EWTN News reports that Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces plans to climb Mount Cristo Rey and celebrate Mass at its peak as the federal government moves to seize diocesan land for border wall construction. The diocese claims this would desecrate a sacred site, while the government asserts its right to secure the border. Baldacchino frames the conflict as spiritual defense rather than politics, inviting the faithful to join in prayer and pilgrimage on June 28.
This episode reveals the complete bankruptcy of post-conciliar “bishops” who reduce the Church’s mission to temporal land disputes while the faithful are abandoned without the true sacraments. Baldacchino’s “Mass” on that mountain will be a Protestant-style assembly, not the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, offered by a man who recognizes the usurpers in Vatican and participates in the conciliar sect’s systematic destruction of Catholic identity.
The “Mass” That Is No Mass
Bishop Baldacchino proposes to celebrate what he calls “Mass” atop Mount Cristo Rey. This alone should be met with derision by anyone possessing the Catholic faith. Since the imposition of the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969, the conciliar sect has offered the faithful a mere Protestant table of assembly, a counterfeit rite designed by the heretic Annibale Bugnini with the explicit intention of pleasing Protestants and stripping the liturgy of its propitiatory sacrifice.
The true Church teaches, as defined by the Council of Trent, that the Mass is a true and proper sacrifice, propitiatory in nature, offered by the priest acting in the person of Christ for the living and the dead. The Novus Ordo, by contrast, is a communal meal, a memorial supper, devoid of the sacrificial character that constitutes the essence of the Catholic priesthood and the Holy Sacrifice.
When Baldacchino ascends that mountain to “celebrate Mass,” he will be engaging in an act of naturalistic worship that has no supernatural efficacy. He will distribute “communion” — not the true Body and Blood of Christ under the species of bread and wine, but a mere symbol consumed in a Protestant rite. The faithful who attend will receive nothing but spiritual emptiness, while their participation in this counterfeit worship constitutes, at best, a sacrilege and, at worst, idolatry.
Defense of Temporal Land vs. Defense of Souls
The entire framing of this dispute exposes the modernist reduction of the Church’s mission to temporal concerns. Baldacchino writes: “This is not a matter of politics, but a matter of preserving and defending a sanctuary and devotion which has brought many people in our community to God.”
This statement is a masterpiece of self-deception. The true Church’s mission is the salvation of souls through the administration of the valid sacraments, the preaching of the integral Catholic faith, and the guidance of the faithful toward eternal life. The defense of a physical shrine, however venerable, is secondary to this supernatural purpose.
Yet Baldacchino and his fellow “bishops” in the conciliar sect have spent decades neglecting the former while obsessing over the latter. They have permitted the desecration of true Catholic sanctuaries across the world — the destruction of altars, the removal of tabernacles, the profanation of churches turned into “gathering spaces” — while now rallying to defend a mountain shrine against the secular government.
The shrine of Mount Cristo Rey, with its 29-foot statue of Christ, is a monument to a naturalistic, sentimental piety that has nothing to do with the supernatural faith of the Church. It is a tourist attraction, a cultural landmark, a symbol of American Catholicism’s reduction to folk religion. The true Church does not need such monuments; she has the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the true sacraments, and the infallible teaching of the Roman Pontiff — all of which have been abandoned by Baldacchino and his conciliar brethren.
The Silence on the True Crisis
What does Baldacchino not mention in his letter? The true crisis facing the faithful in his diocese and throughout the world. He says nothing about the state of souls under his care, nothing about the necessity of baptism for salvation, nothing about the reality of final judgment, nothing about the obligation of the faithful to resist the modernist apostasy that has consumed the structures he inhabits.
He says nothing about the fact that the “communion” he distributes is not the true Eucharist, that the “sacraments” he administers are invalid or doubtful, that the “doctrine” he teaches is a synthesis of heresies condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium. He says nothing about the fact that he himself is a member of a false church, the conciliar sect, which has no authority to teach, govern, or sanctify.
