In his 1907 encyclical on the doctrines of the Modernists, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, St. Pius X described the way in which the Modernists justify and promote contradictory assertions about the Faith, thereby opening the door to all errors:
“We, Venerable Brethren, for whom there is but one and only truth, and who hold that the Sacred Books, written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, have God for their author (Conc. Vat., De Revel., c. 2) declare that this is equivalent to attributing to God Himself the lie of utility or officious lie, and We say with St. Augustine: In an authority so high, admit but one officious lie, and there will not remain a single passage of those apparently difficult to practice or to believe, which on the same most pernicious rule may not be explained as a lie uttered by the author willfully and to serve a purpose. (Epist. 28). And thus it will come about, the holy Doctor continues, that everybody will believe and refuse to believe what he likes or dislikes. But the Modernists pursue their way gaily. . . In short, to maintain and defend these theories they do not hesitate to declare that the noblest homage that can be paid to the Infinite is to make it the object of contradictory propositions! But when they justify even contradiction, what is it that they will refuse to justify?”
This last point from St. Pius X is absolutely crucial to understanding the crisis in the Catholic Church today: those infected with Modernism accept and promote the most blatant contradictions so there are almost no limits on what absurdities they will accept. In one way or another, nearly all members of the ostensible hierarchy are infected with some form of Modernism, which is why the most unholy contradictions are promoted, while only Traditional Catholicism is scorned.
St. Pius X was unable to completely eradicate Modernism, at least in part because the heresy is subtle enough in some of its applications to remain undetected.
However, it is always the case that Modernism’s full development will lead to such unmistakable contradictions that those who retain the use of reason will be able to easily identify a problem, even if they do not necessarily attribute it to the heresies that St. Pius X condemned.
Thanks in large part to Francis, we have reached the point at which those with reason cannot miss the unholy contradictions promoted by Rome. It is worth surveying a few of the more prominent contradictions to understand the common thread uniting them.
Traditional Catholics Are Bad Because They “Reject” the Council. One of the most widely promoted accusations against Traditional Catholics is that we do not accept Vatican II. As discussed in a previous article, though, Traditional Catholics accept more of what Vatican II’s documents actually said than do many of the bishops who accuse us of rejecting the Council. Here, for example, are a few of the passages from Vatican II’s documents that clearly set forth truths that Traditional Catholics are condemned for holding:
- “This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 14)
- “They are fully incorporated in the society of the Church who, possessing the Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her, and are united with her as part of her visible bodily structure and through her with Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. The bonds which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion. He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a ‘bodily’ manner and not ’in his heart.’ All the Church’s children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 14)
- “This Sacred Council accepts with great devotion this venerable faith of our ancestors regarding this vital fellowship with our brethren who are in heavenly glory or who having died are still being purified; and it proposes again the decrees of the Second Council of Nicea, the Council of Florence and the Council of Trent.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 51)
- “Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church. . . But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.” (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, 10)
These passages affirm that (a) it is necessary for all souls to become Catholic, and faithfully adhere to what the Catholic Church teaches, if they want to be saved, and (b) the Church must scrupulously guard and explain the Catholic Faith as it has been transmitted through the centuries (including at the Council of Trent). Traditional Catholics accept all of this and yet we are denounced as “rejectors of Vatican II” by the Modernists in Rome who themselves reject these clear passages. To state this contradiction in mathematical terms . . . 2+2 = anything other than 4.
How can the defenders of Vatican II insist that it is fine for Rome to simultaneously endorse Protestant religions and condemn those who simply want to practice the unadulterated Catholic Faith? And yet this preposterous contradiction exists today. 2 + 2 = anything other than 4.
Religious Liberty and Ecumenism Do Not Permit Traditional Catholicism. The most important initiatives of Vatican II all related to promoting ecumenism. In reality, though, we could also say that all such initiatives have served the dual purpose of denying that Catholicism is the sole religion to which all men should belong and defending the rights of non-Catholics to hold heretical religious views. Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, advanced this position as follows:
“This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits. The council further declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself. This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed and thus it is to become a civil right.”
As a matter of common sense, this right to religious freedom absolutely must allow for the freedom of Catholics to practice the Catholic religion as it had been practiced prior to Vatican II. How, in other words, can the defenders of Vatican II insist that it is fine for Rome to simultaneously endorse Protestant religions and condemn those who simply want to practice the unadulterated Catholic Faith? And yet this preposterous contradiction exists today. 2 + 2 = anything other than 4.
The Traditional Latin Mass Divides Catholics. Those in Rome who condemn the Traditional Latin Mass typically call it divisive — we must attend the Novus Ordo Mass, they say, because this is the way to promote true unity. For those who know absolutely nothing about Catholicism, this surely seems like a plausible line of thinking. Let us imagine, though, that we were able to persuade a reasonable man who had never encountered Catholicism to undertake the following simple experiment to test this hypothesis:
- Go to the Traditional Latin Mass in ten different cities around the world for a weekday Mass (Low Mass) and note the ways in which they differ from each other.
- Go to the Novus Ordo Mass in the same ten cities around the world for a weekday Mass and note the ways in which they differ from each other.
As a general matter, the man carrying out the experiment would notice the following differences between the ten different Traditional Latin Masses he attended: sometimes there is a single server, sometimes there are two; sometimes the server rings the bell at the Minor Elevation, sometimes he does not; sometimes the priest says the prayers after Mass (for the conversion of Russia) in Latin, sometimes he says them in the vernacular.
If we want to truly fix the equation, there is only one way: 2 + 2 = 4. So too, if we really want to address the situation in the Church, we have to insist on the unadulterated Catholic truth and reject all of the errors opposed to it.
What differences would the same man note for the Novus Ordo Masses he attended? After the first three or four he attended he probably would have observed that there were far too many differences to catalog, and he would understand the entire point of the experiment: the Traditional Latin Mass truly unites Catholics because it is essentially the same wherever you go; and the Novus Ordo Mass truly divides Catholics because it is not even the same at two parishes within the same diocese. And yet we are told that the Traditional Latin Mass is impermissible because it threatens the unity of the Church. 2 + 2 = anything other than 4.
What can we do in 2026 to counteract this situation? Focusing on the mathematical example, we are all aware that it is wrong to say that “2 + 2 = anything other than 4.” If we want to teach true mathematics, how do we correct the equation? Does it work to say that “2 + 2 = anything including 4?” That equation is still wrong, so we do not really get much by saying that four is a permissible answer. If we want to truly fix the equation, there is only one way: 2 + 2 = 4. So too, if we really want to address the situation in the Church, we have to insist on the unadulterated Catholic truth and reject all of the errors opposed to it. As long as we say that the errors that have been promoted by Rome for sixty years are just fine we are sustaining the Modernism that has caused so much destruction.
Fortunately, the preposterous contradictions accepted by Rome can serve a teaching purpose if those with the use of reason can find the courage to speak. Once we recognize that all of the contradictions oppose Traditional Catholicism and tend to drive souls from the Church, then we can readily understand that Satan is their true author. Indeed, it seems reasonable to conclude that God is permitting these contradictions so that men of good will can open their eyes and recognize that Satan is attacking Traditional Catholicism because that is the best way to attack God today.
We do not know how much longer God will permit these travesties to continue. While we still have time, it seems that we must do all we can to combat the errors that offend God and keep souls from adhering to the unadulterated Catholic Faith. God alone can judge whether those is Rome are malicious enemies of the Faith, but all of us who retain the use of reason can discern that they are wrong today. May God grant all of them, especially Leo XIV, the grace to open their eyes before it is too late. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
