EWTN News portal reports on a Brazilian couple, Audato and Ieda Denardi, sentenced to 50 days in prison for the “crime” of intellectual neglect, simply because they dared to shield their children from the toxic gender ideology promoted by the state. This case is not an isolated incident of legal overreach but a glaring manifestation of the totalitarian spirit inherent in the post-conciliar world, where the secular state, acting as the enforcer of the world’s ideology, usurps the primary, inalienable right of parents to educate their children according to the immutable truths of the Catholic faith.
The Denardi case exposes the profound hypocrisy of a world that claims to champion “human rights” while systematically dismantling the most fundamental God-given right: the right of parents to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. The Brazilian court’s ruling, which criminalizes parents for failing to include state-approved “gender and sex education” in their curriculum, is a direct assault on the integrity of the family and the natural law. The judge’s reasoning—that the girls’ rejection of “morally questionable” popular music and their focus on classical piano and languages constitutes a “deficiency” in their cultural education—is a grotesque parody of justice. It reveals a state that views the formation of virtue and piety as a threat to its secularist agenda.
This persecution is a direct consequence of the post-conciliar Church’s capitulation to the world. The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Christian Education, *Gravissimum Educationis*, while paying lip service to the role of parents, opened the door to state intervention by emphasizing the need for education to adapt to the “modern world” and promote a vague “solidarity” with all men. This conciliar document, a product of the modernist spirit, failed to reaffirm the absolute primacy of parents and the Church in education, instead ceding ground to the secular state. The Brazilian court’s actions are the logical fruit of this conciliar ambiguity. When the Church no longer asserts its divine mandate to teach all nations, the state will inevitably fill the void with its own dogmas of secularism, relativism, and ultimately, Satanism.
The case also highlights the utter bankruptcy of the “religious liberty” rhetoric promoted by the post-conciliar Church and its apologists. While organizations like ADF International rightly denounce this as a “grotesque abuse of criminal law,” they fail to trace the root of the problem. The root is not merely a bad law in Brazil; it is the entire post-conciliar framework that has reduced the Church to a mere “NGO” within the secular order, stripped of her divine authority and her mission to guide nations. The Brazilian state is simply applying the logic of the world: if there is no absolute truth, if all values are relative, then the state becomes the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes a “good” education. The Denardis are being punished for refusing to submit their children to the state’s new religion of gender ideology.
The persecution of the Denardi family is a stark reminder of the prophetic warnings of Pope Pius XI in his encyclical *Quas Primas*: “When God and Jesus Christ – as we lamented – were removed from laws and states and when authority was derived not from God but from men, the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The Brazilian state, by imprisoning parents for educating their children according to Christian values, has declared itself an enemy of Christ the King. This is not merely a “dictatorial” state, as Mrs. Denardi correctly perceives; it is a satanic state, one that seeks to destroy the family, the foundational cell of society and the Church. The only true response is a return to the integral Catholic faith, a complete rejection of the conciliar “Church” and its false “dialogue” with the world, and a public, unwavering profession of the social reign of Christ the King over all nations, including Brazil. Anything less is a capitulation to the abomination of desolation that now occupies not only the Vatican but increasingly, the courts of the world.
The Judicial Usurpation of Parental Rights: A Manifestation of Modernist Naturalism
The Brazilian court’s ruling against the Denardi family represents a profound usurpation of the natural and divine rights of parents. According to unchanging Catholic teaching, the primary and inalienable right to educate children belongs to the parents, not the state. Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical *Divini Illius Magistri* (1929), unequivocally states: “The family therefore is a society prior to every other society, and of a full and perfect nature, having in itself all the means necessary for its own proper development… The family therefore has directly from God the duty and the right to educate its offspring.” The Brazilian court, by imposing its own secularist curriculum and imprisoning parents for failing to comply, has placed itself in direct opposition to this divine mandate. This is not merely a legal error; it is a theological heresy, a denial of the natural law itself.
The judge’s reasoning, which cites the girls’ rejection of popular music and their focus on classical education as evidence of “intellectual neglect,” is a chilling indictment of the modernist mentality. The state, in its secularist arrogance, views the formation of a Christian conscience—which naturally rejects the moral corruption of much modern culture—as a deficiency. This is the logical consequence of the post-conciliar Church’s embrace of the “modern world.” When the Church no longer teaches that her mission is to form Christ in the souls of men, the state will step in to form its own secular man, a man devoid of supernatural virtue and steeped in the mire of relativism. The Denardis are being punished for succeeding in what the modernist Church has largely failed to do: raising children who possess a well-formed Christian conscience.
The Silence of the Conciliar “Church” and the Betrayal of the Faithful
Where is the voice of the post-conciliar “Church” in this matter? While organizations like ADF International and EWTN rightly condemn the persecution, the institutional “Church” remains largely silent, or worse, offers only tepid, bureaucratic statements that fail to address the root cause. The Brazilian bishops, many of whom are steeped in the modernist theology of “dialogue” and “inculturation,” have not raised a unified, prophetic voice against this assault on the family. This silence is a betrayal of their sacred office. A true bishop, following the example of the Fathers of the Church, would excommunicate the judges and politicians responsible for this persecution, or at the very least, publicly denounce them as enemies of the faith. Instead, the conciliar “Church” continues to play the role of a diplomatic NGO, seeking “dialogue” with a state that is actively persecuting Catholic families.
