From Teilhard de Chardin to Paul Couturier to Robert Francis Prevost

As time is at a premium these days, I am going to be offering somewhat commentaries for the next few weeks, something that I hope will not disappoint this website’s vast readership (I am making fun of myself here; I hope you realize that).

Anyhow, Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XI was busy this past week including stating the following at his general audience address of Wednesday, June 4, 2025, the Feast of Saint Francis Caracciolo within the Octave of the Ascension of Our Lord, when discussing the Parable of the Good Samaritan:

Jesus therefore tells a parable that is a path for transforming that question, to pass from who loves me? to who has loved? The first is an immature question, the second is the question of an adult who has understood the meaning of his life. The first question is the one we ask when we sit in the corner and wait, the second is the one that drives us to set out on the path.

The parable that Jesus tells has, in fact, a road as its setting, and it is a difficult and impervious road, like life. It is the road travelled by a man going down from Jerusalem, the city on the mountain, to Jericho, the city below sea level. It is an image that already foreshadows what might happen: it happens that the man is attacked, beaten, robbed and left half dead. It is the experience that happens when situations, people, sometimes even those we have trusted, take everything from us and leave us in the middle of the road.

However, life is made up of encounters, and in these encounters, we emerge for what we are. We find ourselves in front of others, faced with their fragility and weakness, and we can decide what to do: to take care of them or pretend nothing is wrong. A priest and a Levite go down that same road. They are people who serve in the Temple of Jerusalem, who live in the sacred space. And yet, the practice of worship does not automatically lead to being compassionate. Indeed, before being a religious matter, compassion is a question of humanity! Before being believers, we are called to be human.

Brief Interjection:

Excuse me, Leo?

It is precisely because of the fact that we are baptized and confirmed Catholics that there can never be any kind of dichotomy between being “human” and being “believers” as it is our Holy Faith that teaches us to treat all others as we would treat Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the very Flesh.

As Pope Saint Pius X noted in Singulari Quadam, September 24, 1912:

These are fundamental principles: No matter what the Christian does, even in the realm of temporal goods, he cannot ignore the supernatural good. Rather, according to the dictates of Christian philosophy, he must order all things to the ultimate end, namely, the Highest Good. All his actions, insofar as they are morally either good or bad (that is to say, whether they agree or disagree with the natural and divine law), are subject to the judgment and judicial office of the Church. (Pope Saint Pius X, Singulari Quadam, September 24, 1912.)

Catholics must be conscious at all times of how their actions look in light of eternity and to fulfill both the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, and it is the latter that one discharges when acting to show compassion of Our Lord Himself to those in need.

We can imagine that, after staying a long time in Jerusalem, that priest and that Levite are in a hurry to return home. It is indeed haste, so present in our lives, that very often prevents us from feeling compassion. Those who think that their own journey must take precedence are not willing to stop for another.

But here comes someone who is actually able to stop: he is a Samaritan, hence a person belonging to a despised people (cf. 2 Kings 17). In his case, the text does not specify the direction, but only says that he was travelling. Religiosity does not enter into this. This Samaritan simply stops because he is a man faced with another man in need of help.

Compassion is expressed through practical gestures. The Evangelist Luke ponders the actions of the Samaritan, whom we call “good”, but in the text he is simply a person: a Samaritan approaches, because if you want to help someone, you cannot think of keeping your distance, you have to get involved, get dirty, perhaps be contaminated; he binds the wounds after cleaning them with oil and wine; he loads him onto his horse, taking on the burden, because one who truly helps if one is willing to feel the weight of the other’s pain; he takes him to an inn where he spends money, “two silver coins”, more or less two days of work; and he undertakes to return and eventually pay more, because the other is not a package to deliver, but someone to care for.

Dear brothers and sisters, when will we too be capable of interrupting our journey and having compassion? When we understand that the wounded man in the street represents each one of us. And then the memory of all the times that Jesus stopped to take care of us will make us more capable of compassion.

Let us pray, then, that we can grow in humanity, so that our relationships may be truer and richer in compassion. Let us ask the Heart of Jesus for the grace increasingly to have the same feelings as him. (General Audience of 28 May 2025.)

Very nice on a natural level, but we are called to always think and act on the supernatural level as Catholics. We are called to act in the name of the Divine Redeemer, not in the name of “humanity.:

Additionally, Father George Leo Haydock explained the deeper allegorical meaning of the Parable of the Good Samaritan:

Ver. 34. This is the allegorical meaning of the parable: The man that fell among robbers, represents Adam and his posterity; Jerusalem, the state of peace and innocence, which man leaves by going down to Jericho, which means the moon, the state of trouble and sin: the robbers represent the devil, who stripped him of his supernatural gifts, and wounded him in his natural faculties: the priest and Levite represent the old law: the Samaritan, Christ; and the beast, his humanity. The inn means the Church; wine, the blood of Christ; oil, his mercy; whilst the host signifies St. Peter and his successors, the bishops and priests of the Church. (Origen, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and others) (Luke 10 – Haydock Commentary Online.)

Does Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV speak in such terms?

Of course not.

As has been noted on this site since Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV stepped out on the balcony of the Basilica of Saint Peter on Thursday, May 8, 2025, the Feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel, the currently reigning public universal face of apostasy is far more sober, serious, and disciplined than his wretched predecessor, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, which is what makes his own naturalism wrapped up in the concilarspeak of “encounter” all the more insidious and dangerous.

Moreover, it is important to remember that Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV is a full-throated ecumenist who is fully committed to the “synodal” path started by Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini/Paul VI and brought into its own uinknder Jorge Mario Bergoglio. This “synodal” path, however, is but an ape of Orthodoxy in its rejection of Papal Primacy. Yet it is that Prevost/Leo, like his predecessors in the conciliar seat of apostasy, is committed to proving to the Orthodox that what he thinks is the Catholic Church’s interest in synodality is moving it closer to their own heretical schismatic sect.

This is what Prevost/Leo said to yet another group of Orthodox representatives in the Clementine Hall on Saturday, June 7, 2025, the Vigil of Pentecost:

I am pleased to see that the Symposium is resolutely oriented toward the future.  The Council of Nicaea is not merely an event of the past but a compass that must continue to guide us towards the full visible unity of Christians.  The First Ecumenical Council is foundational for the common journey that Catholics and Orthodox have undertaken together since the Second Vatican Council. For the Eastern Churches, which commemorate its celebration in their liturgical calendar, the Council of Nicaea is not simply one Council among others or the first in a series, but the Council par excellence, which promulgated the norm of the Christian faith, the confession of faith of the “318 Fathers.”

The three themes of your Symposium are especially relevant for our ecumenical journey.  First, the faith of Nicaea.  As the International Theological Commission observed in its recent Document for the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea, the year 2025 represents “an invaluable opportunity to emphasise that, what we have in common is much stronger, quantitatively and qualitatively, than what divides us.  Together, we believe in the Triune God, in Christ as truly human and truly God, and in salvation through Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures read in the Church and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Together, we believe in the Church, baptism, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life.” (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, n. 43). I am convinced that by returning to the Council of Nicaea and drawing together from this common source, we will be able to see in a different light the points that still separate us.  Through theological dialogue and with the help of God, we will gain a better understanding of the mystery that unites us.  By celebrating together this Nicene faith and by proclaiming it together, we will also advance towards the restoration of full communion among us.

