Synodal Subversion: How Leo’s Church Wages War on the Faithful

Globalism, synodality, and ecumenism: How new bishops and “synodal” initiatives show Leo’s Church abandoning Tradition.

A Globalist Bishop in Canada

In Quebec, one of Pope Leo’s first moves was to promote Monsignor Martin Laliberté as coadjutor of Saint-Jean–Longueuil, effectively naming him the next bishop. The Vatican’s own news noted that Leo XIV made the appointment on February 11, 2026. Laliberté is the very model of the postmodern cleric. In a December 2023 pastoral letter “En marche, ensemble” he mocked the very idea of a Church “returning” to its former glory. He declared that “Rêver à un âge d’or fictif… est illusoire” – that dreaming of some fictitious Golden Age of the Faith is pure illusion. In other words, any hope of going “backwards” is condemned as naïve. He went on to praise perpetual change: “la dimension institutionnelle et structurelle de notre Église est et sera appelée à se modifier. Elle l’a fait tout au long de l’histoire…c’est certain que…c’est pas grave.” The structures of the Church must keep evolving, he insisted, and even if that is “difficult…it is not a tragedy”.

In short, Bishop Laliberté explicitly teaches his flock to abandon any longing for pre-Vatican II stability. Every era has its challenges, he says, and Catholics must focus on the future, especially his favored future. He has made it clear that the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (the only clergy still offering the Traditional Latin Mass in the area) is to be spurned: he warns people that SSPX priests have “no status” and that their Masses don’t even fulfill your Sunday obligation. In his mind they are second-class at best, echoing Francis’s recent hostility.

Laliberté’s leftist credentials go deeper. A veteran missionary (Brazil, Haiti) close to Latin American theology, he openly defends Liberation Theology as a Gospel imperative. In an April 2025 interview he even argued that Liberation Theology was “not Marxism” at all, but simply a “way of analyzing the socio-political context” from Christ’s perspective. “Jesus himself liberated people,” he preached, and anyone who sees Liberation Theology as mere “communism” is mistaken. In his view, this “Gospel of the oppressed” is exactly what Pope Francis brought home from Latin America. In other words, he embraces the most radical, anti-Catholic elements of 1970s theology and proudly wears that label.

Unsurprisingly, Bishop Laliberté was also prominent at the UN’s COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil. In November 2025 he co-authored a Catholic climate statement alongside dozens of cardinals and bishops. The Declaration from Belém reads like a prayer to Gaia: “Ten years after the Paris Agreement… the world faces more extreme weather and environmental degradation.” It demands an “ecological conversion” and calls Catholics to “care for our common home”. The text boasts that Catholics at COP30 “arrived to discover a true spirit of synodality, walking together, unified in God’s love for the poor and creation”. In other words, the Church authorities see themselves as climate activists and globalists first, and caretakers of the Faith second.

All of these developments in Canada, from ecumenical climate crusading to Liberation Theology, fit a pattern: the local bishop is aggressively “Agenda 2030” oriented, hostile to Tradition and communion with the FSSPX, and emphatic that this (not any Catholic Golden Age) is the new normal. Traditionalists see in Mgr. Laliberté the embodiment of Francis’s ideology: relentlessly forward-looking, synodal, and Leftward-leaning, with no room for the Faith we once knew.

Kneel at Your Peril: Cardinal Rossi’s Double Standard

Over in Córdoba, Argentina, the pattern is even clearer. Cardinal Ángel Rossi, a fellow Jesuit and Argentine, has been quietly crushing traditional piety in his archdiocese. At Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Villa Allende, priests have refused Communion to faithful who kneel. One December 8th report reveals that a young autistic girl was literally denied the Eucharist for the “crime” of kneeling to receive it. Her anguished mother appealed to the “synodal” hierarchy, even writing to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship, but got no answer. The local priests shrug off these complaints, and Cardinal Rossi himself remains ominously silent, as ElWanderer notes.

