EWTN portal reports on the feast of St. John the Baptist, explaining its origin as “Summer Christmas” and its cosmic symbolism. While the article accurately recites some traditional liturgical facts, it completely strips the feast of its supernatural and polemical essence, reducing the greatest of prophets to a mere “indicator” and ignoring the saint’s ultimate witness: martyrdom for the defense of divine truth.
A Prophet Reduced to a Cosmic Symbol
The article, published by EWTN on June 24, 2026, attempts to explain the significance of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. It relies heavily on the naturalistic interpretations of modern liturgists, such as Father Mauro Gagliardi, who describes John merely as an “indicator” of Christ. This terminology is symptomatic of a modernist ecclesiology that views the Church not as a perfect society demanding supernatural faith, but as a horizontal, humanistic organization merely “pointing” in a direction.
The text highlights the “cosmic connections” of the feast, noting that the days shorten after June 24 to fulfill John 3:30 (“He must increase; I must decrease”). While this astronomical reality is a traditional patristic observation, the article elevates it to the level of a naturalistic nature worship, ignoring the supernatural finality of the saint’s life. The focus on “cosmic rhythms” and “devotion” obscures the terrifying reality of the supernatural: the precursor who was imprisoned and beheaded for publicly condemning the sin of King Herod.
The Omission of Martyrdom and the Witness of Truth
The most glaring omission in this modernist catechesis is the marginalization of St. John’s martyrdom. The article mentions that John “was privileged to bear him supreme witness by the shedding of his blood,” but this is buried in the middle of a paragraph focused on liturgical prayers and cosmic symbolism.
In the integral Catholic tradition, the witness of blood is the supreme testimony to the Truth. As the Church has always taught, the martyrdom of John the Baptist was a direct attack on the divine law regarding the sanctity of marriage and the authority of the Church to teach on morals. By soft-pedaling this, the article aligns itself with a modern “ecumenical” spirit that refuses to acknowledge that the Church must publicly condemn the sins of the powerful, even to the point of death.
Syncretism and the “Night of the Witches”
Perhaps the most scandalous section of the article is its treatment of popular customs. The text states: “Due to the solemnity’s timing, shortly after the summer solstice, some of the practices connected to the feast have a pagan character, including that some refer to it as ‘the Night of the Witches.'”
This is a profound betrayal of Catholic triumphalism. The Church historically sanctified pagan feasts and customs, converting them to the honor of God and His saints. To suggest that the feast of the greatest born of women is associated with “witches” and “pagan character” without condemning these abominations is to imply that the liturgy of the Church is tainted by Satanism. The true Church would never tolerate the syncretism of “St. John’s Eve” witchcraft; she would anathematize it. The article’s neutral, anthropological tone regarding “pagan” rituals reveals a naturalistic worldview that sees no real war between the City of God and the city of man.
The Usurpation of the Papal Office
The article quotes “Pope Benedict XVI” (Joseph Ratzinger) from 2006, stating that the feast reminds us that our life is “relative” to Christ. Ratzinger, a key architect of the post-conciliar apostasy, is an antipope or at minimum a usurper of the Chair of Peter, whose “magisterium” has been characterized by the systematic destruction of the integral Catholic faith. To cite him as an authority on the spiritual life is to drink from a poisoned well. His concept of “relative” life is a far cry from the absolute, uncompromising call to supernatural conversion that characterized the preaching of the true prophets.
Furthermore, the article mentions the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran as the “seat of the bishop of Rome — that is, the pope.” This is a subtle but deadly modernist reduction. The Lateran is the seat of the *Roman Pontiff*, the true successor of St. Peter, not the “pope” of the conciar sect. By using the term “pope” without qualification for the current occupant of the Vatican, the article legitimizes the antipope currently sitting on the throne of the Church.
Conclusion: The Silence of the Modern Church
The article on St. John the Baptist is a perfect specimen of the “abomination of desolation” that now occupies the Vatican. It speaks of liturgy, cosmic rhythms, and “indicators,” but it is silent on the supernatural silence of the modern Church. It ignores the fact that the true Church today, the remnant of the faithful, must imitate St. John not by being a mere “indicator,” but by a fiery, uncompromising denunciation of heresy and sin. The “Summer Christmas” of the post-conciliar church is a winter of the soul, where the light of St. John’s witness is replaced by the pagan bonfires of secular humanism.
Source:
‘Summer Christmas’: Why does the Church celebrate the birthday of St. John the Baptist? (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 24.06.2026