A Comment:

This is a rejection of the Filioque, the Catholic teaching, expressed fully in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, that God the Holy Ghost proceeds from both God the Father and God the Son, which the Orthodox reject as the Council of Nicea mentioned the procession of the Holy Ghost from only God the Father. The Orthodox thus reject the further teaching of the First Council of Constantinople, which, of course, met under the infallible guidance of God the Holy Ghost Himself, and declared that God the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the God the Father and God the Son. As some theologians have put it, God the Holy Ghost is the breath of the mutual love between God the Father and God the Son.

It has long been a goal of the false ecumenical movement to reject the use of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and to redefine the nature of Papal Primacy in order to achieve a false “unity” with the Orthodox. Karol Joszef Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio each made efforts in this regard, and Robert Francis Prevost is merely continuing these efforts. Prevost/Leo’s reference to the “Nicene Faith” is rejection of the public recitation of the Catholic Church’s belief in the Filioque, the reject of which by the Orthodox is abject heresy.

Returning to Prevost’s address to the Orthodoxy and other Eastern sects:

The second theme of your Symposium is synodality.  The Council of Nicaea inaugurated a synodal path for the Church to follow in dealing with theological and canonical questions at the universal level.  The contribution of fraternal delegates from the Churches and ecclesial communities of East and West to the recent Synod on Synodality held here in the Vatican was a valuable stimulus to greater reflection on the nature and practice of synodality.  The Synod’s Final Document noted that   “ecumenical dialogue is fundamental for developing our understanding of synodality and the unity of the Church” and it went on to encourage the development of “ecumenical synodal practices, including forms of consultation and discernment on questions of shared and urgent interest” (For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission, n. 138).  It is my hope that the preparation and joint commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea will be a providential occasion “to deepen and confess together our faith in Christ and to put into practice forms of synodality among Christians of all traditions” (cf. ibid., n. 139).

Another Brief Comment:

What does this mean?

This means finessing Papal Primacy to the liking of the Orthodox and other “ecclesial communities.”

Pope Leo XIII had a few things to say about such an effort:

First of all, then, We cast an affectionate look upon the East, from whence in the beginning came forth the salvation of the world.  Yes, and the yearning desire of Our heart bids us conceive and hope that the day is not far distant when the Eastern Churches, so illustrious in their ancient faith and glorious past, will return to the fold they have abandoned.  We hope it all the more, that the distance separating them from Us is not so great: nay, with some few exceptions, we agree so entirely on other heads that, in defense of the Catholic Faith, we often have recourse to reasons and testimony borrowed from the teaching, the Rites, and Customs of the East.

The Principal subject of contention is the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff.  But let them look back to the early years of their existence, let them consider the sentiments entertained by their forefathers, and examine what the oldest Traditions testify, and it will, indeed, become evident to them that Christ's Divine Utterance, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, has undoubtedly been realized in the Roman Pontiffs.  Many of these latter in the first gates of the Church were chosen from the East, and foremost among them Anacletus, Evaristus, Anicetus, Eleutherius, Zosimus, and Agatho; and of these a great number, after Governing the Church in Wisdom and Sanctity, Consecrated their Ministry with the shedding of their blood.  The time, the reasons, the promoters of the unfortunate division, are well known.  Before the day when man separated what God had joined together, the name of the Apostolic See was held in Reverence by all the nations of the Christian world: and the East, like the West, agreed without hesitation in its obedience to the Pontiff of Rome, as the Legitimate Successor of St. Peter, and, therefore, the Vicar of Christ here on earth.

And, accordingly, if we refer to the beginning of the dissension, we shall see that Photius himself was careful to send his advocates to Rome on the matters that concerned him; and Pope Nicholas I sent his Legates to Constantinople from the Eternal City, without the slightest opposition, "in order to examine the case of Ignatius the Patriarch with all diligence, and to bring back to the Apostolic See a full and accurate report"; so that the history of the whole negotiation is a manifest Confirmation of the Primacy of the Roman See with which the dissension then began.  Finally, in two great Councils, the second of Lyons and that of Florence, Latins and Greeks, as is notorious, easily agreed, and all unanimously proclaimed as Dogma the Supreme Power of the Roman Pontiffs.

We have recalled those things intentionally, for they constitute an invitation to peace and reconciliation; and with all the more reason that in Our own days it would seem as if there were a more conciliatory spirit towards Catholics on the part of the Eastern Churches, and even some degree of kindly feeling.  To mention an instance, those sentiments were lately made manifest when some of Our faithful travelled to the East on a Holy Enterprise, and received so many proofs of courtesy and good-will.

Therefore, Our mouth is open to you, to you all of Greek or other Oriental Rites who are separated from the Catholic Church, We earnestly desire that each and every one of you should meditate upon the words, so full of gravity and love, addressed by Bessarion to your forefathers: "What answer shall we give to God when He comes to ask why we have separated from our Brethren: to Him Who, to unite us and bring us into One Fold, came down from Heaven, was Incarnate, and was Crucified?  What will our defense be in the eyes of posterity?  Oh, my Venerable Fathers, we must not suffer this to be, we must not entertain this thought, we must not thus so ill provide for ourselves and for our Brethren." 

Weigh carefully in your minds and before God the nature of Our request.  It is not for any human motive, but impelled by Divine Charity and a desire for the salvation of all, that We advise the reconciliation and union with the Church of Rome; and We mean a perfect and complete union, such as could not subsist in any way if nothing else was brought about but a certain kind of agreement in the Tenets of Belief and an intercourse of Fraternal love.  The True Union between Christians is that which Jesus Christ, the Author of the Church, instituted and desired, and which consists in a Unity of Faith and Unity of Government.  

Nor is there any reason for you to fear on that account that We or any of Our Successors will ever diminish your rights, the privileges of your Patriarchs, or the established Ritual of any one of your Churches.  It has been and always will be the intent and Tradition of the Apostolic See, to make a large allowance, in all that is right and good, for the primitive Traditions and special customs of every nation.  On the contrary, if you re-establish Union with Us, you will see how, by God's bounty, the glory and dignity of your Churches will be remarkably increased.  May God, then, in His goodness, hear the Prayer that you yourselves address to Him: "Make the schisms of the Churches cease," and "Assemble those who are dispersed, bring back those who err, and unite them to Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church."  May you thus return to that one Holy Faith which has been handed down both to Us and to you from time immemorial; which your forefathers preserved untainted, and which was enhanced by the rival splendor of the Virtues, the great genius, and the sublime learning of St. Athanasius and St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nazianzum and St. John Chrysostom, the two Saints who bore the name of Cyril, and so many other great men whose glory belongs as a common inheritance to the East and to the West. (Pope Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, June 29, 1896.)

