How Leo XIV’s Appointments Continue to Contradict the Synodal Apologists’ Wishful-Thinking Restoration Myth
So yes, Trad Inc., Leo’s restoration of the Church is going really well. I guess it is 5D chess we mere mortals just “don’t get.”
One of the first little moral lessons we learn as children is that actions speak louder than words.
Countless times, my own mother would tell me after I had messed up that I “mustn’t just say I am sorry; I must show it,” etc.
Trad Inc.-ers, Synodal apologists, and conservatives’ continued insistence that Leo XIV actually has traditional Catholic sentiments deep in his heart, and that we should just give him time and we will see the magnificent restoration project that he is busy with, speaks of startling levels of self-inflicted cognitive dissonance.
Few places is this wishful thinking more exposed than when it comes to Robert Prevost’s appointments. Almost overwhelmingly, his appointments point to continuity with Francis on synodality, pastoral outreach to LGBT Catholics, the expanded role of women in Church governance, and the eradication of the Traditional Latin Mass.
In this article, we will take a look at some of these heterodox appointments, starting with the most recent. On August 6, Leo appointed 15 new consultors to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
The appointments include two bishops, five priests, two religious brothers, and six religious sisters. Several of the appointees are figures associated with positions that are incompatible with Catholic orthodoxy.
First, there is Sister Patricia Murray, a former executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General and a participant in the Synod on Synodality. Murray has argued that questions such as the ordination of women to the diaconate and priesthood should not simply be excluded from ecclesial discussion and has also spoken about the experiences of LGBT Catholics and the need for the Church to acknowledge the “wounds experienced by people who feel marginalized.”
Another appointee, Sister Maria Nirmalini, has advocated liturgical reform with “less emphasis on uniformity and more on creativity.” Nothing says you are not Catholic quite like wanting to get “creative” with the worship of God Almighty.
Nirmalini has also spoken favorably about reducing clericalism and expanding the participation of women in Church life. “Trad” defenders of the Synodal Apostasy must explain to us how this is NOT textbook anti-Catholic synodality.
It is also helpful, for the sake of this discussion, to note that in the past week Bishop Mark Eckman of Pittsburgh, another Leo appointee, announced that he would not seek another Vatican authorization for the Traditional Latin Mass at St. Titus Church in Aliquippa. The Mass has been celebrated there for almost 20 years and is the last diocesan parish in Pittsburgh where the older Roman Missal is offered.
So yes, Trad Inc., Leo’s restoration of the Church is going really well. I guess it is 5D chess we mere mortals just “don’t get.”
But these are just the latest developments and consequences of the Pope from Chicago’s appointments. The pattern had appeared much earlier in Leo’s pontificate. One of his first episcopal appointments was Father Beat Grögli as bishop of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in May 2025.
Grögli is on record publicly discussing the possibility of women being ordained and said after his election that “the women’s priesthood will come.” He has also campaigned for a broader discussion of the Church’s teaching on sexuality and marriage. In other words, an appointee whose views are in direct contradiction to Catholicism. But you just wait and see, the Synodal-Trad peanut gallery wants us to believe.
Before anyone jumps into the comments: yes, I know that Grögli wasn’t chosen by Leo XIV from a blank slate, but he had the ability to refuse confirmation and did not do so. Hardly a sign of someone who wants to reverse the destruction of his predecessor.
There is more, though. In July 2025, Leo appointed Father Thomas Hennen, then vicar general of Davenport, Iowa, as bishop of Baker, Oregon. Hennen had been involved in pastoral work concerning people experiencing same-sex attraction and had participated in the drafting of diocesan guidelines dealing with sexual and gender-identity issues.
As you will notice as we proceed—and something that Fr. Isaac Mary Relyea often points out—is the fact that the pro-sodomite agenda runs like a golden (pink?) thread through Prevost’s appointments. Very similar to St. Pius X’s appointments.
Oh, no, wait. I am confused.
Exactly like the arch-heretic and enemy of Catholicism, Bergoglio’s appointments.
Next up, Leo’s appointment of Bishop Michael Pham to lead San Diego. Pham had already been serving as an auxiliary bishop there under Francis, but Leo’s decision made him the first American bishop appointed by the new pope. Pham subsequently became prominent for accompanying migrants to immigration proceedings and urging clergy to stand in solidarity with migrants.
And, unsurprisingly, the diocese’s support for LGBT-oriented pastoral initiatives under Pham is a well-known fact. In July 2025, Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano celebrated an “All Are Welcome” Mass associated with the diocese’s LGBT ministry. The event, which was characteristic of Pham’s administration, included an LGBT activist as a speaker.
Leo’s appointment of Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham to several Vatican positions is more evidence of Leo’s actions speaking very loudly.
Longley was appointed in 2025 to roles in the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and subsequently to a commission dealing with relations with Jews. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales described the appointments as recognition of his “ecumenical and interreligious work.”