Meanwhile, Rossi ardently courts the very groups these faithful fear. His diocese now has an official “Pastoral de la Diversidad Sexual,” a homosexual ministry network which he backed personally. He has spoken at gay events and even blessed a homosexual “marriage,” courtesy of Father Daniel Nardini (a known ally of Rossi). In June 2024 the press reported Rossi “honored” the LGBT group Centu with his presence. The group’s coordinator praised this as a signal of the Church’s changing “discourse”. Only months ago, on a pro-LGBT pilgrimage, Centu members proudly posted photos hugging Cardinal Rossi.

In Rossi’s Argentina, then, there is a glaring double standard: kneeling Catholics get scapegoated, even autistic children blocked from Communion, while gay activists receive the cardinal’s blessing. Conservatives complain loudly. In May 2025 Rossi went further: he unilaterally expelled the Legion of Christ from Córdoba, declaring they were not in “consonance with what is being discovered in synodality”. (A public letter rebuking him noted that excluding Catholics who disagree is the exact opposite of synodality – Rossi never responded.)

All this is fitting preparation for Rossi’s next big praise. In the days after the May 2026 conclave, he rhapsodized about the new pontiff Leo XIV: calling Leo’s election “a gift from God” and claiming the new pope is “the man the Church and the world need right now”. Rossi insisted Leo follows “the same line” as Francis and “isn’t trying to go backwards… he’s no dinosaur”. In other words, no reform is coming. Leo XIV is explicitly “continuity Francis,” in the words of Rossi himself. For Trad Inc., this is the latest evidence they’ve been hiding the truth: even Leo’s supporters know he stands for more of the same.

Bad Bunny in New York – Progressive Pop Over Tradition

The revolution in the Church is not just overseas. In New York, Pope Leo hand-picked Ronald A. Hicks, 58, to succeed Cardinal Dolan. Hick’s resume is revealing: in Joliet, Ill., he had already shown liberal tendencies (his diocesan chancellor, Robert Salvato, publicly “married” another man, and Hicks’s hown Vicar General attended that ceremony). His first day in New York underscored the same priorities. In his installation homily on Feb. 6, 2026, Archbishop Hicks opened with secular song lyrics. Instead of preaching from the Scriptures, he assembled lines from Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z – and of all people the reggaeton star Bad Bunny. The Spanish lyric he recited, “Si te quieres divertir, con encanto y con primor, solo tienes que vivir un verano en Nueva York,” is lifted from Bad Bunny’s ode to Manhattan. (According to reports, this line drew some of the loudest applause in the cathedral.) Bad Bunny is hardly a Christian role model: he’s known for profanity, drag outfits, and open homosexuality. Yet the archbishop treated him like a saint. This bizarre pop-concert homily is the exact kind of thing Vatican II clerics love, importing the culture in to “build bridges,” blind to any sacrilege.

Hicks then offered a laundry list of feel-good slogans. He proclaimed a “missionary Church” that “protects children”, “supports all those wounded by the Church,” and above all “shows respect for all.” At first glance this sounds laudable, but it’s worth noting exactly what he didn’t say. He did not condemn any ideologies or insist on doctrinal boundaries. In practice “respect for all” becomes a catch-all: Rossi’s comment about pedophilia illustrates that this can include literally anyone. Like a junior Francis, Hicks grouped victims and sinners together. Furthermore, Hicks had already presided over the same dilemma in Joliet: his gay chancellor and entourage were given the episcopal nod, even at the so-called “synod on charity”.

If the homily didn’t raise enough eyebrows, the follow-up press conference (leaked to the media) did. Archbishop Hicks joked about Chicago and New York–style pizza preferences on Super Bowl Sunday, declaring he “had to” eat New York pizza now that he’s here, before reminiscing about love of the Cubs. All this gave the impression of a man more interested in sports and pop culture than in confronting the crisis of faith. To faithful Catholics it was a line right out of Francisland: focus on superficial unity and worldly pleasures, downplay doctrine. Watching the new Archbishop of New York quote Bad Bunny and chat about pizza was a harbinger that the hierarchy’s priorities are shot.