Pope Leo XIII amplified these words when addressing Protestants by noting the revolutions of the Sixteenth Century and thereafter are responsible for all the upheavals in Europe since that time as he called for those outside of the Catholic Faith to return to the unit that can be found within the bosom of Holy Mother Church:

With no less affection do We now look upon the nations who, at a more recent date, were separated from the Roman Church by an extraordinary revolution of things and circumstances. Let them forget the various events of times gone by, let them raise their thoughts far above all that is human, and seeking only truth and salvation, reflect within their hearts upon the Church as it was constituted by Christ. If they will but compare that Church with their own communions, and consider what the actual state of Religion is in these, they will easily acknowledge that, forgetful of their early history, they have drifted away, on many and important points, into the novelty of various errors; nor will they deny that of what may be called the Patrimony of Truth, which the authors of those innovations carried away with them in their desertion, there now scarcely remains to them any article of belief that is really certain and supported by Authority.

Nay, more, things have already come to such a pass that many do not even hesitate to root up the very Foundation upon which alone rests all Religion, and the hope of men, to wit, the Divine Nature of Jesus Christ, Our Savior. And again, whereas formerly they used to assert that the books of the Old and the New Testament were written under the inspiration of God, they now deny them that Authority; this, indeed, was an inevitable consequence when they granted to all the right of private interpretation. Hence, too, the acceptance of individual conscience as the sole guide and rule of conduct to the exclusion of any other: hence those conflicting opinions and numerous sects that fall away so often into the doctrines of Naturalism and Rationalism. (Pope Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, June 29, 1896.)

This is not the path of conciliarism’s false ecumenism.

Also, Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV, following the path charted by Jorge Mario Bergoglio, made it clear that he is intent on establishing a “common date” for the celebration of Easter:

The Symposium has a third theme related to the date of Easter.  As we know, one of the objectives of the Council of Nicaea was to establish a common date for Easter in order to express the unity of the Church throughout the oikoumene.  Sadly, differences in their calendars no longer allow Christians to celebrate together the most important feast of the liturgical year, causing pastoral problems within communities, dividing families and weakening the credibility of our witness to the Gospel.  Several concrete solutions have been proposed that, while respecting the principle of Nicaea, would allow Christians to celebrate together the “Feast of Feasts”.  In this year, when all Christians have celebrated Easter on the same day, I would reaffirm the openness of the Catholic Church to the pursuit of an ecumenical solution favouring a common celebration of the Lord’s resurrection and thus giving greater missionary force to our preaching of “the name of Jesus and the salvation born of faith in the saving truth of the Gospel” (Address to Pontifical Mission Societies, 22 May 2025).

Writing in his biography of Saint Cuthbert, the Venerable Bede explained the heretical nature of changing the date of Easter:

“With those who have wandered form the unity of the Catholic faith, either through not celebrating Easter at the proper time or through evil living, you are to have no dealings. Never forget that if you should ever be forced to make the choice of two evils I would prefer that you left the island, taking my bones with you, than you should be a party to wickedness on any pretext whatsoever, bending your necks to the yoke of schism. Strive most diligently to learn the catholic statutes of the fathers and put them into practice. Make it your special care to carry out those rules of the monastic life which God in His divine mercy has seen fit to give you through my ministry. I know that, though some may see that my teachings are not to be easily dismissed.” (Saint Cuthbert, as quoted by The Venerable Bede, The Life of Cuthbert. The Age of Bede, translated by J. F. Webb and edited with an introduction by D. H. Farmer, Penguin Books, published in 1965 and reprinted with revisions in 1988 and 1998, p. 95.)

Ah, but here is the kicker to Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV’s absolute commitment to “spiritual ecumenism” as he mentioned a direct disciple of the cosmic evolutionist himself. Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., Abbe Paul Courutier, who was mentioned by Karol Joszef Wojtyla/John Paul II in a footnote in Ut Unum Sint, May 25, 1995, and very explicitly on a number of occasions by Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI:

Brothers and sisters, on this eve of Pentecost, let us remember that the unity for which Christians long will not be primarily the fruit of our own efforts, nor will it be realized through any preconceived model or blueprint. Rather, unity will be a gift received “as Christ wills and by the means that he wills” (Prayer for Unity of Father Paul Couturier), by the working of the Holy Spirit.  And so, at this time, I would invite you all to stand so we can pray together to implore the Spirit’s gift of unity. (To participants in the Ecumenical Symposium on the occasion of the 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.)

Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV is just another standard issue conciliar revolutionary as Paul Couturier’s “spiritual ecumenism” is a heretical rejection of the unicity of the One, Holy, Catholic Apostolic Church, that is, the Catholic Church.

As noted just above, Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI praised Couturier’s form of ecumenical syncretism called “spiritual ecumenism”:

I see good reason in this context for optimism in the fact that today a kind of "network" of spiritual links is developing between Catholics and Christians from the different Churches and Ecclesial Communities:  each individual commits himself to prayer, to the examination of his own life, to the purification of memory, to the openness of charity.

The father of spiritual ecumenism, Paul Couturier, spoke in this regard of an "invisible cloister" which unites within its walls those souls inflamed with love for Christ and his Church. I am convinced that if more and more people unite themselves interiorly to the Lord's prayer "that all may be one" (Jn 17: 21), then this prayer, made in the Name of Jesus, will not go unheard (cf. Jn 14: 13; 15: 7, 16, etc.).

With the help that comes from on high, we will also find practical solutions to the different questions which remain open, and in the end our desire for unity will come to fulfilment, whenever and however the Lord wills. (Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Ecumenical meeting at the Archbishopric of Cologne: Address, August 19, 2005.) 

Contrary to what the late Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI believed, there are no "questions which remain open" for discussion," only a Deposit of Faith to be accepted by everyone on the face of the earth without any exceptions or qualifications or reservations whatsoever. Then again, the conciliar “popes,” including the equally late Jorge Mario Bergoglio, of course, have not considered themselves bound by the pronouncements of our true popes, adverting to the philosophically absurd and dogmatically condemned "hermeneutic of continuity a "to justify ignoring those pronouncements that are at odds with the goals of conciliarism.

Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.,’s belief in the mutability of truth according to evolutionary principles shaped Abbe Paul Couturier's view of "spiritual ecumenism:"

A third influence on Couturier was Teilhard de Chardin. Both men were scientists, and Teilhard's vision of the unity of creation and humanity expressed in the unity of Christ and the life of the Church appealed both scientifically and spiritually to Couturier. A reasoned consequence for him was that the unity of Christians was the sign for the unity of humanity, and that praying for the sanctification of Jews, Muslims and Hindus, among many others, could not fail but to lead to a new spiritual understanding of God where Christ could at last be recognised and understood. Couturier felt this keenly as he was partly Jewish and had been raised among Muslims in North Africa. It is worth noting that among Couturier's voluminous correspondents were Jews, Muslims, and Hindus, as well as every kind of Christian, all caught up in the Abbé's spirit of prayer, realising the significance and dimensions of prayer for the unity of Christians. Coincidentally, years later Mother Theresa spoke of the considerable number of Muslims who volunteered and worked at her house in Calcutta: 'If you are a Christian, I want to make you a better Christian - if you are a Muslim, I want to make you a better Muslim'. It cannot be denied that what those Muslims were seeing in Mother Theresa was Jesus Christ himself, just as the Abbe attracted so many to prayer across previously unbridgeable divides by his humility, penitence, and joyful charity in the peace of Christ.

