Francis’s occupation of the papacy has not necessarily introduced new heresies, but it has amplified those that have percolated since Vatican II to such an extent that a growing number of faithful Catholics clamor for his removal. If it is God’s will that the remedy to the current crisis in the Catholic Church involves declaring Francis an anti-pope and electing a new pope, then many of us who are not sedevacantists hope that the authorities capable of doing this — namely, the faithful cardinals and bishops — will take this step as soon as possible. Indeed, The Remnant has published articles (2018, 2022) advocating for an imperfect council to potentially carry out that process of removing Francis and electing a new pope.

However, in absence of a process to remove and replace Francis, declaring him an anti-pope will likely accomplish little more than the sedevacantists have accomplished by declaring John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI anti-popes. Regardless of our position on the question of Francis’s claims to the papacy, though, all Catholics can take steps that will immediately help combat the crisis in the Church: addressing the root causes of the crisis; supporting Catholic tradition; fulfilling the requests of Our Lady of Fatima; and becoming saints.

By all means we should hope and pray that God will soon remove Francis from his position of influence; but why would we be content with removing the fruit while preserving the tree which will invariably bear worse fruit in the future?

Addressing the Root Causes. Francis is a natural fruit of the Vatican II revolution that has plagued the Church for over sixty years. He has so frequently cited the Council (accurately) in defense of his anti-Catholic efforts that it is no longer reasonable for Catholics to argue that the crisis does not flow from Vatican II itself.

The cardinal sin of Vatican II was to cast doubt on the immutability of Catholic Truth: once the innovators could deviate, even subtly, from what the pre-Vatican II popes had consistently taught about ecumenism, religious liberty, and the Church’s ecclesiology, then almost everything else could eventually change. In this regard, the blasphemous Synod on Synodality is like the Rosetta Stone for deciphering the ambiguities and contradictions of Vatican II — and the unfortunate insistence on defending Vatican II is why we have the Synod today.

The remedy is to return to what the popes consistently taught prior to the Council and reject all errors that call it into question. By all means we should hope and pray that God will soon remove Francis from his position of influence; but why would we be content with removing the fruit while preserving the tree which will invariably bear worse fruit in the future?

Supporting Catholic Tradition. Francis and his anti-Catholic allies support almost any set of religious beliefs in the world other than Traditional Catholicism, the religion of the saints. This stunning reality alone — even if we knew nothing else about Traditional Catholicism — would provide a good reason to support the pre-Vatican II beliefs and practices.

But, of course, we have even greater reason than this to support Traditional Catholicism. God entrusted the immutable Catholic Faith to His Church to transmit His grace and truth, which is precisely why Satan has gone to such lengths to contaminate and weaken the Faith with the errors that have proliferated since Vatican II.

If we strive to do all we can (consistent with our duties of state) to honor God by drawing close to the Traditional Catholic sacraments, He will reward our efforts. Concretely, many Catholics could do more to attend the Traditional Latin Mass more frequently, materially support the priests and religious dedicated to spreading Traditional Catholicism, and study and defend the Traditional Catholic faith.

How did Our Lady of Fatima tell us to address this crisis? As we know, Our Lady told us that we must: stop offending God by sin; perform penance; pray for sinners; and have devotion to her Rosary. If we are not doing all of this, there is still more we can and should do.

Fulfilling the Requests of Our Lady of Fatima. No Catholic is absolutely required to believe in the apparitions of Fatima, but we now have abundant reasons to do so. Aside from the various reasons that led so many Catholics to accept the apparitions prior to Vatican II, it is clear that the enemies of the Faith who have contributed to the crisis in the Church have deliberately concealed and obfuscated the contents of the so-called Third Secret of Fatima. If they did not find these messages credible, they might have simply ignored them or else fully revealed them. The only plausible reason why John XXIII and his successors have failed to fully reveal the Third Secret is that it points to the great apostasy beginning at the top of the Church, which we can see from Cardinal Pacelli’s 1931 statement:

“Before his election to the papacy as Pius XII, Eugene Cardinal Pacelli in 1931 made a highly prophetic statement in response to the Fatima Third Secret.  ‘I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a Divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy…. I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God.’” (Fatima Center, “Timely Reflections on the Third Secret”)

Thus, the future Pius XII knew that the great crisis would come from abandoning the Traditional Catholic Faith — which he called “the suicide of altering the Faith.”

How did Our Lady of Fatima tell us to address this crisis? As we know, Our Lady told us that we must: stop offending God by sin; perform penance; pray for sinners; and have devotion to her Rosary. If we are not doing all of this, there is still more we can and should do.

Although we cannot know for certain how God will resolve this crisis, it is virtually certain that we can petition His mercy with these responses far more effectively than we can by deriding our fellow Catholics who, earnestly seeking to discern God’s will, have reached different conclusions about the anti-Catholic man reputed to be pope.

Becoming Saints. We know that God created us to know, love, and serve Him — which means to strive to be saints — and that He orders everything in our lives to help us fulfill that mission. It is nonsensical to imagine that God would reward us for opting to do our own will instead of His, and this is especially the case when we are considering how to respond to the crisis in His Church.

The Church also teaches us that it is always the saints who do the most good for the Church and world. By making themselves docile instruments of God’s will, the saints will discern what needs to be done in this crisis and will have all the necessary graces to carry out what must be accomplished. Their complete surrender to God will protect them from becoming slaves of Satan and his minions. And, importantly, if ever faithful Catholics will need to take some extraordinary step to resolve the crisis — like declaring Francis an anti-pope — the case for doing so will be made by those who clearly strive to be saints. For the time being, we should recognize that whereas Francis does everything he can to dissuade souls from turning to God as saints, he practically dares us to declare him an anti-pope.

Each of these four responses to the current crisis would be appropriate and beneficial even if we were blessed with a holy pope. Moreover, although we cannot know for certain how God will resolve this crisis, it is virtually certain that we can petition His mercy with these responses far more effectively than we can by deriding our fellow Catholics who, earnestly seeking to discern God’s will, have reached different conclusions about the anti-Catholic man reputed to be pope. Surely there will be saints on either side of the question about whether Francis is a pope or anti-pope, so we should charitably avoid making our belief about this great mystery of God’s Providence an unquestionable article of Faith that leads us to scandalize others. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Latest from RTV — FRANCIS FATIGUE: Even Argentina's Had Enough