Unity in Apostasy: Italy’s Ecumenical Pact

This “church of the world” mentality reached its climax in Italy this month. In Bari the first-ever “Symposium of Christian Churches in Italy” convened (Jan 23–24, 2026), and Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Evangelical leaders all signed a joint ecumenical pact. The pact’s language is revealing. As one report notes, this agreement pledges them “to pursue dialogue, joint witness and closer cooperation” for the common good. It stresses “promoting authentic Christian values in an increasingly secular society,” in practice meaning feeding into every liberal cause. Indeed the pact specifically commits everyone to “work together for justice, peace and solidarity,” focusing on protecting human dignity, dialogue between religions, welcoming migrants and marginalized, protecting creation, and combatting antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any form of religious discrimination.” In short, Catholics have pledged themselves to the same agenda as every secular NGO, alongside heretics of all stripes.

Notably absent is any insistence on Catholic truth or evangelization. The Italian bishops were happy to speak in soaring phrases: “true unity does not cancel differences but transfigures them in communion,” quipped the Orthodox Metropolitan, and a Protestant pastor hailed an “Italian way to dialogue” as if syncretism were virtuous. Even the prophecy of Nicea was invoked. Cardinal Zuppi reminded the crowd that the Apostles dreamed of “one body and one Spirit” (Eph 4:4) and urged a “harmonious polyphony” of faiths.

To put it bluntly: Italy’s Church just institutionalized apostasy. Instead of calling Protestants back to Rome or converting secularists, they made a pact to respect pluralism and follow the world together. Catholics and Protestants will now all pray to the Spirit to “lead us to full communion,” not by one Church triumphing over error, but by everyone happily merging their heresies. The new document even affirms respecting secularity and being in dialogue with society (i.e. state and culture), as if the Church’s mission were to get along with the unbelieving world rather than save souls.

In effect, this is the fruition of Vatican II–style ecumenism run wild. A public Italian symphony of bishops applauding each other for officially cooperating on “common witness” is how the Conciliar Church responds to a crisis of faith: not by reaffirming dogma, but by surrendering it entirely. Lutheran and Protestant media openly celebrate the signing, describing it as a “bold new agreement” between Catholics and all other Christians. Traditional Catholics see it for what it is: the Catholic hierarchy has abandoned the extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church no salvation) Christ taught, in favor of a mushy “outreach to everyone.” Even humble St. Francis of Assisi (whose spirit is evoked in some Vatican circles) would be aghast to see popes joining hands with schismatics and heretics, rather than calling them back to holy Mother Church.

Conclusion: Rome is Lost

Taken together, these stories are a devastating indictment of the current regime in Rome. Bishop Laliberté’s sermons, Cardinal Rossi’s actions, Archbishop Hicks’s lyrics – all of it aligns perfectly with the Francis/“Synodal Church” playbook. Leo XIV has not distanced himself from Francis; on the contrary, his closest allies praise him for continuing Francis’s agenda. All the signs point to a prelate more concerned with politics, ideology, and interfaith panel discussions than with saving souls or honoring our heritage.

One writes of a “fictitious Golden Age” and thinks the Church is fine as long as it changes; another punishes kneeling laity while blessing gay networks; the New York leader quotes Bad Bunny and sports, and Italian bishops sign unity pacts with heretics. What we see is precisely the “modernism” condemned by Pope St. Pius X a century ago; a church that embraces the world and rejects what it once held sacred. The voice coming from Rome and our bishops speaks not of Christ’s unchanging Truth, but of the changing world.

For faithful Catholics, these days demand courage. In the face of this wholesale retreat from Tradition, the worst thing we could do is to keep hoping that they will come to their senses. Instead, we must cling ever more closely to the Mass of Ages, the true Magisterium, and the communion of Saints. The Great Apostasy is already unfolding around us. Let us pray for the day when the Church’s hierarchy returns from this disaster and until then, faithfully remain at the rock of Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ” (Mt 16:16), and only His Church has the keys to salvation.

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