2003-2004 also marks the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the Week of Prayer in Morocco as an act of charity and prayer among the people of Islam, a significant milestone in the experiences of today as much as then. (The Abbé Paul Couturier and Spiritual Ecumenism)

It was to condemn the work of the likes of Abbe Paul Couturier that Pope Pius XI wrote the following in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928:

This being so, it is clear that the Apostolic See cannot on any terms take part in their assemblies, nor is it anyway lawful for Catholics either to support or to work for such enterprises; for if they do so they will be giving countenance to a false Christianity, quite alien to the one Church of Christ. Shall We suffer, what would indeed be iniquitous, the truth, and a truth divinely revealed, to be made a subject for compromise? For here there is question of defending revealed truth. Jesus Christ sent His Apostles into the whole world in order that they might permeate all nations with the Gospel faith, and, lest they should err, He willed beforehand that they should be taught by the Holy Ghost: has then this doctrine of the Apostles completely vanished away, or sometimes been obscured, in the Church, whose ruler and defense is God Himself? If our Redeemer plainly said that His Gospel was to continue not only during the times of the Apostles, but also till future ages, is it possible that the object of faith should in the process of time become so obscure and uncertain, that it would be necessary to-day to tolerate opinions which are even incompatible one with another? If this were true, we should have to confess that the coming of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles, and the perpetual indwelling of the same Spirit in the Church, and the very preaching of Jesus Christ, have several centuries ago, lost all their efficacy and use, to affirm which would be blasphemy. But the Only-begotten Son of God, when He commanded His representatives to teach all nations, obliged all men to give credence to whatever was made known to them by "witnesses preordained by God," and also confirmed His command with this sanction: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned." These two commands of Christ, which must be fulfilled, the one, namely, to teach, and the other to believe, cannot even be understood, unless the Church proposes a complete and easily understood teaching, and is immune when it thus teaches from all danger of erring. In this matter, those also turn aside from the right path, who think that the deposit of truth such laborious trouble, and with such lengthy study and discussion, that a man's life would hardly suffice to find and take possession of it; as if the most merciful God had spoken through the prophets and His Only-begotten Son merely in order that a few, and those stricken in years, should learn what He had revealed through them, and not that He might inculcate a doctrine of faith and morals, by which man should be guided through the whole course of his moral life. (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)

To paraphrase Pope Pius XI, if what Wojtyla/John Paul II, Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Bergoglio, and Prevost/Leo believe about ecumenism is true, then "the very preaching of Jesus Christ" has lost all Its "efficacy and use, to affirm which would be blasphemy."

Yes, indeed, the conciliarists believe in a blasphemous understanding of God and His Divine Revelation as they heap one hot coal after another upon themselves by ignoring the consistent, perennial, immutable teachings of the Catholic Church for the sacrileges, blasphemies, apostasies, errors, novelties, and heresies of their own false, man-made religion, conciliarism.

To recall a phrase I used for the title of an article published shortly after Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s elevation to the conciliar seat of apostasy on March 13, 2013, “do not permit yourselves to be snookered.”

Robert Francis Prevost, masquerading currently as “Pope Leo XIV,” is just as much of a conciliar revolutionary as his predecessors no matter that he prays now and again in Latin, has been “bold” enough to reaffirm that marriage is only between one man and one woman, and does not speak off the cuff as did the reckless Bergoglio. No man who believes what Prevost/Leo believes possesses the Catholic Faith and thus cannot be a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter.

It is as simple as that.

Let us draw inspiration on this Monday within the Octave of Pentecost from Dom Prosper Gueranger’s reflection on the day after Pentecost Sunday:

Yesterday, the Holy Ghost took possession of the world: his commencement of the mission given him by the Father and the Son was such as to indicate his power over the human heart, and prepare us for his future triumphs. The days of this solemn Octave are a fitting occasion for our respectfully considering the progress of his workings in the Church and the souls of men.

Jesus, our Emmanuel, is the King of the whole earth; his Father gave him all nations for his inheritance. (Psalms 2:8) He himself tells us, that all power is given to him in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18) But he ascended into heaven before establishing his Kingdom here below. The very Israelites—to whom he preached his Gospel, and under whose eyes he wrought such stupendous miracles in attestation of his being the Messias—have refused to acknowledge him, and ceased to be his people. (Daniel 9:26) A few have been faithful, and others will follow their example: but the mass of the people of Israel have impiously resolved not to have this Man to reign over them. (Luke 19:14)

As to the Gentiles, what likelihood is there of their accepting the Son of Mary for their Master? They know nothing whatsoever of Him, his teachings, or his mission. They have lost all their primitive religious traditions. Materialism reigns supreme in every country, whether civilized or barbarian; and every creature is made an object for adoration. The very first principles of morality have been corrupted. The insignificant minority, who proudly call themselves Philosophers, have the strangest theories: they became vain in their thoughts, as St. Paul says of them, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21) Races, once distinct, have been gradually fused into each other by conquest. Revolution after revolution has habituated mankind to respect no power but that of might. The colossal Roman Empire, with despotic Cæsars at its head, crushes the whole earth beneath its sway. And this is the time chosen by the heavenly Father for sending his Son into the world! Jesus is to reign over men, and his reign must be accepted: —but there seems to be little chance of there being any welcome given to a King who claims to rule the mind and heart of his subjects!

During these long sad ages, another master has presented himself to the Nations, and they have enthusiastically hailed him as their king. It is Satan. So firmly indeed has he established his rule, that our Lord calls him the prince of this world. He must be cast out; (John 12:31) that is, he must be driven from the temples men have built to him, from society, from the soul, from literature, from art, from political life—all of which are under his sway. There will be resistance from the world he has corrupted; nay, he himself, the strong armed one, (Luke 11:21) will resist, and so powerfully, that no mere created power shall ever make him yield.

So, then, everything is against the Kingdom of Christ, and nothing is favorable. And yet, if we are to believe certain modern writers, the world was in a fit state for a total and complete reformation! Impious and absurd assertion! Are we to deny the evidence of facts? Or must we admit that error and vice are the best preparation for truth and virtue? Man may know that he is in a state of wretchedness, and yet not know that his wretchedness comes from sin, still less be resolved to become, at once and at every sacrifice, a hero in virtue!

No: —in order that Jesus might reign over a world such as ours was, there was need of a miracle, nay of a miracle, as Bossuet observes, comparable to that of creation, whereby God draws being out of nothingness. Now, it was the Holy Ghost who worked this miracle. He willed that we, who have never seen the Lord Jesus, should be as certain of his being our Messias and God, as though we had witnessed his wonderful works, and heard his divine teachings. For this end, he achieved the master-miracle of the conversion of the world, wherein God chose the weak things of the world, that he might confound the strong—the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are. (1 Corinthians 1:27, 28) By this stupendous fact, which was evident to men as the noon-day sun, the Holy Ghost made his presence known and felt by the world.

Let us consider the means he took for establishing the Kingdom of Jesus upon the earth. And first, let us return to the Cenacle. Look at these men now endued with power from on high: (Luke 24:49) what were they a while ago? Men without influence, poor, ignorant, and, as we all know, easily intimidated. But now, the Holy Ghost has changed them into other men: they have an eloquence which it is hard to resist; they are heedless of every threat or peril; they are soon to stand before the world, yea, and conquer it with a victory such as no monarch ever won or fancied. The fact is too evident for the blindest incredulity to deny—the world has been transformed, and transformed by these poor Jews of the Cenacle. They received the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, and he has done through them the work he came to do.

