Pope Francis approves perpetual synodal hell and the end of Catholicism

The synodal movement, with its emphasis on dialogue and discernment, hides a radical agenda beneath a veneer of pastoral concern.

Hieronymus van Aeken (El Bosco, c. 1450-1516), Visión de Tondal

The post-conciliar synodal church (small “C” intended) continues to expand its catalogue of atrocities and earlier this week another salvo was fired in the hellish war on the One True Church Christ founded.

It has been reported that Pope Francis has inaugurated a three-year implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality—an initiative that purports to democratize Church decision-making by delegating doctrinal determination to “local Churches” and the laity.

In an article that appeared on the Vatican News website, Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod, explained the objectives of the process that will accompany the implementation of the Synod on Synodality approved by Pope Francis.

As usual, the propaganda was veiled in schmaltzy “synodalese”, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see through the horse manure.

Grech made the perpetual nature of the synod clear by saying “It is true—many thought the Synod had concluded with the celebration of the second session of the Assembly last October. As a matter of fact, the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio has "transformed" the Synod from an event into a process structured in three phases: preparatory, celebratory, and implementative”. [Make no mistake, the “implementative” stage is going to continue ad nauseam!]

“This shift requires a true "conversion," a change in mentality that takes time to take root in the Church’s practice. But this structure is fundamental: simply publishing a "document" is not enough for what emerged in the two phases of the synodal process to be implemented in the Church’s life. That "document" must be "received" as the fruit of ecclesial discernment and as a horizon for conversion,” said Grech, stopping short of using terms such as “brainwashing”, “indoctrination” and ”re-education”.

Statements such as the following by Gretch unashamedly reinforce the truth that their church is not the Catholic Church but some new Frankenstein religion: “The commitment is to live the ecclesial journey of each Church with a synodal mentality, within a synodal horizon, maturing a synodal style that is the prerequisite for a synodal form of Church. I repeat the adjective, to emphasize how the issue is one of mentality. The meaning of the path that the Synod Secretariat is proposing to the local churches is not to add work to work in response to demands coming from outside or above, but to help the churches to walk in a synodal style; in a word, to truly be Churches, where the portio Populi Dei entrusted to the bishop with the help of his presbytery and ministries is truly a Church of subjects in relationship, embodying the Gospel in the place where they are.”

Towards the end Gretch ominously spelled out the synodal process’ own ‘final solution’, saying “The goal of the Ecclesial Assembly, which is the final event of the process, is no other than that indicated by the Final Document for the third stage, namely to make concrete the prospect of the exchange of gifts among the Churches and in the whole Church. If during the stages of the third phase, it will be possible to realize at the various levels of the groupings of Churches (Provinces, Bishops' Conferences, International Meetings of Bishops' Conferences) the exchange of gifts through the confrontation and sharing of the processes initiated in the local Churches, the Ecclesial Assembly will be the occasion to gather at the level of the whole Church the fruits that have matured.”

Promoted as a means of adapting Church teaching to contemporary cultures and community needs, this synodal process signals not a pastoral renewal but a radical departure from the immutable traditions and hierarchical authority established by Christ.

The process exemplifies a fundamental shift from the “top-down” governance instituted by our Lord to an endlessly shifting “bottom-up” model. As the synodal process becomes perpetual, there is growing concern that the Church will become unmoored from its apostolic roots and ultimately lose its identity.

Even here in my small corner of the world, it seems parishes, like cats going feral, are going full-on synodal. I warned of its nefarious aims in a previous piece written last year in the wake of the Synod, and now we are seeing it come true in real-time.

In one of the parishes I attend, Catholicism has just about disappeared completely. The priest is denying dogmas (such as the Blessed Virgin’s perpetual virginity), clueless, heterodox parishioners have taken over and are gatekeeping key positions making sure Catholicism isn’t taught in catechism classes and RCIA, and Catholics desperately trying to cling to some semblance of Catholicism are persecuted and ostracised.

Yip, fellow campers, the fruits of the Synod on Synodality are starting to ripen in the most scarlet of hues. And it is not a pretty sight.

