12 YEARS WITH FRANCIS
"Twelve Years with Francis: Ecumenism, Modernism, and Apostasy in the Vatican" - Alejandro Sosa Laprida - 03/13/2025The book in Spanish: DOCE AÑOS CON FRANCISCO
These last characteristics—as you have surely already guessed—I apply emphatically to the one who, for twelve interminable years, has presented himself to the world as nothing less than the Successor of Saint Peter, the Vicar of Christ on earth, and the Sovereign Pontiff of the Church. But not only to him personally, nor exclusively to the final years of the Church's life, as if the accumulation of current ills had their deep roots in Bergoglian disarray. This is a major point of divergence that keeps me apart from the growing number of Catholics who, over time, have adopted an increasingly critical attitude toward the current pontificate.
Related: NEW BOOK IN ENGLISH: "THE DECEPTIVE PONTIFICATE …
Many are scandalized by my position—often labeled as extremist and disrespectful—which I sincerely regret, but the truth is that I feel obliged in conscience to act as I do. Because, considering what has happened in recent decades, I can't help but wonder:
This is an automatic translation from the Spanish original text.
Would the Pachamama scandal in the Vatican have been possible without the multi-faith assemblies of Assisi, convened three times by "Saint" John Paul II—Cardinal Ratzinger being none other than the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—and later also organized by Benedict XVI and Francis himself?
Would the persecution of the Traditional Mass unleashed by the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes be possible today without the prior promulgation of the new Roman Missal by "Saint" Paul VI in 1969, which, logically, effectively put an end to the previous one—de facto and de jure—thus exposing the fallacy of the supposed two modes—ordinary and extraordinary—of the one Roman rite, as argued by Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum, a matter in which, noblesse oblige, Bergoglio is right?
Could the multi-religious Sabbaths of Assisi—renewed annually since 1986—have been convened without the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate on the Church's relationship with non-Christian religions?
Would the homage to Luther and the false Protestant Reformation have been imaginable without the promulgation of the conciliar decree Unitatis Redintegratio on ecumenism, in flagrant opposition to the principles established by Pius XI in his encyclical Mortalium Animos?
Would the dissolution of morals among the clergy, the widespread laicization and secularization of priests and religious, and the accelerated extinction of religious life—particularly contemplative life—have been possible without the worldly aggiornamento promoted by "Blessed" John XXIII and "Saint" Paul VI in the Church and in religious congregations?
In short: could there have been a pontificate as heterodox and scandalous as the current one in pre-Council times?
Everything leads to the negative answer: none of the disasters that occurred during these last twelve years of the Church's life could have occurred without the Conciliar event and its doctrinal innovations, without the post-Conciliar Magisterium that deepened them, and the whirlwind of reforms carried out in all areas of ecclesial life since the 1960s, which gave the impression of constituting, more than a legitimate reform guided by sound prudential criteria, a true revolution, a Copernican turning point, a substantial break from the previous two thousand years of Church history.
What, then, should be done in the face of this bleak, overwhelming, dystopian—not to say diabolical—scenario, without allowing ourselves to be disheartened or falling into despondency? Well, simply bear public witness, to the extent of one's ability, with charity, humility, and prudence, always taking into account the almost total intellectual, but above all, emotional, incapacity of most people, and especially the clergy, to understand the nature and scope of the current ecclesial crisis.
Indeed, it is in vain to argue, among many other cases that illustrate this, the unspeakable anomaly constituted by the interreligious prayer assemblies for peace in Assisi—convened by the last three popes, in application of the conciliar documents—the Novus Ordo Missae "fabricated" practically ex nihilo together with Protestant pastors from an "ecumenical" perspective, or the cult of Pachamama in the Vatican.
Or the blessing of concubinage and sodomy authorized by the Fiducia Supplicans declaration conceived by the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the ineffable Magister Osculator "Tucho" Fernández, and ratified by the "Holy Father" Bergoglio—two of my compatriots who should inspire a vehement penitential spirit in every Argentine Catholic.