He gave them three things on that day: the power to preach the word, which was signified by the Tongues that sat upon them; the ardor of love, expressed by the Fire; and the gift of miracles, which they exercised that very morning. The word is the sword wherewith they are armed; love is the source of their dauntless courage; miracles win man’s attention to their teachings. These are the means used for driving Satan from the world, and for establishing the Kingdom of Jesus; and these means are all provided by the Holy Ghost.

But he does not confine his action to this. It is not enough for men to hear the word, and admire the courage, and witness the miracles of the Apostles. Neither is it sufficient that they should see the force of truth and the beauty of virtue, or acknowledge the disgrace and sinfulness of their own manner of life. In order to a conversion of heart—to confess that the Jesus, who is preached to them, is God—to love him, be baptized, promised fidelity to him, even to martyrdom if required—for all this there is need of the grace of the Holy Ghost. He alone can take away the stony heart, as the Prophet expresses it, and give a heart of flesh, (Ezechiel 36:26) filled with supernatural faith and love. Hence, he will accompany his ministers wheresoever they preach the Gospel; the visible working is theirs, the invisible is His: man’s salvation is to be the result of the two united. They must be applied to each individual, and each individual must freely yield his assent to the exterior preaching of the apostle, and to the interior action of the Holy Spirit. Truly, the undertaking is one of extreme difficulty—to bring mankind to receive Jesus as its Lord and King: but after three centuries of contest, the Cross of our Redeemer will be the standard round which the whole civilized world will be rallied.

It was just, that the Holy Spirit and the Apostles should first turn to the Israelites. They were the people to whom were committed the words of God; (Romans 3:2) and the Messias was born of their race. Jesus had said that he was not sent but to the sheep that were lost of the house of Israel. (Matthew 15:24) Peter, his Vicar, inherited the glory of being the Apostle of the Jews; (Galations 2:7) although it was also by his ministry that the Gentiles, in the person of Cornelius the Centurion, were first admitted into the Church; and again, it was by him, at the Council of Jerusalem, that the baptized Gentiles were declared emancipated from the Jewish Law. We repeat it—the first preaching of the Christian Law was an honor due to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: hence, our first Pentecost is a Jewish one, and the first to celebrate it are Jews. It is upon the people of Israel that the Holy Spirit first pours forth his divine Gifts.

As soon as the Solemnity was over, these men who have received the faith and are now truly children of Abraham by holy Baptism, return to the several provinces of the Gentile world whence they came; they return, bearing in their hearts that Jesus whom they have acknowledged to be the Messias, their God and their Savior. Let us honor these first-fruits of holy Church, these trophies of the Paraclete Spirit, these messengers of the good tidings. They will soon be followed by the Disciples of the Cenacle, who—after using every means that zeal could devise for the conversion of the proud and ungrateful Jerusalem, but to no effect—will turn to the Gentiles.

So that, of the Jewish nation, a very small minority has acknowledged the Son of David as the heir of the Father of the Family; the body of the people has rebelled against him, and is running headlong to destruction. By what name are we to call their crime? The Protomartyr, St. Stephen, speaking to these unworthy children of Abraham, says: O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! we always resist the Holy Ghost! (Acts 7:51) Resistance, then, to the Spirit of God is their crime; and the Apostles, finding the favored people determined to refuse the truth, turn to them that are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. (Luke 1:79) These are the Gentiles; and upon them the Apostles are henceforward to lavish the torrents of grace, which Jesus has merited for mankind by his Sacrifice on the Cross.

These messengers of the word of life carry the treasure to pagan lands. Every opposition in man’s power is made against them, but they triumph overall. The Holy Spirit gives efficacy to his own indwelling within them; he acts himself on the souls of their hearers; and rapid is the spread of Faith in Jesus. A Christian colony is soon formed at Antioch, then at Rome, and then at Alexandria. The tongue of fire runs through the world, beyond even the farthest limits of the Roman Empire, which, as the Prophets had foretold, was to serve as an instrument to the establishing the Kingdom of Christ. India, China, Ethiopia, and a hundred other distant countries, hear the word of the heralds of the Gospel of Peace.

But they have another testimony besides their word, to give to Jesus their King: they owe him the testimony of their blood, and they give it. The fire that was enkindled within them on the Day of Pentecost, consumes them in the holocaust of martyrdom.

And yet, observe the power and fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit! To these first Apostles he raises up successors, in whom he continues his influence and work. So will it be to the end of time; for Jesus is to be acknowledged as Lord and Savior by all generations, and the Holy Ghost has been sent into the world in order to effect this.

The Prince of this world, the old serpent, (Apocalypse 12:9) makes use of the most violent means for staying the conquests of these messengers of the Holy Spirit. He has had Peter crucified, and Paul beheaded; he spared not one of the glorious chieftains. They are gone, and yet his defeat is terrible to his pride. The mystery of Pentecost has created a new people; the seed sown by the Apostles has produced an immense harvest. Nero’s persecution has swept away the Jewish leaders of the Christian host; but they had done their grand work—they had established the Church among the Gentiles: we sang their triumph in our yesterday’s Introit: The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole earth! Alleluia! (Wisdom 1:7) Towards the close of the first century, Domitian finds Christians even in the imperial family; he makes them Martyrs. Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius—all are jealous of the growing power of Jesus of Nazareth; they persecute his flock, and yet they see it multiply. Their master, the Prince of this world, gives them political influence and philosophy; but the Holy Ghost brings both to nought, and the Truth spreads through the universe. Other Emperors—such as Severus, Decius, Gallus, Valerian, and Maximian—with the sterner course of cruelty unrefined by sophistry, order a universal massacre of the Christians, for the Empire was filled with them. And when this too failed, Satan brings all his power to bear in the last Persecution, which is decreed by Diocletian and his fellow Cæsars. It is to be the extermination of the Christian name. It deluges the Empire with the blood of Martyrs; but the victory is for the Church, and her enemies die, despairing and baffled.

How magnificent, O Holy Spirit! is thy triumph! How divine is this Kingdom of Jesus, which thou thus foundest in spite of human folly and malice, or of Satan’s power, strong as it then was upon the earth! Thou infusest into millions of souls the love of a Religion which demands the most heroic sacrifices from its followers. Thou answerest the specious objections of man’s reason by the eloquence of miracles; and hearts that once were slaves to concupiscence and pride are inflamed, by thee, with such a love of Jesus that they cheerfully suffer every torture, yea and death itself, for his dear sake!

Then it was that was fulfilled the promise made by our Savior to his Disciples: When they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what to speak, for it shall be given to you, in that hour, what to speak; for it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. (Matthew 10:19, 20) We have a proof of it in the Acts of the Martyrs, where we read their simple and sublime answers, when questioned by their persecutors, and this frequently in the midst of the most excruciating torments. It is the word of the Spirit, combating and conquering the world. The bystanders would frequently exclaim: “Great is the God of the Christians!” At times, the executioners, excited by the heavenly eloquence of the victims they were torturing, cried out that they too would be Disciples of such a God. We are told by authors who lived in those times that the arena of martyrdom was the forum of Faith, and that the blood and testimony of the Martyrs was the seed of Christians.

