“The abomination of desolation in the holy place, in the holy year, and in the Holy See.”
So began Michael Matt’s response to the so-called “LGBTQ+ pilgrimage” that took place on 6 September at St. Peter’s Basilica.
By now, readers have already seen the appalling images of what is perhaps better described as a “Gay Pride” march whereby out-n-proud homo-deviants processed through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s wearing and carrying all manner of LGBT paraphernalia, including a large rainbow painted cross.
But that’s not all.
While in Rome for the big event, Bishop Francesco Savino, VP of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, celebrated Mass for the LGBT activists at the Gesù, mother church of the Jesuits in Rome.
In his sermon – as reported by James Martin, de facto President of the Jesuit’s Office of Sodomitical Affairs – Savino said that Leo had personally encouraged him to celebrate the Mass, adding:
He said with sweetness, ‘Go and celebrate the Mass organized by La Tenda di Gionata (an Italian homo-activist organization) and the other organizations that care for your brothers and sisters.’
Sweetness? Wink. Nod. Is this a hint?
Needless to say, the LGBT invasion of St. Peter’s was no flash mob. Reuters had reported on the event’s inclusion on the Vatican’s Jubilee calendar all the way back in December 2024, at which point tradservative commentators on Catholic social media immediately expressed their opposition.
The point is simply this: Everyone with an interest in such things has known for some time exactly what was coming, and that includes Robert Prevost, the man who took the stage name Leo XIV in early May.
Over the last four months, whatever hope anyone may have initially had that Leo might intervene in order to avoid the obvious scandal-in-the-making fizzled out as he went on to confirm or otherwise elevate known homo-activists (e.g., Tucho Fernandez, Cristiana Perrella, James Martin).
In other words, Leo owns this frontal assault on the sacred dignity of St. Peter’s Basilica. Period.
Michael J. Matt, publisher of the nation’s oldest traditional… (oh, you know the rest) disagrees. In a recent video, Matt expressed his outrage at what took place:
They’re walking, marching proudly into the Holy of Holies, our holiest place, the holiest place in Christendom, right?… Two guys holding hands, walking into our most sacred place, our holy place through the doors … Grown men, sodomites holding hands brazenly in front of God, and the Pope, and the Blessed Sacrament.
Fair enough. Michael is right to be outraged (we’ll get to why he is outraged later), but get this:
This is the legacy of Pope Humble I … What, what, what Leo has come in, what he’s inherited, is the church that Francis built.
Yes, you read that correctly.
According to Michael “Zip-It” Matt, this weekend’s gay pride fiasco at St. Peter’s – which clearly took place not only with Leo’s knowledge but also his blessing – is Bergoglio’s fault.
And just to be certain that everyone gets the message, Matt doubled-down:
He’s still there. The spirit of Francis haunts the Vatican … Francis is still there. Francis is still in charge. Everything that’s happening right now in the Vatican is Francis’ doing. The legacy of Francis goes on, right?
Evidently determined to embarrass himself further, he went on to hint, in the softest terms possible, that Leo just might be the ghost of Bergoglio reincarnated.
And so far, everything that he [Leo] seems to be saying is that he wants to carry on the legacy of his predecessors, which is what every good pope in history has always done. He always carries on the building up what his predecessor started. That’s his job.
What malarky! Leo doesn’t just seem to be saying that he wants to continue in Bergoglio’s footsteps, he literally declared as much:
I would like us to renew together today our complete commitment to the path that … Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (cf Address to College of Cardinals, May 9, 2025)
Even before this, immediately after his election, he boldly announced from the loggia, “We want a synodal church!”
Be that as it may, even in hinting (in what amounts to a low whisper) that Leo just might be a wolf in his own right, Michael gives him a veritable pass.
Hey man, he’s just building up what his predecessor started, ‘cause, you know, that’s what popes do!
The problem here isn’t a lack of knowledge about the Roman Pontiff’s actual job description, it’s an utter lack of conviction. He goes on:
And anyone, quite frankly, who thought that poor Leo, Pope Leo, after all these years of revolution in the Church, that poor Pope Leo was going to come sort of waltzing in here, and he’s going to exercise this diabolical spirit of Vatican II, this diabolical spirit of Francis, from the Vatican, from the Church. You were just simply being naive. I’m sorry.
Ah, yes. Poor Pope Leo.