This silence is the gravest accusation against him. A true bishop — a successor of the Apostles — would proclaim the fullness of Catholic truth without compromise, would warn the faithful against the conciliar sect’s apostasy, would administer only the valid sacraments, and would lead souls to Christ through the narrow gate of true doctrine and supernatural grace.
Baldacchino does none of this. Instead, he organizes a political demonstration disguised as a pilgrimage, a media event designed to generate sympathy for the conciliar sect’s temporal interests while the spiritual ruin of the faithful continues unchecked.
The Government’s Right vs. Christ’s Kingship
Baldacchino concedes: “Our government is within its rights to secure its border, however, our Diocese is defending itself against the means by which the government now seeks to do so.”
This statement reveals the conciliar sect’s fundamental acceptance of the secular order’s supremacy over the Church. The true Church teaches, as Pope Pius XI declared in the encyclical Quas Primas, that Christ the King reigns over all nations, all societies, and all individuals, and that rulers have the duty to publicly honor Him and obey His laws. The Church has the right — indeed, the duty — to govern herself independently of secular authority, to teach without restriction, and to sanctify the faithful without interference from the state.
Yet Baldacchino accepts the government’s “right” to seize Church property for secular purposes, merely disputing the “means.” He does not invoke the sovereignty of Christ the King over the United States. He does not remind the government that the Church is a perfect society, endowed by her Divine Founder with all the rights necessary for her mission. He does not call upon the faithful to resist the government’s action as a matter of religious obligation.
Instead, he plays the role of a special interest group seeking favorable treatment from the secular state. This is the natural fruit of the conciliar revolution’s embrace of religious freedom, false ecumenism, and the separation of Church and state — all condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium.
The Pilgrimage as Political Theater
The invitation to “join in prayer and pilgrimage” on June 28 is not a call to authentic Catholic devotion. It is political theater, a media event designed to generate public sympathy for the conciliar sect’s land claim. The faithful are being mobilized not for supernatural ends — not for the salvation of souls, not for the conversion of sinners, not for the triumph of the Church — but for the defense of a temporal property interest.
True Catholic pilgrimage is an act of supernatural devotion: journeying to a shrine to seek the intercession of the saints, to offer repentance for sins, to obtain spiritual graces. It is ordered toward eternal life, not temporal advantage. Baldacchino’s pilgrimage, by contrast, is ordered toward the preservation of a physical shrine and the political interests of the conciliar sect.
The faithful who attend will be participating in a naturalistic spectacle, not a supernatural act of worship. They will hear a counterfeit “Mass,” receive a counterfeit “communion,” and be led to believe that their presence at this event constitutes a meaningful act of Catholic faith. In reality, they will be reinforcing their attachment to the conciliar sect and its false worship, further distancing themselves from the true Church and the true sacraments.
Conclusion: The Bankruptcy of Conciliar Leadership
Bishop Baldacchino’s planned pilgrimage to Mount Cristo Rey is a microcosm of the conciliar sect’s complete spiritual bankruptcy. A “bishop” who offers invalid “Masses,” who recognizes the usurpers in Vatican, who reduces the Church’s mission to temporal land disputes, who accepts the supremacy of the secular order, and who mobilizes the faithful for political theater rather than supernatural conversion — such a man is not a successor of the Apostles but a functionary of the abomination of desolation.
The faithful who desire true Catholic worship, valid sacraments, and supernatural guidance must abandon the conciliar sect entirely. They must seek out the true Church, which endures in the remnant of faithful Catholics who profess the integral faith, who reject the modernist apostasy, and who await the restoration of the true papacy. Only in communion with this true Church can they receive the valid sacraments, hear the true doctrine, and attain the salvation of their souls.
The land dispute over Mount Cristo Rey is a distraction from the true crisis of the age: the apostasy of the visible Church structures and the spiritual ruin of the faithful. Baldacchino and his conciliar brethren have nothing to offer but counterfeit worship, naturalistic humanism, and political activism. The true Church, though hidden and persecuted, remains the sole ark of salvation for those who wish to save their souls.
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Source:
Bishop Baldacchino to climb Mount Cristo Rey as the government moves to seize diocesan land (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 24.06.2026