For three centuries did these prodigies of the Holy Spirit continue, and then the victory was complete. Jesus was acknowledged as the King and Savior of the world, as the Teacher and Redeemer of mankind; Satan was driven from the kingdom he had usurped; and idolatry was either abolished by the Faith in the one true God, or they, that still kept it up, were looked upon as ignorant and depraved beings. Now, this victory—which was gained, first over the Roman Empire and, since then, over so many other infidel nations—is the work of the Holy Ghost. The miraculous manner of its being accomplished, is one of the chief arguments whereon our faith rests. We have not seen or heard Jesus; and yet we confess him to be our God, because of the evident testimony given of him by the Spirit whom he sent to us. May all creatures, then, give glory, thanks and love to this Holy Paraclete who has thus put us in possession of the salvation brought us by our Emmanuel! (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Monday in Whitsun Week.)

May our daily prayers to Our Lady, especially through her Most Holy Rosary, help us to make no compromises with the evils of Modernity in the world nor with the evil of Modernism within the counterfeit church of conciliarism.

Heavenly rewards await those who persevere in truth, and Our Lady will shower us with all the graces necessary to enjoy those rewards if we only ask her to do so.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Appendix A

Various Ways in Which the Orthodox Defect From the Deposit of Faith Entrusted to the Catholic Church

1. Papal Primacy.

2. Papal Infallibility.

3. The doctrine of Original Sin as defined dogmatically by the Catholic Church. The ambiguous doctrine of the Orthodox was noted by Pope Pius VI in Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794, when discussing the Greek rejection of Limbo that is, of course, shared by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and his protege, William "Cardinal" Levada, whose "International Theological Commission" issued The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized on April 19, 2007:

Very few Greek Fathers dealt with the destiny of infants who die without Baptism because there was no controversy about this issue in the East. Furthermore, they had a different view of the present condition of humanity. For the Greek Fathers, as the consequence of Adam's sin, human beings inherited corruption, possibility, and mortality, from which they could be restored by a process of deification made possible through the redemptive work of Christ. The idea of an inheritance of sin or guilt - common in Western tradition - was foreign to this perspective, since in their view sin could only be a free, personal act. (International Theological Commission, The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized, April 19, 2007.)

Droleskey interection: This is what the Orthodox still believe, which makes them fit "partners" for "ecumenical dialogue" with Bergoglio and Ratzinger/Benedict before him, who told us in his own murky way that he is of one mind with them on the matter of Original Sin, which he called in 1995 an "imprecise" term (!).]

Here is a statement on Original Sin from the Orthodox Church in America:

With regard to original sin, the difference between Orthodox Christianity and the West may be outlined as follows:

In the Orthodox Faith, the term "original sin" refers to the "first" sin of Adam and Eve. As a result of this sin, humanity bears the "consequences" of sin, the chief of which is death. Here the word "original" may be seen as synonymous with "first." Hence, the "original sin" refers to the "first sin" in much the same way as "original chair" refers to the "first chair."

In the West, humanity likewise bears the "consequences" of the "original sin" of Adam and Eve. However, the West also understands that humanity is likewise "guilty" of the sin of Adam and Eve. The term "Original Sin" here refers to the condition into which humanity is born, a condition in which guilt as well as consequence is involved.

In the Orthodox Christian understanding, while humanity does bear the consequences of the original, or first, sin, humanity does not bear the personal guilt associated with this sin. Adam and Eve are guilty of their willful action; we bear the consequences, chief of which is death.

One might look at all of this in a completely different light. Imagine, if you will, that one of your close relatives was a mass murderer. He committed many serious crimes for which he was found guilty ­ and perhaps even admitted his guilt publicly. You, as his or her son or brother or cousin, may very well bear the consequences of his action -­ people may shy away from you or say, "Watch out for him -­ he comes from a family of mass murderers." Your name may be tainted, or you may face some other forms of discrimination as a consequence of your relative’s sin. You, however, are not personally guilty of his or her sin.

There are some within Orthodoxy who approach a westernized view of sin, primarily after the 17th and 18th centuries due to a variety of westernizing influences particularly in Ukraine and Russia after the time of Peter Mohyla. These influences have from time to time colored explanations of the Orthodox Faith which are in many respects lacking. (Orthodox Church in America, Questions and Answers on Original Sin) 

Another interjection: This is not Catholic doctrine. This matter cannot be "bridged" by concerts of music composed by Russians.

4. The Filioque, that God the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son.

5. The doctrine of Purgatory as defined by the authority of the Catholic Church.

6. The doctrine of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception as defined by the authority of the Catholic Church.

7. The doctrine of Our Lady's Assumption body and soul into Heaven as defined by the authority of the Catholic Church.

8. The doctrine of the indissolubility of a sacramentally valid, ratified and consummated marriage; the Orthodox hold that a person can marry up to three times following two divorces. Here is the Orthodox "consensus" (as there is no ultimate ecclesiastical authority within Orthodoxy to decide doctrinal matters) on the issue:

Marriage is one of the sacraments of the Orthodox Church. Orthodox Christians who marry must marry in the Church in order to be in sacramental communion with the Church. According to the Church canons, an Orthodox who marries outside the Church may not receive Holy Communion and may not serve as a sponsor, i.e. a Godparent at a Baptism, or as a sponsor at a Wedding. Certain marriages are prohibited by canon law, such as a marriage between first and second cousins, or between a Godparent and a Godchild. The first marriage of a man and a woman is honored by the Church with a richly symbolic service that eloquently speaks to everyone regarding the married state. The form of the service calls upon God to unite the couple through the prayer of the priest or bishop officiating.

The church will permit up to, but not more than, three marriages for any Orthodox Christian. If both partners are entering a second or third marriage, another form of the marriage ceremony is conducted, much more subdued and penitential in character. Marriages end either through the death of one of the partners or through ecclesiastical recognition of divorce. The Church grants "ecclesiastical divorces" on the basis of the exception given by Christ to his general prohibition of the practice. The Church has frequently deplored the rise of divorce and generally sees divorce as a tragic failure. Yet, the Orthodox Church also recognizes that sometimes the spiritual well-being of Christians caught in a broken and essentially nonexistent marriage justifies a divorce, with the right of one or both of the partners to remarry. Each parish priest is required to do all he can to help couples resolve their differences. If they cannot, and they obtain a civil divorce, they may apply for an ecclesiastical divorce in some jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church. In others, the judgment is left to the parish priest when and if a civilly divorced person seeks to remarry.

Those Orthodox jurisdictions which issue ecclesiastical divorces require a thorough evaluation of the situation, and the appearance of the civilly divorced couple before a local ecclesiastical court, where another investigation is made. Only after an ecclesiastical divorce is issued by the presiding bishop can they apply for an ecclesiastical license to remarry.

Though the Church would prefer that all Orthodox Christians would marry Orthodox Christians, it does not insist on it in practice. Out of its concern for the spiritual welfare of members who wish to marry a non-Orthodox Christian, the Church will conduct a "mixed marriage." For this purpose, a "non-Orthodox Christian" is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, or one of the many Protestant Churches which believe in and baptize in the name of the Holy Trinity. This means that such mixed marriages may be performed in the Orthodox Church. However, the Orthodox Church does not perform marriages between Orthodox Christians and persons belonging to other religions, such as Islam , Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any sectarian and cult group, such as Christian Science, Mormonism, or the followers of Rev. Moon. (The Stand of the Orthodox Church on Controversial Issues.)