And now they are about to make sure that over the next three years, it gets shoved down your throat and implemented at every level of the Church, including in your humble little parish. So, pack your picnic baskets and follow me as we explore what this next stretch of rocky road really entails…

The Synodal Movement as a Clear Departure from Divine Order

Redefining the Church

At the heart of the synodal initiative is the radical redefinition of the Church as a “synodal” entity—one that is to be continuously remade through dialogue and consensus among local bishops, laity, and other ecclesial groups. Proponents have characterized this process as an organic development, a natural evolution of ecclesiastical structure. Yet, this “new church” is not the living body of Christ but an entirely invented institution—a modern substitute for the divinely ordained structure handed down by Christ and the Apostles.

Recall the words of our Lord to Saint Peter in the Gospel of Matthew:

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

This pronouncement, far from a call to a democratic experiment, establishes an unbroken line of papal authority and apostolic succession. The synodal movement’s insistence on decentralizing authority directly contradicts this foundational truth. As St. Robert Bellarmine explained in De Romano Pontifice, the papacy is not a mere administrative office—it is the divinely instituted center of unity in the Church.

The Perils of Local Adaptation

A major tenet of the synodal initiative is that local Churches should have the freedom to interpret, adapt, and even modify the Final Document of the 16th General Assembly according to their cultural and community needs. Proponents argue that this “bottom-up” approach is a democratization of the Church. However, tradition teaches that the Church is not a mere human institution subject to local whims but the Mystical Body of Christ, unified by a single, divinely mandated Magisterium.

Pope Pius X warned in Pascendi Dominici Gregis against the dangers of modernist innovations that seek to “evolve” doctrine in accordance with contemporary trends rather than eternal truths. Local adaptation of the sacred deposit of faith not only dilutes the universality of Catholic doctrine but also opens the door to doctrinal confusion and error—a pathway already trodden by numerous heretical movements throughout history.

Synodality as a Trojan Horse

The synodal movement, with its emphasis on dialogue and discernment, hides a radical agenda beneath a veneer of pastoral concern. By promoting endless discussion rather than final, authoritative teaching, it effectively suspends the clear boundaries set by Christ and the Apostles. Traditional Catholic sources have long insisted that definitive doctrines—including those concerning the nature of the priesthood, the sacrament of Holy Orders, and the roles of men and women—are not subject to democratic negotiation.

In the 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II unequivocally stated:

“The Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, and this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”

Although this document primarily addresses the priesthood, its implications extend to all orders of ministry. By leaving the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry “open,” as recent synodal proposals have done, the Church risks initiating a slippery slope toward the full ordination of women—a development utterly incompatible with long-standing tradition and the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas, who in his Summa Theologiae affirmed that the ordination of men is ordained by divine law.

Historical Precedents and the Dangers of Modernism

The Legacy of Modernist Errors

Modernism in the Church has always been a harbinger of doctrinal decay. Pope Pius X’s battle against Modernism was not merely a response to theological innovations; it was a defense of the very identity of the Church. In Pascendi, he denounced modernist errors as “the synthesis of all heresies.” Today’s synodal process, with its reliance on endless dialogue and the rejection of definitive magisterial teaching, echoes precisely those modernist tendencies that Pius X so vehemently opposed.

In essence, the synodal approach is a deliberate embrace of Modernism—a doctrine that undermines the certainties of faith and replaces them with a relativism that caters to the shifting mores of contemporary society. When every local church is given the license to reinterpret doctrine “according to local culture,” the universality of truth becomes a casualty. Instead of proclaiming the unchanging word of God, the Church risks becoming a mosaic of competing opinions and cultural compromises.

The Protestant Model: A Warning from History

Furthermore, the “bottom-up” ecclesiology promoted by the synodal movement is strikingly similar to the model adopted by Protestant churches—a model that historically has led to fragmentation and doctrinal disunity. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Satis Cognitum (1896), stated:

“The unity of the Church is absolute and indissoluble. Those who separate themselves from the authority of the Apostolic See are necessarily in schism.”

This assertion reminds us that the Church’s unity is not a matter of local preference or popular consensus; it is guaranteed only by adherence to the central authority of the Magisterium. The synodal process, by delegating significant doctrinal decisions to local assemblies, not only emulates Protestant structures but also sows the seeds of a potential schism—a schism that would shatter the catholicity of the Church.

Endless Synodality, a Revolution Without End

One of the most alarming aspects of the current synodal process is its inherent endlessness. There is no final, binding moment of doctrinal closure; instead, there is an open-ended “accompaniment process” that invites continual dialogue and reinterpretation. This perpetual state of synodality is reminiscent of the revolutionary fervor that once toppled traditional regimes—only now, the target is the divine order itself.

