During his recent visit to France, in an address delivered at Elysée Palace, Robert Prevost (stage name: Leo XIV) declared, among other things:
With the great thinkers of the Renaissance, and later of the Grand Siècle, succeeded by those of the Enlightenment, France was responsible for significant advances in our world, including the recognition of human rights grounded in the nature of the human person, particularly religious freedom.
For obvious reasons, this statement, along with others that we will address momentarily, prompted swift and severe criticism from a number of noteworthy commentators. Stephen Kokx, for example, posted on X:
Leo just gave his imprimatur to the French Revolution.
Yes, indeed, and I for one am delighted that he did.
Why?
Because I have little doubt that, by the grace God, many sincere seekers of Catholic truth will come to view the occasion of Leo’s address at Elysée Palace as something akin to the ringing of the dinner bell at a masquerade party, i.e., a moment during which the disguise of Catholic identity was unceremoniously removed, revealing for all with eyes to see that the conciliar enterprise has never been anything more than an impious imposter.
No, this certainly isn’t the first time that the mask behind which the counterfeit church prowls about the world seeking the ruin of souls has been shed, but as yet another contribution to an ever-increasing pile of mounting evidence, it is noteworthy nonetheless.
Leo’s shoutout to the great thinkers of the Enlightenment, although stunning, was just the wakeup call. From there, his reaffirmation of the Council’s false teachings on religious liberty and autologous human dignity, while thoroughly condemnable, were unsurprising to say the least.
The most significant message conveyed in Leo’s words is less obvious, its deeper meaning lying just beneath the surface.
Before we get to that, however, it may be of value to contrast parts of Leo’s address with the papal magisterium of the preceding centuries.
Whereas Anti-Papa Prevost saw fit to hail the Enlightenment and so-called religious freedom, the most recent Pope Leo of the Holy Catholic Church (Leo XIII) taught:
From this heresy [the Protestant revolutionaries’ attack on religious and civil authority] there arose in the last century a false philosophy—a new right as it is called, and a popular authority, together with an unbridled license which many regard as the only true liberty. (Pope Leo XIII, Diuturnum Illud 23)
And, first, let us examine that liberty in individuals which is so opposed to the virtue of religion, namely, the liberty of worship, as it is called. This is based on the principle that every man is free to profess as he may choose any religion or none. (Pope Leo XIII, Libertas 19)
When a liberty such as We have described is offered to man, the power is given him to pervert or abandon with impunity the most sacred of duties, and to exchange the unchangeable good for evil; which, as We have said, is no liberty, but its degradation. (Pope Leo XIII, Libertas 20)
Whereas Anti-Papa Prevost states:
Liberty, equality and fraternity are not simply words emblazoned on the front of your public buildings; they refer to universal ethical imperatives that also find in the Gospel message an inexhaustible source of inspiration and fulfillment.
With regard to “the famous popular trilogy: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” Pope St. Pius X teaches:
What is to come of this collaboration? A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exaltation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. (Pope Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique, 1910)
Just two years after the French Revolution, Pope Pius VI addressed the liberty and equality asserted by the National Assembly of France, stating:
It is established [by the Assembly] as a principle of natural right that man living in Society ought to be completely free … These assertions [they claim] descend properly and derive from the equality of men among themselves and from natural liberty … What greater folly can be imagined than to consider all men equal and free in such a way? (Pius VI, Quod Aliquantum, 1791)
The Holy Father went on to issue a warning regarding the aim of those who march under the Enlightenment banner:
It remains most clear and manifest that the equality and liberty vaunted by this Assembly aim finally … at overthrowing the Catholic Religion. (ibid.)
This brings us back to the quote at the top of this post:
With the great thinkers of the Renaissance, and later of the Grand Siècle, succeeded by those of the Enlightenment, France was responsible for significant advances in our world, including the recognition of human rights grounded in the nature of the human person, particularly religious freedom.
In this, what Leo has gifted to those in search of truth is a glimpse at the conciliar roadmap, a snapshot of the counterfeit church’s mission and destination.
Notice that he salutes the allegedly “great thinkers” of the Renaissance, the Grand Siècle, and the Enlightenment, crediting them with bringing about “significant advances in our world.”
Advances…
The Grand Siècle is French for “the Great Century.” It refers to 17th century France, in particular during the reign of King Louis XIV (1643–1715). Importantly, while not entirely without its own difficulties, the Catholic Church at that time was thriving the “Eldest Daughter of the Church.” Catholic churches, schools, hospitals, religious houses and other properties dotted the French landscape.
By the end of the century that followed, however, the state of Catholicism in France couldn’t have been more different as the French Revolution of 1789 would lead to her brutal persecution in the name of advancing a humanistic version of liberty, equality and fraternity.
And yet, Prevost spoke positively of the historic transition from Catholic vitality during the Grand Siècle to the Church’s persecution during the Enlightenment as if the great thinkers behind that effort somehow set humanity on the right path, the way that leads those who take it closer to their proper destiny.
This, according to Leo, represented a moment of significant advancement in our world…
In short, Leo endorsed the mission of the Enlightenment, making it plain that it is one with the mission of the church over which he presides, a church, the goal of which is to bring about the day (the pipe dream, actually) when the entire world, governed by naturalism, will be ruled in a manner befitting our supposed infinite human dignity.
The actual aim of this program is precisely what Pope Pius VI said: The overthrow of the Catholic Religion.
Of all the papal magisterium I could offer in closing, there is none more poignant than the simple, straightforward truth spoken by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas:
The Catholic Church, which is the kingdom of Christ on earth, is destined to be spread among all men and all nations.
The mask is off: Two churches. Opposing missions. Different destinies.
The dots connect themselves, do they not?
