Hermits in the Desert: A Diocesan Foundation Under the Usurper’s Shadow
The article from EWTN News (June 19, 2025) reports on the establishment of a new community of hermits, the “Hermits of Sts. Torquatus, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus,” in the Diocese of Guadix, Spain. Four Venezuelan men, Carlos Andrés, Óscar Eduardo, Osmar Moisés, and Emilio José, have taken up residence at the historic hermitage of St. Torquatus, a site associated with the first-century martyrdom of one of the apostle James’s disciples. The foundation, initiated by “Bishop” Francisco Jesús Orozco, aims to “keep the memory of the place alive” and “pray for the Church proclaimed by St. Torquatus,” with a particular focus on “perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament” and intercession “for the needs of our Holy Father, the pope.” The ceremony consecrating the hermits was attended by members of the “Congregation of Martha and Mary,” a community of women religious. While the narrative presents a seemingly pious endeavor, the entire framework operates within the structures of the post-conciliar neo-church, rendering its spiritual claims suspect and its “prayers for the pope” a direct intercession for the usurper Leo XIV, the chief architect of modernist apostasy.