In any of these cases, one will always receive in response either a hasty evasion prompted by a sort of paralyzing cognitive dissonance, or a convoluted justification for each attack committed against the Catholic faith, accompanied by a look intermingled with condescension and barely concealed contempt. This manifest difficulty in facing reality head-on, without denying what is disturbing and without rushing to concoct all sorts of implausible pretexts leading to an impossible "hermeneutics of continuity" that would allow one to breathe a sigh of relief and continue with their routine without setbacks, is the common denominator of the overwhelming majority of the Council clerics with whom I have addressed these delicate matters.
Naturally, I understand the reflexive movement that occurs, since every moderately educated Catholic knows that the purpose of the ecclesiastical hierarchy is the transmission of the faith, and that it, acting in union with the legitimate and true Successor of Saint Peter, cannot, by virtue of the divine promise of Our Lord, betray the depositum fidei.
This necessarily leads me to question the nature of the "conciliar popes," given that the Church receives its infallibility from Christ through His Vicar on earth, the Roman Pontiff. The presence of a legitimate successor of Saint Peter constitutes an obstacle to the defection of the faith; it is the guarantee of the doctrinal inerrancy of the Church and the Pauline katejon that prevents the manifestation of the man of sin. Now, the mere evocation of this explanatory possibility regarding the post-conciliar ecclesial crisis automatically provokes a overwhelming and widespread supernatural fear.
Indeed, the "mystery of iniquity" and the "great apostasy" announced by Saint Paul, or the coming of "false Christs," about which Our Lord warned us in His Olivet Discourse, immediately come to mind and remind us of the reality of eschatological events, the inevitability—and, in my opinion, also the proximity—of the end times, systematically silenced since the Second Vatican Council and ignored—or even disdained—by an overwhelming majority of the clergy.
Clergy thus find themselves doubly vulnerable to these kinds of questions. First, because of the evident and understandable difficulty in accepting a doctrinal deviation in the teaching received from ecclesiastical authorities, and second, because of their almost radical inability to carry out an eschatological reading of current events, particularly as they relate to the Church.
This situation makes them extremely apprehensive about theological and liturgical questions about what has been happening in the Church since the Second Vatican Council, with its avalanche of reforms and its post-conciliar "magisterium," replete with novelties, of an undeniably modernist stamp, in clear rupture with the pre-conciliar magisterium and pastoral care.
The current situation, seemingly intractable, inevitably provokes confusion and insecurity, and triggers virulent reactions of escapism and denial of reality among priests and religious, leading them, in their unease, to imagine that those raising these thorny questions are fanatic, rigorist, and driven by an evil spirit, potential enemies of the Church, dangerous people who must be rigorously avoided, and even denounced.
The risk is that this systematic denial of reality can lead to a radical inability to understand the situation in which we find ourselves, the eventual outcome of which could be the inability to identify the Antichrist when he appears, as well as his religious collaborator, the "false prophet" who will pave the way for him and grant him spiritual legitimacy in the eyes of world public opinion. Let us not forget that their aptitude for deception will be colossal, and if one is unable to discern the present evils—which are still relatively easy to identify—how will one succeed when the “beasts” perform “great signs and wonders,” deceiving, if possible, “even the elect” (Mt. 24:24)?
To make the meaning of my warning clear, I will give a somewhat stark example: anyone who currently fails to perceive the manifest impiety and notorious spiritual fraud represented by such ordinary figures as Bergoglio and Fernández will find it difficult to discern the “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thess. 2:7) when it has reached its peak, that is, when the political and religious antichrists—who will be charismatic world leaders—have emerged as the most powerful figures in the world, and refined—dazzle the world with their preternatural superstitions.
When that hour comes—and, truth be told, I don't think it's long—not succumbing to the mendacious discourse and immense persuasive power of these minions of the devil, disguised as benefactors of humanity, “whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:9-10) will have become an impossible mission, humanly speaking. But our faith and our hope give us the certainty that the provisional triumph of evil, permitted by God to purify the elect and make his justice shine forth in the Judgment of the Nations - the famous Dies Irae sung in the holy Catholic liturgy - will completely cease on the day Jesus Christ so disposes; the world empire of the Man of Sin will collapse at the precise moment in which the Son of Man returns in glory to restore all things and begin his Messianic Kingdom of universal peace and justice (Dan. 7:13-14).