The Purge at LifeSite News: Why John-Henry Westen Had to Go

Trad Inc. is now firing its own founders for questioning the Synodal Pope. Welcome to the era of enforced silence.

John-Henry Westen, co-founder and longtime Editor-in-Chief of LifeSiteNews, is out. Not retired. Not taking a break. Not transitioning to another role. He’s been removed. Voted out by a board of directors at the very institution he helped build. Fired, then repackaged as a “sabbatical.”

The official statement from LifeSite tries to soften the blow with religious language, “extensive prayer,” “a commitment to best serve our donors,” but don’t be fooled. This was a political execution dressed up in piety. And it reeks.

Let’s be clear: Westen didn’t suddenly become ineffective, immoral, or irrelevant. He committed the one unforgivable sin in today’s Trad Inc. ecosystem: he publicly questioned the Synodal Pope.

“God have mercy on Thy Church,” The Final Straw

In the days leading up to his removal, Westen posted a string of pointed critiques of Leo XIV on X. He questioned the motives behind the new “care for creation” Mass. He raised alarms about Leo’s appointments, particularly the pallium being placed on Cardinal McElroy. He shared Archbishop Viganò’s plea for Leo to abandon “Bergoglian synodality.” He even speculated that Leo’s election was engineered to bring disillusioned U.S. donors back into the Vatican fold.

He knew what he was doing. He saw the red flags, and in good conscience, he couldn’t stay silent.

And for that, he’s gone.

Who Controls the Movement Now?

Let that sink in. A man who co-founded LifeSiteNews, one of the most prominent outlets defending Catholic tradition and life, can now be removed by a board. Not for scandal. Not for doctrinal error. But for questioning the very direction of a papacy that is aggressively advancing the same program as Francis under a more traditional exterior.

This is not just an internal personnel shake-up. It’s a signpost. The purge is real.

And Westen wasn’t the only casualty.

Stephen Kokx, a faithful Catholic journalist and longtime contributor to LifeSite, announced a day earlier that he too was “forced to seek new employment.” The implication was obvious: dissent is no longer tolerated, even when that dissent is loyal to the Deposit of Faith.

Trad Inc. Has Been Compromised

We are witnessing the consolidation of a new orthodoxy; not the orthodoxy of the saints, martyrs, and councils, but the orthodoxy of strategic silence, selective outrage, and the unquestionable legitimacy of Synodal Rome.

Trad Inc. has learned well from the Vatican II Church it once claimed to oppose: centralize power, marginalize dissenters, and replace principles with narrative control. Today’s conservative Catholic media class is no longer a resistance. It’s an HR department for Vatican-approved optics.

First came the pivot: the hushed deletion of old critiques, the sudden embrace of Leo’s “reverence.” Then came the justifications: “We mustn’t appear hostile to the papacy,” they said. “Let’s give him time,” they pleaded. And now, the punishment: fire those who refuse to comply.

We’ve gone from Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi to Lex Placendi: the law of appeasement.

The Conspiracy of Silence Becomes a Campaign of Suppression

What has happened to the Traditional Catholic movement?

This is not just a course correction, but a capitulation. Two months ago, figures across the trad landscape, especially Westen, were rightly warning that Leo XIV, then Cardinal Prevost, was a key player in the ouster of Bishop Strickland, a man targeted specifically for resisting Traditionis Custodes.

That same Leo now occupies the Chair of Peter, and within 24 hours, the resistance collapsed. Influencers, bloggers, and even bishops began parroting lines about “hope,” “unity,” and “dignity of office.” Some went further, demanding silence from the very people who had been right all along.

We see what happens to those who play along.

And now we see what happens to those who won’t.

Westen didn’t “retire.” He didn’t step aside. He was ousted, reportedly by a narrow 5–4 board vote, according to journalist Edward Welsch. A faithful man of conviction, shown the door by his own institution, for failing to conform to the new regime’s standards of docility and deference.

A Lesson in Power—and How to Lose It

Let this be a cautionary tale to anyone founding an apostolate, organization, or publication.

Never give away controlling ownership. Never let “a board” or “outside advisors” have the final say on the mission you built.

Because if you do, it can, and will, be taken from you. The very structure you built to fight the revolution will be infiltrated and turned against you. Look no further than the Church itself after Vatican II: the same pattern, the same smiling coups, the same weaponization of authority in the name of “prudence” and “unity.”

Westen built LifeSite as a bastion of truth in a collapsing Church. But in the end, it became just another institution that chose survival over fidelity.

This Isn’t Just About Westen. It’s About You.

If they can do this to John-Henry Westen, they can do it to anyone.

The message is loud and clear: fall in line, or be removed. Bend the knee to the Synodal Church, not to Christ the King, and you’ll be allowed to speak. Critique only what the narrative permits. Praise Leo’s Latin vestments, but never question the continuation of Francis’s agenda. Accept the illusion. Promote the program.

But if you dare to see, and say, that nothing has changed except the packaging, you’ll be labeled divisive. Dangerous. Disloyal.

And then they’ll come for your job.

Consider John-Henry Westen’s final X posts before he was fired. This is the truth the LifeSiteNews “board” does not want you to hear:

Let the Faithful Take Heed

The crisis is not just in the Vatican anymore. It’s in our movement. And the greatest danger is no longer the heretics we oppose, it is the betrayal of those we thought were allies.

LifeSiteNews may have removed John-Henry Westen from its masthead, but he has already joined a far more important list: the growing number of voices who told the truth and paid the price.

They fired him for asking the questions you’re not allowed to ask. Which means it’s up to the rest of us to keep asking them.