Pope Pius XII, in his encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi (1943), described the Church as the “Mystical Body of Christ,” an organism unified by a single, immutable truth. By allowing the synodal process to continue indefinitely, Pope Francis and his supporters are effectively consigning the Church to a state of permanent flux—a state in which no dogma remains sacred or immune to reinterpretation. This is the very essence of Modernism, a philosophy that regards truth as evolving rather than eternal.

The specter of endless synodality raises a chilling question: if the Church is always in the process of being remade, what becomes of the immutable truths handed down from the Apostles? When every generation is allowed to “discern” and modify doctrine, the result is not a renewal of faith but a gradual erosion of the very pillars upon which Catholicism stands.

Some Doctrinal Implications

The Slippery Slope of Female Ministry

A central point of contention in the synodal process is the open-ended discussion regarding women’s roles in the Church, particularly in the context of ministry. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández’s remark that “the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open” is a stark departure from centuries of Church teaching. In traditional Catholic theology, the sacrament of Holy Orders is reserved exclusively for men—a position reaffirmed by the Magisterium and by tradition alike.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologiae (III, q. 67, a. 1), asserts that the sacrament of Holy Orders is divinely ordered for men, based on the nature of Christ’s own ministry and the apostolic tradition. To reopen the debate on women’s ordination, even in the diaconal sense, is to undermine the unbroken tradition of the Church. It is a move that sets a dangerous precedent—one that could eventually lead to the ordination of women, a development that would represent nothing less than the transformation of Catholicism into a form of “new religion.”

The Authority of Local Bishops and the Erosion of Magisterial Unity

Another area of grave concern is the synodal emphasis on granting local bishops and laypeople authority over matters of teaching and discipline. The traditional structure of the Church is not a mere administrative convenience; it is a divinely ordained safeguard of truth. The papacy and the centralized Magisterium exist to preserve the integrity of Catholic doctrine, ensuring that the faith remains untouched by the tides of cultural relativism.

Cardinal Marian Eleganti and Bishop Joseph Strickland have warned that if local bishops are permitted to decide on “teaching and discipline,” it would mark the “end of the catholicity of the Church.” The danger here is twofold: first, it opens the door to a mosaic of doctrinal opinions that may conflict with one another; and second, it diminishes the role of the universal Magisterium as the final arbiter of truth. The traditional understanding of the Church—affirmed by documents such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church and centuries of papal teaching—is that only the Pope, in communion with the bishops, can definitively interpret and safeguard the deposit of faith.

When local bishops are empowered to adapt doctrine to the needs of their particular communities, the universal unity of Catholicism is compromised. The result is an ecclesial body that is fragmented and confused—a far cry from the unity and universality that Christ intended for His Church.

The Theological and Ecclesiological Crisis

A Crisis of Identity

The synodal process is not merely a set of procedural changes; it represents a fundamental crisis of identity for the Catholic Church. For centuries, Catholicism has stood as a bulwark of eternal truths and divine revelation. Its doctrines have been handed down unaltered from the time of the Apostles, ensuring that the faith remains a stable and unchanging beacon in a chaotic world. In contrast, synodality—especially in its endless, open-ended form—implies that the Church’s identity is a mutable construct, subject to revision and reinterpretation at every turn.

This crisis of identity is profoundly dangerous. As the Church begins to view itself not as the unchanging Mystical Body of Christ but as an evolving human institution, it risks abandoning the very truths that have sustained it through the centuries. The danger is that, in embracing synodality, Catholicism will eventually cease to be Catholic at all—instead, it will become a fragmented, relativistic entity that bears little resemblance to the faith of the Apostles.

The Inescapable Logic of Modernism

At its core, modernism is predicated on the belief that all truth is relative and that doctrines must evolve to meet the changing needs of society. This philosophy is fundamentally incompatible with the teachings of Christ and the immutable truths of Sacred Tradition. As Pope Pius X warned in his denunciation of Modernism, the attempt to “update” the faith is nothing short of a betrayal of its divine origin.

The synodal process, with its endless dialogue and perpetual reinterpretation, embodies this modernist spirit. It places human opinion above divine revelation and gives legitimacy to every cultural and subjective nuance—even when those nuances conflict with the essential tenets of the faith. The danger is clear: if Catholic doctrine is allowed to evolve in response to the whims of contemporary society, the Church will gradually lose its connection to the timeless truths that have sustained it since the days of the Apostles.