The latter is, of course, code for he-is-a-rabid-Christ-denying-one-world-religion-advocate.
And, again, the pink thread is undeniable. Longley had previous involvement with the “Soho Masses,” a pastoral initiative associated with LGBT Catholics, and also participated in the Synod on Synodality.
Just as problematic is Leo’s appointment of women to senior Vatican positions. Especially because one of his most consequential decisions concerns the very body that participates in selecting bishops. Guess he is prepping for the time when the Synodal Church will get its own Sarah Mullaneys.
On February 14, 2026, Leo appointed Sister Simona Brambilla, the prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as a member of the Dicastery for Bishops. The latter is one of the most strategically important offices in the Roman Curia, as its members participate in the process through which candidates for diocesan bishoprics are evaluated and proposed to the pope.
Once again, we see Leo XIV not trying to manage the damage Francis inflicted, but doubling down and elevating a Francis appointment even higher. Brambilla became the first woman to head a Vatican dicastery when Pope Francis appointed her prefect of the religious-life dicastery in January 2025, and Leo subsequently retained her in that position and then placed her on the Dicastery for Bishops.
She now works alongside other women serving as members of the body responsible for episcopal appointments.
It is clear that Prevost is not merely tolerating Francis appointments but consolidating them, as he confirmed almost the entire existing membership of the Dicastery for Bishops, including Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago and Joseph Tobin of Newark, as well as Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, and Archbishop Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship.
But hey, it’s all part of his secret plan to restore the Catholic heart of the Synodal Church. A plan which only the select few Synodal Trads are privy to and can recognize.
Another telling appointment came as recently as June 2026, when Leo chose Maria Montserrat “Montse” Alvarado, the 39-year-old president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, as prefect of the Dicastery for Communication.
Alvarado, a feminist, is due to take up the position on November 1. Alvarado will become the first non-religious laywoman to head a Vatican dicastery and, at 39, the youngest prefect in the Roman Curia.
A clear pattern emerges when Alvarado’s appointment is considered alongside Brambilla’s, as well as alongside the fact that Raffaella Petrini remains president of the Governorate of Vatican City State.
But there are further appointments that tell the true story of Leo’s intentions much more clearly than the pathetic and dishonest, out-of-touch-with-reality defenses of the faux-Trad apologists.
Bishop Mark O’Connell, whom Leo appointed bishop of Albany in October 2025, has advocated greater pastoral engagement with Catholics who identify as LGBT and had called for a different language in discussing sexuality. One almost starts wondering if Leo is trying to tell us something with this recurring pink thread.
Also very important to note is that O’Connell voted against a proposed U.S. bishops’ document concerning the reception of Communion by pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
Yes, clearly another very “traditional” appointment.
Although he is allegedly “supportive” of the Traditional Latin Mass—which means nothing if you represent a false religion—New Orleans appointee Bishop James Checchio had connections to the Theodore McCarrick scandal and supports LGBT-oriented ministry.
(Wow, didn’t see that coming.)
I am still going to miss a bunch, but there were more. Earlier this year, Leo XIV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Christian Würtz of Freiburg as bishop of Eichstätt, who has been associated with the German Church’s push for blessings of same-sex couples and discussion of women’s ordination.
In May, Leo appointed Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjívar-Ayala of Washington to succeed Bishop Mark Brennan. Menjívar-Ayala is a former undocumented immigrant from El Salvador and has been publicly outspoken on immigration, particularly against restrictive immigration policies.
Do I need to say anything about his approval of recently appointed “bishops” in the actual “parallel” Chinese Communist “church”? Or the fact that he didn’t remove one of the most destructive Francis appointments, Victor Manuel “Soft Porn” Fernandez, the minute he had an opportunity?
The so-called “traditional” defenders—they know who they are—of the Synodal Abomination and its anti-pope are as scandalous with their dishonest defense of Prevost as his appointments.
But it is the Church they choose, the religion they must adhere to, and the “pope” they recognize.
Leo is NOT systematically dismantling the Francis-era settlement but “synthesizing” traditional Catholic doctrine combined with synodality, broader participation by women, pastoral engagement with LGBT Catholics, social concern for migrants and the poor, and continued implementation of the post-conciliar liturgical framework into the anti-Catholic religion they want you to believe is Catholicism.
Reject their insulting claims. Reject the “church” they defend. Reject their “pope,” who is orchestrating the war on Christ and His Church.
Our Lady, Co-redemptrix, pray for us…
Our Lady, Mediatrix of all Graces, pray for us…
Viva Christo Rey!
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"I guess it is 5D chess we mere mortals just “don’t get.” Yep, the 5D: Disgusting, Depressing, Disturbing, Distorted and Disappointing agenda.
Good grief this is giving me a headache… name after name after name after name of anti catholic demons in meat suits being elevated to positions they have no business being in…. God have mercy on us all, as this cannot possibly end well for anyone