Prologue
I’m adding this note about 5 months after releasing the original text. I had written it from the perspective of the dominance of secular humanism in Bergoglio’s writings. However, the dialogue in the Catholic church seems focused on modernism rather than humanism. I suggest that they have a lot in common. Modernism is not a philosophical argument that I wish to spend time on as I suspect others have already finished that task.
The Argument Proposed In the Title
In reading the papal encyclicals Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, otherwise known as Pope Francis, I was deeply troubled. Certain trigger words such as “solidarity” and “common good” which are found in the literature of socialism and communism in particular, stood out.
As I have read, written (read: The Catholic Church), prayed, meditated and reflected on these and other works published under papal authority, I have come to discern a fundamental apostasy at the head of the Catholic Church. It is the same ideology that structures our world today. It is extremely subtle and may be one of Satan’s greatest achievements.
A Necessary Context
Genesis 3:16-19 describes the state of the earth that Man inherited after the original sin of disobedience to God.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Genesis 3:16-19, KJV.
We do not live in a perfect world. The perfect world originally created for us was taken away. We are left to toil and scrape a living from an unfruitful ground. Our lives are filled with pain, suffering and sorrow. Today, wars rage and famine is always in someone’s backyard. We long for a world where peace reigns and poverty and hunger do not exist. I’ll return to this point shortly.
Further, consider Jesus’ comment (also in Luke 12:49-53):
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:34-37, KJV.
It is not that Christ came to sow discord, but the demands of his message are more than many can bear resulting in strife caused by our fallen nature. True, he commands us to love our neighbour but he did not come to advocate for world peace and his message has nothing to do with solidarity, equality and the eradication of poverty. Indeed he stated in Matthew 26:11, “For ye have the poor always with you“.
The other important aspect of our world is that Satan rules over it. He is the prince of the world as many scriptures tell us such as 2 Corinthians 4:4, John 14:30, 1 John 5:19, John 12:31, John 16:11, and others. As we know, Satan’s mission is to destroy, corrupt, and lead mankind into hell. Peace and love are not on his agenda and therefore cannot be achieved except in the hearts of believers. This is what Christ alone brings.
In short, Christ and true Christianity are not interested in creating a better world, something that is not possible. Rather their focus is on the salvation of all souls through Jesus Christ. And that salvation, contrary to what Bergoglio advocates, occurs as one soul at a time in a personal communion with Christ.
A Modern Context
Humanism or Renaissance Humanism is a branch of philosophy that was largely developed in the 19th-century, drawing on the work of philosophers going back to the early Greeks and others. It is a system of human behaviour which in other terms might be said to include many Christian behaviours – but without reference to either Christ or God.
It describes the ideal man as having Humanitas or …
… the development of human virtue, in all its forms, to its fullest extent. The term thus implied not only such qualities as are associated with the modern word humanity—understanding, benevolence, compassion, mercy—but also such more assertive characteristics as fortitude, judgment, prudence, eloquence, and even love of honour. Consequently, the possessor of humanitas could not be merely a sedentary and isolated philosopher or man of letters but was of necessity a participant in active life.
Encyclopædia Britannica.
Yuval Noah Harari is the tech guru of the World Economic Forum. In his book, Homo Deus (literally man god), he draws on ideals of humanism as a guide to develop man’s coming god-like technical capabilities. James Corbett, in reviewing Harari’s book, provides some insights into the humanistic position:
According to humanism, humans must draw from within their inner experiences not only the meaning of their own lives, but also the meaning of the entire universe.
We don’t need any gods to limit our power and give us meaning …
Episode 451 – I Read Yuval Noah Harari’s Book (So You Don’t Have To!)
After asserting that man has the ability and power to create a perfect world, Harari moves beyond humanism which he considers a limiting philosophy to develop a transhumanistic ideology. Here’s the full Corbett Report:
Humanistic ideologies are focused on creating a better world by man’s efforts without the help of God or Jesus Christ. Socialists and communists sell their destructive ideologies as a means to achieve global peace, equality, solidarity, fraternity, and freedom from poverty and hunger. This is the promise of the UN and the World Economic Forum. Indeed, at the recent World Youth Day, Bergoglio was selling this same snake oil: A world without war or weapons without fear is possible.
The Common Good
A common theme echoed through all of these political ideologies such as socialism (read: Socialism, Free Enterprise, and the Common Good) is that of the “common good”. A brief explanation of “common good” is given as:
the basic explanation for the common good is that government should strive to promote or facilitate the conditions optimal for human thriving. The common good assumes that there are natural goods to human experience that ought to be realized throughout a society. The idea of the common good is that government, whether by ensuring safe roadways, enforcing obscenity laws, or prioritizing the natural family, should secure and promote certain social objectives by protecting the rights of various institutions to live out their respective duties to the whole.
Source: Common-Good Communism?