So, what does Michael Matt really believe?
Only he can say for sure, but his modus operandi suggests that he, like other Trad, Inc. principals, believes whatever his naïve donors want to hear.
As I mentioned in my recent podcast with Stephen Kokx, if the talking heads of Trad, Inc. have any gifts at all, one of them is the ability to take the emotional pulse of their audience so they can amp them up accordingly.
In May, this initially meant tapping into the Leophoria immediately following Prevost’s election. Now, however, as the tide seems to be slowly turning in a slightly more negative direction, we see men like Michael Matt pivoting in lock step with audience sentiment.
This is the business model for some of Trad, Inc.’s finest.
Now, this may be an effective gameplan for uniting the clans, but it leaves no room whatsoever under that big tent for unadulterated Catholic conviction, apart from which one is prone to speaking from both sides of the mouth. For example, like this:
Trouble is, his [Leo’s] predecessor, who was not the ramrod, who’s not the beginning of any of this, by the way, but Francis changed everything.
So… Francis wasn’t the ramrod, he just changed everything!
Make sense? Of course it does, but only if you understand that we’re talking about a marketing plan, not an effort to pursue and disseminate the truth.
In other words, if you want to believe that everything happening right now in the Vatican is Francis’ doing, Mike is your man.
If, on the other hand, you have a sense that the problem predates Bergoglio, going all the way back to the spirit of Vatican II, well, then, Mike is your go to source for news and commentary.
Then again, if you’re starting to feel like Leo should be held accountable, you can count on Mike to tell it like it is!
In all cases, make checks payable to…
If what has been said isn’t pathetic enough, Matt went on to say:
I’m not sure that Francis even had the Catholic faith. I’m serious. I’m sorry if that if that offends you. I don’t mean to be offensive. I don’t know what that man believed. I truly don’t.
Yes, we know, Mike. You don’t mean to offend anyone … anyone with a debit card anyway!
Bergoglio spent the last dozen years of his life telling anyone and everyone exactly what he believed – at times, even in writing on Vatican letterhead no less – and much of what he believed was gravely erroneous, heretical, and downright blasphemous.
No, Micheal Matt knows perfectly well that Jorge Bergoglio had not the Catholic faith. He also truly knows, however, that publicly acknowledging as much is tantamount to stating the obvious, namely, that he wasn’t a true pope.
But, alas, this would come at a cost, you see…
Mike went on to characterize the homo-march into St. Peter’s as part of a revolution against the Mystical Body of Christ, one that “has always been about bringing about the total collapse of the only moral authority the world has ever known. If the Catholic Church simply folds, simply collapses.”
It sure sounds like Mike thinks – or at least he wants his audience to think – that the Catholic might simply fold, simply collapse, doesn’t it?
He went on to characterize the LGBT activists’ strategy against the Church’s as being summed up in the following slogan:
“If we can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em.”
Hilarious! No pun intended, however. Michael Matt is nowhere near that amusing. He continued:
That’s what’s happening right now. Take out the Catholic Church and the chaos of Antichrist is free to roam about the world seeking the ruin of all the souls in the world.
See what he did there? He lifted some words from the St. Michael prayer, which was great for Catholic effect, but it still left his viewers with the impression that the Church might actually be “taken out.” Evidently, that’s the point. He went on:
Am I surprised? Am I surprised by this? No. This is what we’ve been trying to stop all of our lives as traditional Catholics.
Delusions of grandeur much?
The Holy Catholic Church is indefectible – not due to the efforts of me or you, much less Michael Matt and his naïve followers – but rather thanks to the indwelling of the Holy Ghost and the gifts of truth and never-failing faith divinely conferred upon St. Peter and his successors in the papacy. (See Pastor Aeternus, Vatican I)
Michael can’t really believe that his “resisting the pope” enterprise is all about stopping the Church from “simply folding.” Can he?
Again, it’s not really clear what Mike actually believes. In the end, I suppose the point is to make his naïve followers feel like they are valiant soldiers for Christ, fighting the good fight – very often against the pope! – so that the Church might not be taken out.
With stakes as high as these, surely this is an effort worth supporting!
In any case, Michael went on to explain the specific reason for his outrage over “same-sex lovers in St. Peter’s Basilica going down to venerate the bones of St. Peter,” and you won’t believe what he says.
