With providential foresight, Pope Pius IX (top left) saw in the 19th century the heresies that would come upon the Church in the 20th century.  So, in 1864, he wrote the Syllabus of Errors. Over one hundred years later, Cardinal Ratzinger (top right, before he was Pope) unfortunately admitted that Vatican II was “a Counter-Syllabus” of Errors.  By this, he meant Vatican II was good and the Syllabus’ condemnation of heresies was bad, or at least outdated.

This is found in his book Principles of Catholic Theology.  More specifically, Cardinal Ratzinger said Gaudium Et Spes was a Counter-Syllabus.  He meant Catholics needed to get with the times in making peace with the world instead of being heresy-hunters.

My translation of the above from his book in French reads: “If one looks with a global diagnostic upon the text, one can say that it’s (by connection to the texts on religious liberty and in regards to religions of the world) a revision of the Syllabus of Pius IX, a sort of counter-syllabus.” (emphasis mine.)

Perhaps only the Catholic traditionalist will admit the 2023 Synod in Rome is simply the logical-outcome of Vatican II’s ecumenism.  But even the neo-con non-trad will hesitatingly admit that the recently-ended Synod “superstars” were trying to promote many of the heresies originally condemned by Pio Nono.

Keep in mind all the following are condemned as heresies or errors according to the Catholic Church in the Syllabus:

5. “Divine revelation is imperfect, and therefore subject to a continual and indefinite progress, corresponding with the advancement of human reason.”

15. “Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.”

16. “Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation.”

17. “Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ.”

21. “The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion.”

50. “Lay authority possesses of itself the right of presenting bishops, and may require of them to undertake the administration of the diocese before they receive canonical institution, and the Letters Apostolic from the Holy See.”

66. “The Sacrament of Marriage is only something accessory to the contract and separate from it, and the sacrament itself consists in the nuptial benediction alone.”

Look… you can side with the Nuchurch or the Catholic Church of all ages. In some sense, it’s a risk to choose either one. (It feels dangerous and arrogant to choose the Faith of the hierarchy of yesterday over the “faith” of the hierarchy today.) But if you are Catholic, you must now choose, as every honest person (at least every trad and lefty) admits the hermeneutic of continuity has fully collapsed over the past decade.

I personally will go with the Catholic Church of all ages. Why? Besides the fact the Third Secret of Fatima was just that—apostasy from the top down—we also have numerous other testimonies from 20th century prophets.  For example, Fr. Gabriele Amorth (former exorcist of Rome) recalled this account: “One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time will come to rule a false church.’”