Leo XIV Awards Latin Mass Persecutor Weisenburger and Scandal Ridden McElroy the Pallium

As Pope Leo calls for “unity in diversity,” he bestows the pallium on McElroy and Weisenburger: men known for purging tradition and preaching heresy

Pope Leo XIV presents the pallium to Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 29, 2025, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. The pallium, which symbolizes an archbishop’s authority and unity with the pope, is given to metropolitan archbishops. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

The Company Leo Keeps

On the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Leo XIV distributed palliums to 54 archbishops, a symbol of unity with the See of Rome. But unity with what, exactly?

Among the recipients were two men whose records read like an indictment of the modern hierarchy: Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit.

These weren’t obscure bishops elevated by accident. Their views, their policies, their scandals are all public. Leo knew exactly what he was doing.

Weisenburger: Liturgical Purger, Publicly Rewarded

Pope Leo XIV smiles after presenting the pallium to Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Archbishop Weisenburger said he assured the pope of the prayers of the people of the Archdiocese of Detroit, saying Detroiters have "much affection" for the Holy Father, whose diaconal ordination took place in the archdiocese. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Archbishop Weisenburger, appointed in February 2025, made headlines earlier this year by implementing one of the harshest applications of Traditionis Custodes in the world. His decree banned ad orientem worship, kneeling for Communion in the Novus Ordo, and ended nearly every diocesan Latin Mass, even outside of parishes.

The document, hastily removed from the archdiocesan website after public backlash, revealed an agenda not just of suppression but humiliation. Priests wishing to say the TLM had to write letters begging for permission, swearing fidelity to Vatican II and promising not to allow any lay faithful to attend.

And yet Leo XIV honored this man, placing the pallium on his shoulders as a “sign of communion.” What does that communion now signify? Not apostolic fidelity, but obedience to destruction.

McElroy: A Living Rebuke to Catholic Doctrine

Then there is Cardinal McElroy: pro-LGBT, pro-abortion politicians, pro-women’s ordination, and proudly hostile to “eucharistic coherence.” While serving in San Diego, he celebrated rainbow-themed liturgies with drag queens, silenced orthodox priests, and permitted diocesan healthcare plans to fund abortion and “gender transitions.”

This is the man who said climate change was a graver moral evil than contraception. The man who praised Biden’s Catholic faith while he championed abortion through all nine months. The man who left a satanic ritual abuser in ministry for over a year, until prosecutors intervened.

McElroy has been publicly rebuked by fellow bishops and accused of heresy. But in Leo’s Vatican, that’s not a barrier. It’s a credential.

The False Concordia

In his June 29 homily, Leo XIV praised Peter and Paul not for their martyrdom, but for their disagreements. “Communion,” he said, is “a fruitful harmony in diversity,” where even opposing ideas contribute to the same mission. The implication? Doctrinal contradiction is no longer a problem, but a model.

In his Angelus address, he went further: “The New Testament does not conceal the errors, conflicts and sins of those we venerate as the greatest Apostles. Their greatness was shaped by forgiveness. Jesus never calls just one time.”

Unity, in this vision, means endlessly forgiving even public betrayal of the Gospel, provided it serves the right “pastoral” ends.

This theology is toxic. It makes bishops into celebrities of disobedience and turns saints into useful symbols of theological drift.

Palliums for Apostates, Silence for the Faithful

The contrast is stark. Leo XIV praises the “vitality” of bishops like McElroy, yet enforces total silence and exile on faithful traditionalists. The faithful who kneel in reverence are shamed. The men who ban kneeling are honored.

It would be easier to believe this is accidental, the result of poor vetting, bureaucratic blindness, or naive charity. But no: Leo XIV knows who these men are. He knows what they teach. He knows what they have done. And still, he places the pallium upon them.

He is telling us exactly what kind of Church he wants. And what kind he does not.

A Church of the Rewritten Beatitudes

At the Angelus, Leo offered his vision of Christianity:

“Those who follow Jesus must tread the path of the Beatitudes… Yet God’s glory shines forth in his friends… passing from conversion to conversion.”

In context, the line was chilling. Because the “friends” he had just praised were bishops who reject the Church’s moral teachings and whose “conversions” are not from sin to grace, but from tradition to progress.

We are told that Jesus “never calls just one time.” But is that because He is patient or because, under this new gospel, no one ever answers?