You know, do, do we, do we hate them? No. Do we pray for? The whole point of this, the whole point of being outraged by this, is who’s telling these people that this is wrong? Who’s telling these people that the Scripture, that God Himself, sees what they do, their lifestyle, as a sin that cries to heaven?
Get that? Michael Matt is outraged – not in light of the offense perpetrated against Jesus Christ – but because these poor rainbow clad activists have never been told that Almighty God, as made known through Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church, condemns homo-deviancy as a grave sin.
This, Michael insists, is the whole point of being outraged?
He can’t be serious. The LGBT crowd has gotten that message loud and clear, which is precisely why they are so delighted to march through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s. For them, it was a victory lap.
At this, let’s consider the responses offered by some of the other laborers in the Resist-the-Pope trade.
Former U.S. Presidential candidate, Taylor R. Marshall, Founder of the Christ the King Party, has been very busy recently hawking his latest book. Even so, he took time out to address the homo invasion of St. Peter’s on X, saying:
Fr James Martin led his “F*ck the Rules” LGBT army into the sacred Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope Leo XIV needs to act like a Father and properly govern his house. Who has the keys?
Evidently, Marshall read the tea leaves and they indicated that his audience wants him to give voice to their frustration. What remains to be seen, however, is what Marshall plans to do should Leo fail to properly govern his house.
Then again, one is left to wonder exactly what that even means in the context of the gay invasion. Is he suggesting that Leo is duty bound to denounce the pilgrimage or, at the very least, to condemn certain aspects of it (like the rainbow cross and the vile slogans)? Is he intimating that Leo is obligated to chastise Martin for his role in the sacrilege?
My guess is that he left how Leo “needs to act” open-ended so his viewers can decide for themselves what the appropriate response should be, i.e., in time, the donors will hum the tune to which Taylor will happily dance.
Matt Gaspers also didn’t have much to say on these events (unless I missed it), but he did weigh in on X as well, writing:
Sodom and Gomorrah in St. Peter’s Basilica. Despicable. When can we (faithful Catholics) expect an apology, @Pontifex
Gaspers isn’t the only Catholic commentator looking for an apology.
In a lengthy post on X, Diane Montagna revealed her efforts to find out if Vatican officials had any policies in place designed to prevent what took place on Saturday, namely, signs and symbols of LGBT activism being carried into the Basilica, thus turning a supposed pilgrimage into a rally for homo-deviance.
Despite being told that guidelines to this effect had been issued, Montagna discovered that no one onsite at the Basilica that day was aware of any such restrictions. She concluded her post, writing:
I wrote to Matteo Bruni [Director of the Holy See Press Office] asking if the Vatican will be issuing an acknowledgment that this should not have been permitted and apologizing for the scandal it has caused.
One wonders what such an apology might look like. I doubt we’ll ever see one, but perhaps one will come. Who knows?
Regardless, even the most heartfelt expression of regret on Leo’s part would be an absolutely meaningless formality. The damage is already done.
Every one of the men mentioned above (and others who ply their trade) seem to recognize the gravity of what happened on Saturday. As with so many other regrettable things, this grave offense against Christ offered an opportunity for all self-described defenders of Catholic tradition to stand up and speak up, calling to account the single most responsible person, namely, the man they call pope.
Michael Matt failed. Miserably. Taylor Marshall and Matt Gaspers, while not fully stepping up to the plate, did at least take a few steps away from the on-deck circle.
The good news for them is that it’s not over yet. There’s still time (right now, actually) to do what the situation demands. As mentioned in a previous post, these men have a duty to use their influence and their access to various prelates to call for St. Peter’s Basilica to undergo a formal rite of reconciliation (as outlined in Canon Law) in light of the impious and sordid use to which the church building was put to use.
Nothing less is acceptable.
Least acceptable of all would be for Cardinal Burke to process into St. Peter’s in October to offer the Traditional Latin Mass on its high altar apart from said reconciliation. According to the 1917 Code of Canon Law, this would be nefarious.
In this context, “nefarious” is derived from the Latin “nefas,” which refers to an act that violates the divine or moral order. This goes well beyond simply suggesting that something should be avoided, rather, it identifies the act in question as gravely sinful and morally impermissible.
With this in mind, Michael Matt, Taylor Marshall, Matt Gaspers, et al. – you’re on the clock, gentlemen.