9. The absolute prohibition against the use of any form of contraception whatsoever. This is from the website of the Greek Orthodox Church in America:

General agreement exists among Orthodox writers on the following two points:

1. Since at least one of the purposes of marriage is the birth of children, a couple acts immorally when it consistently uses contraceptive methods to avoid the birth of any children, if there are not extenuating circumstances;
2. contraception is also immoral when used to encourage the practice of fornication and adultery.

Less agreement exists among Eastern Orthodox authors on the issue of contraception within marriage for the spacing of children or for the limitation of the number of children. Some authors take a negative view and count any use of contraceptive methods within or outside of marriage as immoral (Papacostas, pp. 13-18; Gabriel Dionysiatou). These authors tend to emphasize as the primary and almost exclusive purpose of marriage the birth of children and their upbringing. They tend to consider any other exercise of the sexual function as the submission of this holy act to unworthy purposes, i.e., pleasure-seeking, passion, and bodily gratification, which are held to be inappropriate for the Christian growing in spiritual perfection. These teachers hold that the only alternative is sexual abstinence in marriage, which, though difficult, is both desirable and possible through the aid of the grace of God. It must be noted also that, for these writers, abortion and contraception are closely tied together, and often little or no distinction is made between the two. Further, it is hard to discern in their writings any difference in judgment between those who use contraceptive methods so as to have no children and those who use them to space and limit the number of children.

Other Orthodox writers have challenged this view by seriously questioning the Orthodoxy of the exclusive and all-controlling role of the procreative purpose of marriage (Zaphiris; Constantelos, 1975). Some note the inconsistency of the advocacy of sexual continence in marriage with the scriptural teaching that one of the purposes of marriage is to permit the ethical fulfillment of sexual drives, so as to avoid fornication and adultery (1 Cor. 7:1-7). Most authors, however, emphasize the sacramental nature of marriage and its place within the framework of Christian anthropology, seeing the sexual relationship of husband and wife as one aspect of the mutual growth of the couple in love and unity. This approach readily adapts itself to an ethical position that would not only permit but also enjoin sexual relationships of husband and wife for their own sake as expressions of mutual love. Such a view clearly would support the use of contraceptive practices for the purpose of spacing and limiting children so as to permit greater freedom of the couple in the expression of their mutual love. (For the Health of Body and Soul: An Eastern Orthodox Introduction to Bioethics.)

Droleskey Afterword to Appendix A:

Such heretical beliefs are not the foundation of any kind of true reconciliation between the Orthodox and the Catholic Church, admitting that the counterfeit church of conciliarism can indeed "live" with these differences in the name of a false notion of "unity" and "love."

Appendix B

Several Example of Past "Joint Declarations" or "Common Statements" Made by Conciliar "Popes" and Greek Orthodox "Patriarchs"

Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I give thanks in the Holy Spirit to God, the author and finisher of all good works, for enabling them to meet once again in the holy city of Rome in order to pray together with the Bishops of the Synod of the Roman Catholic Church and with the faithful people of this city, to greet one another with a kiss of peace, and to converse together in a spirit of charity and brotherly frankness.

While recognizing that there is still a long way to go on the road toward the unity of all Christians and that between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church there still remain points to clarify and obstacles to surmount before attaining that unity in the profession of faith necessary for re-establishing full communion, they rejoice in the fact that their meeting was able to contribute to their Churches rediscovering themselves still more as sister Churches.

In the prayers they offered, in their public statements and in their private conversation, the Pope and the Patriarch wished to emphasize their conviction that an essential element in the restoration of full communion between the Roman Catholic Church on the one side and the Orthodox Church on the other, is to be found within the framework of the renewal of the Church and of Christians in fidelity to the traditions of the Fathers and to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit Who remains always with the Church.

They recognize that the true dialogue of charity, which should be at the basis of all relations between themselves and between their Churches, must be rooted in total fidelity to the one Lord Jesus Christ and in mutual respect for each one’s traditions. Every element which can strengthen the bonds of charity, of communion, and of common action is a cause for spiritual rejoicing and should be promoted; anything which can harm this charity, communion and common action is to be eliminated with the grace of God and the creative strength of the Holy Spirit.

Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I are convinced that the dialogue of charity between their Churches must bear fruits of a cooperation which would not be self-seeking, in the field of common action at the pastoral, social and intellectual levels, with mutual respect for each one’s fidelity to his own Church. They desire that regular and profound contacts may be maintained between Catholic and Orthodox pastors for the good of their faithful. The Roman Catholic Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate are ready to study concrete ways of solving pastoral problems, especially those connected with marriages between Catholics and Orthodox. They hope for better cooperation in works of charity, in aid to refugees and those who are suffering and in the promotion of justice and peace in the world.

In order to prepare fruitful contacts between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, the Pope and the Patriarch give their blessing and pastoral support to all efforts for cooperation between Catholic and Orthodox scholars in the fields of historical studies, of studies in the traditions of the Churches, of patristics, of liturgy and of a presentation of the Gospel which corresponds at one and the same time with the authentic message of the Lord and with the needs and hopes of today’s world. The spirit which should inspire these efforts is one of loyalty to truth and of mutual understanding, with an effective desire to avoid the bitterness of the past and every kind of spiritual or intellectual domination.

Paul VI and Athenagoras I remind government authorities and all the world’s peoples of the thirst for peace and justice which lies in the hearts of all men. In the name of the Lord, they implore them to seek out every means to promote this peace and this justice in all countries of the world. (Common Declaration of Paul the Sick and the Ecumenical Heretic of Constantinople, Athenagoras I.)

This year we thank God in particular for the meeting of the Joint Commission which took place in Ravenna, a city whose monuments speak eloquently of the ancient Byzantine heritage handed down to us from the undivided Church of the first millennium. May the splendour of those mosaics inspire all the members of the Joint Commission to pursue their important task with renewed determination, in fidelity to the Gospel and to Tradition, ever alert to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the Church today.

While the meeting in Ravenna was not without its difficulties, I pray earnestly that these may soon be clarified and resolved, so that there may be full participation in the Eleventh Plenary Session and in subsequent initiatives aimed at continuing the theological dialogue in mutual charity and understanding. Indeed, our work towards unity is according to the will of Christ our Lord. In these early years of the third millennium, our efforts are all the more urgent because of the many challenges facing all Christians, to which we need to respond with a united voice and with conviction. (Letter to His Holiness Bartholomaios I, Archbishop of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch, on the occasion of the feast of St. Andrew, November 23, 2007.)

(So much for the “unofficial” nature of The Ravenna Document.)

1. Like our venerable predecessors Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras who met here in Jerusalem fifty years ago, we too, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, were determined to meet in the Holy Land “where our common Redeemer, Christ our Lord, lived, taught, died, rose again, and ascended into Heaven, whence he sent the Holy Spirit on the infant Church” (Common communiqué of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, published after their meeting of 6 January 1964). Our meeting, another encounter of the Bishops of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople founded respectively by the two Brothers the Apostles Peter and Andrew, is a source of profound spiritual joy for us. It presents a providential occasion to reflect on the depth and the authenticity of our existing bonds, themselves the fruit of a grace-filled journey on which the Lord has guided us since that blessed day of fifty years ago.