A longer explanation is found in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
In short, a common good is a social goal set by institutions, particularly governments. They are essential on a physical level such as a municipal water supply system. When they organize people and their assets around vaguely defined problems such as “climate change” or war, they become destructive. Rarely are they developed around the fundamental precepts of Christ’s teaching and scripture because they usually contain a requirement for forced adherence.
Apostasy
To be clear, let us define “Apostasy”:
apostasy, the total rejection of Christianity by a baptized person who, having at one time professed the Christian faith, publicly rejects it. It is distinguished from heresy, which is limited to the rejection of one or more Christian doctrines by one who maintains an overall adherence to Jesus Christ.
Britannica.
Now this is a harsh condition to meet since it involves the total rejection of Christian faith. To determine if a person is an apostate without their making a formal declaration is problematic, particularly if they continue to cite biblical or religious institutional references. One measure might be the continued promotion of some doctrine over the doctrine espoused by Christ.
The common goal of modern political and social activity is a perfect world. Satan can promote all initiatives towards such because he knows that modernists have an impossible goal. After all, the perfect world that we were given in Eden was destroyed by him.
The fundamental problem with Bergoglio’s view is that it is man-centred and not Christ-centred. He speaks from an inherent humanistic politic. It permeates all his writings.
I dissected Laudato Si’ in detail in my essay on The Catholic Church. Laudato Si’ is not a theological document. It is more of a socialist manifesto on the environment. My discussion focused on its sociopolitical aspects of the humanist concerns for the environment and social justice. It says virtually nothing about the individual’s relationship with Christ.
The phrase ‘common good’ appears in the document 32 times It appears only once in the bible, depending on the translation. In the ESV the reference is 1 Corinthians 12:7: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” In the KJV, the line is “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” The reference is solely to the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are given as a benefit for all individuals but not to a ‘common good’ as an abstract object.
In Fratelli Tutti (again go to my review in The Catholic Church) , Bergoglio uses the phrase ‘common good’ 34 times. He uses “fraternity” 54 times and “solidarity” 25 times. These are words that appear in discussing socialist and communist ideologies. Again, this is not a theological treatise but a sociopolitical doctrine, more so than Laudato Si’. He is clearly advocating a global communist government with his rejection of individual property rights.
For example, in chapter 6, the ‘common good’ is used as the universal organizing principle that individuals must be subservient to (para. 221). We are urged to “search for the solid foundations sustaining our decisions and our laws.” He says that the human mind will find those universal truths and values. He makes no appeal to God, Christ and the Holy Spirit to teach us God’s laws for our lives, since we can do it on our own.
He also advocates a global or universal religion based on what is “true” and “holy” in each. Humanism, like other religions, certainly may have elements or precepts that are ‘true’ and ‘holy’. But it is the complete body of teaching that must be considered. Compared with Christian teaching, all are this intertwining of truth and little bits of falsity of either commission or omission.
This is why it is so hard to discern Bergoglio’s apostasy. It all sounds so good and Christian. The problem is that although it has numerous biblical references, the doctrine as a whole is neither biblical nor Christian lacking the centrality of both Christ and God.
Summary Remark
The realm of humanism is that of the fallen man and the world, Satan’s dominion. In embracing fully the humanist politic, one in doing so, turns their back on Christ as the only way to God and the means of redemption through his death on the cross. This is the way that Christ spoke of in John 14:6. One cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). All Bergoglio’s writings and actions reveal his allegiance to the humanistic ideology which does not require God and in some cases, explicitly rejects Him. Bergoglio therefore is in apostasy with respect to the bible and the Christian faith.
Schism
The Catholic Church is progressing in a direction of a schism. The traditional catholic mass has all but been forbidden. Church institutions are regularly being given new governance by progressive clerics. Some traditional and outspoken clerics and bishops have been removed from their duties and marginalized.
The recent Synod on Synodality which does not finish until next year is feared to be opening the way for fundamental doctrinal changes such as on the topic of homosexuality. I leave it to others to cover this topic since it is widely discussed.
A full move to a universal church cannot be discounted, particularly given Bergoglio’s statements and associations. The traditional church in such a scenario would have to go underground as was the case with the early church.
Archbishop Viganò on Papal Apostasy
After I had finished my thinking on the topic, Archbishop Viganò commented on the topic in the following video (37:05 minutes).
In this video, Viganò describes Bergoglio’s alignment with the WEF and UN with their Agenda 2030. His argument is that Bergoglio misrepresented his true ideology and intention in being elected pope. As such, the election is invalid and Bergoglio is not a true pope but an anti-pope, a heretic and an apostate.
One of the current activities that he has initiated to undermine the church and ‘modernize’ it is the convening of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 4, 2023. The implications are explained in the following video (11:39 minutes):
Articles in This Series
Refer to the series index in A New Direction.
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