The article from EWTN News portal (June 27, 2026) reports on the laicization of Damián María Montes, a former Redemptorist priest and social media influencer, who left priestly ministry after two decades. His departure is part of a trend of “influencer” priests leaving religious life, with Montes citing a search for “beauty, thought, and humanity” and the possibility of starting a family. The piece frames this as a phenomenon within the post-conciliar structures, noting similar cases. **This is not a vocational crisis but the logical fruit of an institution that has abandoned the supernatural conception of the priesthood.**
The Priesthood Reduced to a Profession: A Modernist Apostasy
The case of Damián María Montes is not an isolated tragedy but a **symptomatic manifestation of the conciliar revolution’s destruction of the sacred**. The post-conciliar sect, by dismantling the theology of the priesthood as an *alter Christus* and reducing the Mass to a “table of assembly,” has created an environment where the celibate life is seen as a mere disciplinary rule, not a supernatural gift. When the priest is viewed primarily as a “social communicator” or “evangelizer” rather than an intercessor offering the Unbloody Sacrifice, his identity becomes psychologically and spiritually unsustainable. The article’s neutral, almost sympathetic tone—speaking of “new chapters” and “deep continuity”—**reveals the complete loss of the supernatural sense of vocations**. This is the direct fruit of the modernist immanentism condemned by St. Pius X, where the priestly character is dissolved into a naturalistic humanism.
Linguistic and Theological Bankruptcy of the “Influencer Priest”
The language used by Montes and echoed by the article is a **tell-tale sign of the post-conciliar apostasy**. His stated goals—”education, literature, poetry, theater, and cultural creations” to bring “beauty, thought, and humanity”—are purely horizontal, devoid of any reference to the salvation of souls, sanctification, or the glory of God. This is the religion of man condemned in *Quas Primas*: “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The “bridges of dialogue” he claims to build are not those leading to the one true Church but to the world. His attendance at an “irreverent show” like “Sin City 2.0” is not an anomaly but a **logical conclusion of a formation that no longer distinguishes between holy and profane**. The conciliar sect, by embracing the spirit of the world, has produced clergy who are functionally indistinguishable from secular entertainers.
The Systemic Failure: A Church That Cannot Sustain Its Own
The article lists other similar cases—Cristina Scuccia, Daniel Pajuelo, Samuel Bonilla, Matthieu Jasseron, Alberto Ravagnani—presenting them as a trend. This is not a trend but **a systemic collapse**. The post-conciliar structures, from seminaries to religious orders, have been infected with the “evolution of dogmas” and the “democratization of the Church.” They form candidates not in the rigors of asceticism and dogmatic precision but in the techniques of “social media evangelization.” When these same structures grant dispensations with ease, they admit their own failure. As the *Syllabus of Errors* condemns, the modernist Church “is an enemy of the progress of natural and theological sciences” in its true sense, replacing revealed truth with a “broad and liberal Protestantism.” The exodus of these “influencer” priests is the inevitable result of a **paramasonic structure that no longer believes in its own supernatural claims**.
The Supernatural Reality Abandoned: Celibacy as a Counsel, Not a Dogma
The mention of Alberto Ravagnani leaving because he “wasn’t able to live up to” celibacy exposes another modernist erosion. In integral Catholic theology, priestly celibacy is not a mere rule but a **dogmatic discipline rooted in the priest’s configuration to Christ the High Priest**. The conciliar sect, by relativizing this teaching and treating celibacy as a practical challenge rather than a supernatural vocation, sets its clergy up for failure. The promise of a “new chapter” and “starting a family” is presented as a positive good, directly contradicting the Church’s perennial teaching on the excellence of virginity and celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom (1 Cor. 7:35). This is the **triumph of naturalism over grace**, a direct assault on the virtue of religion.
Conclusion: The Justice of God and the Call to Tradition
The departure of Damián María Montes and his peers is not a cause for mourning but for **sober judgment**. It reveals the profound spiritual bankruptcy of the post-conciliar edifice, which, by embracing the world, has lost the power to sanctify its own members. The true Church, the immaculate Spouse of Christ, endures in the faithful who profess the integral Catholic faith and are led by bishops with valid sacraments. The conciliar sect, with its “priests” who become “influencers” and its Mass reduced to a meal, is an **abomination of desolation**. Let this be a call to reject all manifestations of Modernism and to return to the immutable Tradition, where the priesthood is a life of sacrifice, the Mass is the propitiatory sacrifice of Calvary, and the only “new chapter” is conversion to the one true God.
Source:
After 20 years in religious life, social media influencer priest leaves ministry (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 27.06.2026