2. Our fraternal encounter today is a new and necessary step on the journey towards the unity to which only the Holy Spirit can lead us, that of communion in legitimate diversity. We call to mind with profound gratitude the steps that the Lord has already enabled us to undertake. The embrace exchanged between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras here in Jerusalem, after many centuries of silence, paved the way for a momentous gesture, the removal from the memory and from the midst of the Church of the acts of mutual excommunication in 1054. This was followed by an exchange of visits between the respective Sees of Rome and Constantinople, by regular correspondence and, later, by the decision announced by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dimitrios, of blessed memory both, to initiate a theological dialogue of truth between Catholics and Orthodox. Over these years, God, the source of all peace and love, has taught us to regard one another as members of the same Christian family, under one Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to love one another, so that we may confess our faith in the same Gospel of Christ, as received by the Apostles and expressed and transmitted to us by the Ecumenical Councils and the Church Fathers. While fully aware of not having reached the goal of full communion, today we confirm our commitment to continue walking together towards the unity for which Christ our Lord prayed to the Father so “that all may be one” (Jn 17:21).

3. Well aware that unity is manifested in love of God and love of neighbour, we look forward in eager anticipation to the day in which we will finally partake together in the Eucharistic banquet. As Christians, we are called to prepare to receive this gift of Eucharistic communion, according to the teaching of Saint Irenaeus of Lyon (Against Heresies, IV,18,5, PG 7,1028), through the confession of the one faith, persevering prayer, inner conversion, renewal of life and fraternal dialogue. By achieving this hoped for goal, we will manifest to the world the love of God by which we are recognized as true disciples of Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 13:35).

4. To this end, the theological dialogue undertaken by the Joint International Commission offers a fundamental contribution to the search for full communion among Catholics and Orthodox. Throughout the subsequent times of Popes John Paul II and Benedict the XVI, and Patriarch Dimitrios, the progress of our theological encounters has been substantial. Today we express heartfelt appreciation for the achievements to date, as well as for the current endeavours. This is no mere theoretical exercise, but an exercise in truth and love that demands an ever deeper knowledge of each other’s traditions in order to understand them and to learn from them. Thus we affirm once again that the theological dialogue does not seek a theological lowest common denominator on which to reach a compromise, but is rather about deepening one’s grasp of the whole truth that Christ has given to his Church, a truth that we never cease to understand better as we follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Hence, we affirm together that our faithfulness to the Lord demands fraternal encounter and true dialogue. Such a common pursuit does not lead us away from the truth; rather, through an exchange of gifts, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it will lead us into all truth (cf. Jn 16:13).

5. Yet even as we make this journey towards full communion we already have the duty to offer common witness to the love of God for all people by working together in the service of humanity, especially in defending the dignity of the human person at every stage of life and the sanctity of family based on marriage, in promoting peace and the common good, and in responding to the suffering that continues to afflict our world. We acknowledge that hunger, poverty, illiteracy, the inequitable distribution of resources must constantly be addressed. It is our duty to seek to build together a just and humane society in which no-one feels excluded or emarginated.

6. It is our profound conviction that the future of the human family depends also on how we safeguard – both prudently and compassionately, with justice and fairness – the gift of creation that our Creator has entrusted to us. Therefore, we acknowledge in repentance the wrongful mistreatment of our planet, which is tantamount to sin before the eyes of God. We reaffirm our responsibility and obligation to foster a sense of humility and moderation so that all may feel the need to respect creation and to safeguard it with care. Together, we pledge our commitment to raising awareness about the stewardship of creation; we appeal to all people of goodwill to consider ways of living less wastefully and more frugally, manifesting less greed and more generosity for the protection of God’s world and the benefit of His people.

7. There is likewise an urgent need for effective and committed cooperation of Christians in order to safeguard everywhere the right to express publicly one’s faith and to be treated fairly when promoting that which Christianity continues to offer to contemporary society and culture. In this regard, we invite all Christians to promote an authentic dialogue with Judaism, Islam and other religious traditions. Indifference and mutual ignorance can only lead to mistrust and unfortunately even conflict.

8. From this holy city of Jerusalem, we express our shared profound concern for the situation of Christians in the Middle East and for their right to remain full citizens of their homelands. In trust we turn to the almighty and merciful God in a prayer for peace in the Holy Land and in the Middle East in general. We especially pray for the Churches in Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, which have suffered most grievously due to recent events. We encourage all parties regardless of their religious convictions to continue to work for reconciliation and for the just recognition of peoples’ rights. We are persuaded that it is not arms, but dialogue, pardon and reconciliation that are the only possible means to achieve peace.

9. In an historical context marked by violence, indifference and egoism, many men and women today feel that they have lost their bearings. It is precisely through our common witness to the good news of the Gospel that we may be able to help the people of our time to rediscover the way that leads to truth, justice and peace. United in our intentions, and recalling the example, fifty years ago here in Jerusalem, of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, we call upon all Christians, together with believers of every religious tradition and all people of good will, to recognize the urgency of the hour that compels us to seek the reconciliation and unity of the human family, while fully respecting legitimate differences, for the good of all humanity and of future generations.

10. In undertaking this shared pilgrimage to the site where our one same Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and rose again, we humbly commend to the intercession of the Most Holy and Ever Virgin Mary our future steps on the path towards the fullness of unity, entrusting to God’s infinite love the entire human family. “ May the Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!” (Num 6:25-26). (Jorge and Bartholomew‘s Common, 25 May 2014.)

4. We thank God for the gifts received from the coming into the world of His only Son. We share the same spiritual Tradition of the first millennium of Christianity. The witnesses of this Tradition are the Most Holy Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, and the saints we venerate.  Among them are innumerable martyrs who have given witness to their faithfulness to Christ and have become the “seed of Christians”.

5. Notwithstanding this shared Tradition of the first ten centuries, for nearly one thousand years Catholics and Orthodox have been deprived of communion in the Eucharist. We have been divided by wounds caused by old and recent conflicts, by differences inherited from our ancestors, in the understanding and expression of our faith in God, one in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are pained by the loss of unity, the outcome of human weakness and of sin, which has occurred despite the priestly prayer of Christ the Saviour: “So that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you … so that they may be one, as we are one” (Jn 17:21).

6. Mindful of the permanence of many obstacles, it is our hope that our meeting may contribute to the re–establishment of this unity willed by God, for which Christ prayed. May our meeting inspire Christians throughout the world to pray to the Lord with renewed fervour for the full unity of all His disciples. In a world which yearns not only for our words but also for tangible gestures, may this meeting be a sign of hope for all people of goodwill!

7. In our determination to undertake all that is necessary to overcome the historical divergences we have inherited, we wish to combine our efforts to give witness to the Gospel of Christ and to the shared heritage of the Church of the first millennium, responding together to the challenges of the contemporary world. Orthodox and Catholics must learn to give unanimously witness in those spheres in which this is possible and necessary. Human civilization has entered into a period of epochal change. Our Christian conscience and our pastoral responsibility compel us not to remain passive in the face of challenges requiring a shared response. (Bergoglio-Kirill Joint Declaration.)