The post-conciliar “Church” has, through its own internal revolution, dismantled the very tools necessary to combat such external threats. By rejecting the traditional teaching on the social reign of Christ the King, by embracing false ecumenism and religious liberty, and by reducing the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to a mere fraternal meal, the conciliar “Church” has rendered herself impotent. She has no spiritual weapons to wield against the enemies of the faith, because she has herself surrendered them. The persecution of the Denardis is a direct consequence of this internal apostasy. When the Church no longer publicly professes her divine authority, the state will inevitably treat her as just another private club, subject to its whims and its secularist dogmas.
The “Gender Ideology” as the New State Religion
The Brazilian court’s insistence on “gender and sex education” as a mandatory component of the curriculum reveals the true nature of the modern secular state. It is no longer a neutral arbiter of justice; it is a confessional state, with its own dogma, its own priesthood (the educational and judicial establishment), and its own heretical doctrines. “Gender ideology” is not a scientific fact; it is a heretical, anti-Christian dogma that denies the natural law, the complementarity of the sexes, and the very nature of the human person as created by God. Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2012 address to the Roman Curia, correctly identified this ideology as a denial of the Creator’s plan, a “manipulation of nature” that leads to the “self-destruction of man.”
The Brazilian state, by imposing this ideology, is engaging in a form of ideological totalitarianism. It is not merely teaching a false theory; it is attempting to form souls in a spirit of rebellion against God. The Denardi parents, by refusing to submit their children to this indoctrination, are performing an act of true Christian witness. They are following the example of the early Christians who refused to offer even a pinch of incense to the pagan gods of the Roman Empire. Their imprisonment is a modern-day martyrdom, a testimony to the truth that the Christian faith cannot be compartmentalized or subjected to the dictates of the secular state. The state’s demand for “tolerance and diversity” is, in reality, a demand for absolute submission to its new orthodoxy. Any deviation, any adherence to the traditional Christian sexual ethic, is now a “crime.”
The Failure of “Religious Liberty” Rhetoric
The response of organizations like ADF International, while well-intentioned, is ultimately inadequate because it operates within the flawed framework of “religious liberty.” This framework, enshrined in the conciliar document *Dignitatis Humanae*, is itself a modernist heresy that contradicts the unchanging teaching of the Church. Popes Gregory XVI and Pius IX, in their encyclicals *Mirari Vos* and *Quanta Cura* (with the *Syllabus of Errors*), unequivocally condemned the doctrine of religious liberty as an error that leads to the indifferentism of all religions. The Church has always taught that the Catholic Church is the only true religion, and that the state has a duty to protect and promote the true faith, not to grant equal rights to error.
The Brazilian state’s actions expose the bankruptcy of the “religious liberty” argument. The state does not recognize the right of parents to educate their children according to their faith; it recognizes only the state’s right to impose its own secularist ideology. The “religious liberty” framework, by conceding the principle that the state is neutral in matters of religion, has opened the door to the state’s active hostility toward the true faith. The Denardis are not being persecuted for being “intolerant” or “diverse”; they are being persecuted for being Catholic, for adhering to the truth that the modern world hates. The only true response is to reject the entire conciliar framework of “religious liberty” and to demand, in the name of Christ the King, that the Brazilian state recognize the true faith and cease its persecution of Catholic families.
The Call to Integral Catholic Resistance
The persecution of the Denardi family is a call to action for all Catholics who remain faithful to the integral, pre-conciliar tradition. It is a reminder that the conciliar “Church” has abdicated her divine mission, and that the faithful must now take up the mantle of resistance. This resistance is not merely political or legal; it is primarily spiritual. It requires a return to the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the unchangeable Roman Missal of 1962, the only true liturgical expression of the Catholic faith. It requires a return to the sacraments, administered by validly ordained priests who have not been corrupted by modernism. It requires a return to the traditional catechism, which teaches the unchanging truths of the faith without the ambiguities and errors of the conciliar catechism.
The Denardis are not alone in their suffering. They are part of a growing army of Catholic families around the world who are being persecuted for their faith. Their witness is a powerful testimony to the truth that the world hates Christ and His followers. The Brazilian state, in its arrogance, has revealed its true face as an enemy of God. The response of the faithful must be to pray, to do penance, and to publicly profess the social reign of Christ the King. As Pope Pius XI taught in *Quas Primas*, “His reign, namely, extends not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church… 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 Brazilian state, and all other secular states, must be made subject to this authority, whether they acknowledge it or not. The alternative is the continued persecution of the faithful and the total triumph of the abomination of desolation.
Source:
Parents sentenced to prison in Brazil after excluding gender content in homeschool curriculum (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 24.06.2026