The Endgame: How Endless Synodality Could Destroy Catholicism

The Erosion of Doctrinal Certainty

One of the hallmarks of traditional Catholicism is the certainty of its doctrine—a certainty grounded in the unchanging revelation of God. From the early ecumenical councils to the definitive papal pronouncements of recent centuries, Catholic teaching has provided a clear and unwavering guide to salvation. The synodal process, however, threatens to undermine this certainty by subjecting all doctrine to continuous debate and revision.

As the synodal process evolves, there is no guarantee that definitive teaching will ever be firmly established. Instead, the Church risks being trapped in an endless cycle of “discernment” and “dialogue” that, far from leading to clarity, only deepens confusion and relativism. The result is a Church in which nothing is sacred, where every dogma is up for negotiation—and where the faithful are left adrift in a sea of uncertainty.

A Loss of Authority and the Rise of Fragmentation

The decentralization of authority inherent in the synodal process is the final nail in the coffin of a truly Catholic Church. The Magisterium—the living embodiment of apostolic succession—has always been the guardian of the faith. By surrendering this authority to local bodies and the laity, the synodal movement effectively fractures the unity of the Church. The once-centralized, unifying authority of the Pope is diluted into a series of competing voices, each interpreting doctrine in its own way.

This fragmentation is not merely a theoretical concern—it is a very real threat to the very survival of Catholicism. As traditional prelates such as Cardinal Burke, Bishop Strickland, and Bishop Eleganti have warned, giving local bishops the power to reinterpret doctrine will inevitably lead to a breakdown in the unity and catholicity of the Church. Without a single, unifying authority to safeguard the deposit of faith, the Church is doomed to splinter into a multitude of incompatible factions, each claiming to represent the “true” Catholicism of the past.

The Inevitable Conclusion: The End of Catholicism

When the essential characteristics of Catholicism—its unchanging doctrine, its hierarchical authority, and its universal unity—are eroded away, what remains is not the Church of Christ but a mere shadow of its former self. The endless synodal process, with its open-ended questions and decentralized authority, is not a reform movement. It is, rather, a systematic effort to dismantle the very foundations of the Catholic faith.

As Bishop Athanasius Schneider reminds us, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). The synodal process, by prioritizing human opinion over divine revelation, is a direct challenge to the eternal truths of our faith. It is a movement that, if left unchecked, will culminate in the disintegration of Catholicism as we know it—a Church that is no longer anchored in the unchanging word of God but adrift in the shifting sands of modern culture.

The never-ending synodality initiated by Pope Francis is not a benign pastoral exercise—it is a deliberate strategy to dismantle the hierarchical, doctrinal, and apostolic foundations of the Catholic Church. By embracing a model of perpetual dialogue and decentralized authority, the synodal movement paves the way for doctrinal relativism, ecclesial fragmentation, and, ultimately, the demise of Catholicism as it has been known for centuries.

In these perilous times, it is incumbent upon every faithful Catholic to stand in defense of the timeless teachings of our faith. We must reject the seductive allure of modernism that promises liberation through endless discussion but ultimately leads to chaos and apostasy. Instead, we must renew our commitment to the traditional structures, doctrines, and practices that have sustained the Church through centuries of trial and triumph.

Let us heed the admonition of the early Church Fathers and the Magisterium: the essence of Catholicism lies in its unchanging truth, its divinely ordained authority, and its unwavering fidelity to the Gospel. Only by reaffirming these principles can we hope to resist the modernist assault and preserve the true Catholic faith for future generations.

In the final analysis, the endless synodality is not a path to renewal but a slippery slope to the dissolution of Catholicism. If we allow the process to continue unchecked, we risk transforming the Church into an ever-shifting mosaic of human opinion—a mere reflection of the transient values of modern culture rather than a beacon of eternal truth. As traditional Catholics, we must therefore stand as guardians of the faith, defending the unalterable truths revealed by Christ against all who would dilute or distort them.

May our response to this crisis be as resolute as it is compassionate, rooted in the rich tradition of our forebears and guided by the light of divine revelation. The future of Catholicism depends on our steadfast refusal to compromise on the faith that has sustained us through centuries. In a world that clamors for change at every turn, let us be the voices that remind the faithful of the eternal verities that have always defined the Church—a Church not of man’s making, but of God’s own design.

Ave Christus Rex!

Recognise & Resist!

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