without mentioning charity as a supernatural virtue infused by grace.
This is not the Catholic faith. It is the naturalism condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors — the reduction of religion to human sentiment and moral effort, without reference to the supernatural order. It is the Modernism condemned by St. Pius X — the substitution of human experience for divine revelation. It is the secularism condemned by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas — the removal of Christ the King from His rightful reign over individuals, families, and nations.
The faithful who desire to serve God and their neighbor in the care of the dying must return to the unchanging Catholic faith — to the sacraments, to the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, to the doctrine of the Church as taught before the conciliar revolution. Only in this way can they truly accompany the dying — not merely to a peaceful death, but to eternal life in the Beatific Vision of God.
Source:
Faith sustains a pediatric palliative care nurse: ‘God’s hand is always there’ (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 20.06.2026