St. Augustine Condemns The Rainbow Cross

A roundup on Leo’s continuity with Francis, the AUSCP–USCCB scandal, “queer Jesus” theology, and why billion-dollar CEOs suddenly matter more than bishops

(Photo From Francis Endorsed New Ways Ministry’s Latest Article on “Queer Jesus.”)

Rist Rings the Bell

Edward Pentin’s interview with John Rist should be embarrassing for anyone still insisting that the current Roman regime merely “prefers a gentler tone.” Rist, the pre-eminent Augustinian scholar, frames the problem in the only register that counts: moral clarity. Leo receives James Martin with cameras rolling, quietly embraces Lucia Caram who agitates for abortion and same-sex “marriage,” looks the other way as a thousand LGBT activists process through St. Peter’s with rainbow crosses and profane slogans, and then elevates a self-described “feminist queer” curator to a Vatican academy. The pattern is approval by omission. Augustine would not have recognized such paralysis as charity. He called sodomy an abomination and expected shepherds to correct it as shepherds, not as influencers chasing applause. Rist’s point is simple. If the house catches fire and the watchman smiles for the cameras, he is not a watchman.

The Continuity Project

The defenders will say this is just “continuity” with Francis, a softer sequel with Midwestern manners. Fine. Then own the continuity. Leo’s first book-length interview, rolled out with media fanfare, offers the carefully managed three-step: praise the substance of synodality, assert it predates Francis so critics are only resisting Vatican II, and promise flexibility about the furniture and formats going forward. This is how you keep the revolution while soothing the revolted. The slogans survive. The tables can be round or rectangular. The effect is the same. “Conversation in the Spirit” remains the battering ram for a spirituality that treats doctrine like an ice sculpture at a summer wedding. It looks pretty as it disappears.

Billionaires, Bishops, and the Price of Silence

Leo also found time to lament CEO pay and to swipe at Elon Musk’s compensation. One could almost cheer the concern for justice if the same moral bravery were shown toward clerics who replace repentance with rainbow branding. The shepherds who cannot publicly correct Jesuits with global platforms somehow feel emboldened to scold tycoons. The ninth commandment loses its voice when presented with a camera-ready confessional. The tenth roars when presented with a headline. This is not prudence, but deflection. If you will not speak clearly about mortal sin where souls actually live and die, your sermon about market excess sounds like a smoke bomb at the scene of a spiritual arson.

“Queer Jesus” and the Catechism of Self

Francis endorsed the perverted and heretical New Ways Ministry in 2021. Now the organization celebrates a guest essay proclaiming that “Jesus is queer.” The author is honest enough to admit the speculation but leaves the door open and then sanctifies an identity as a sacrament of resilience. This is a theft. Christianity names the Cross as the fruit of our sins and the price of our redemption, not a stage where we recast disordered desire as a charism. To declare Jesus “queer” is to re-fashion the Savior in the image of our wounds and call it healing. That Rome once reprimanded such wordplay, and now platforms its apostles, tells you everything about where “accompaniment” has gone. Accompaniment without truth is not mercy. It is consent.

AUSCP: When the Fox Hosts the Henhouse

The Association of United States Catholic Priests boasts of hosting a consultation on the USCCB’s laity document. This is the same AUSCP that platformed priests joking about masturbation as prayer, that agitates for women’s ordination, that catechizes the faithful in erotic mysticism. The bishops’ conference lets its name be used anyway, then refuses to clarify who authorized the dance. The message to lay Catholics could not be clearer. Your hunger for doctrine is treated as a political problem. The dissenters’ hunger for validation is treated as a pastoral need. The wolf writes the agenda. The shepherds RSVP. Meanwhile, chancery men who would never tolerate an unauthorized Latin chant will happily tolerate unauthorized theology, so long as it smiles.

Liberation Without Liberation

Leonardo Boff applauds a Church “following the historical Jesus,” which in practice means dissolving supernatural claims into social projects and calling it fidelity to the poor. We have lived through this for sixty years. The poor did not receive the Bread of Angels. They received committees. They were not taught the faith. They were taught the euphemisms that devour it. When Boff celebrates his influence on Francis, he is stating the quiet part out loud. And when today’s curia echoes the same vocabulary in softer tones, do not pretend the substance has shifted. The project marches on. Only the soundtrack has changed.

Augustine’s Test

Augustine’s test for pastors was never whether they could brighten a crowd. It was whether they would name evil, preach repentance, defend the sacraments, and correct scandal even when elites sneer. He did not counsel a Church that hides behind “process.” He expected bishops to be fathers. If the present moment feels like a House of Eli, where sons profane the sanctuary and the old man mutters pieties, it is because the pattern is precisely that. Rist is right. The issue is not style. It is fidelity. And the first Augustinian on the throne has chosen to quote the Doctor while ignoring him.

What Now

Stop outsourcing your conscience to press releases. Stop letting “synodality” mean endless meetings in place of obedience. Support priests and bishops who teach the faith whole and entire, publicly and without coded winks. Write your dioceses and the USCCB and demand the obvious. No collaboration with AUSCP or any group that catechizes sin. No pulpits for “queer Jesus.” No photo-ops that normalize dissent. And when Rome tries to sell you continuity as a virtue, ask them to show you continuity with the Catechism, with Trent, with the ordinary magisterium that actually binds. Continuity with Francis is not a beatitude.

If Augustine were alive today, he would not recognize this Church. He would see pastors courting applause instead of guarding souls, silence where there should be correction, and indifference where there should be zeal. He would weep — not for the world, but for Rome.