In God’s Will: The Life and Works of Sr. Mary Wilhelmina, Foundress of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, Sister Wilhelmina’s religious community wrote of her “marching song”:

“She developed a deep and trusting abandonment to Divine Providence. As an old nun, she would walk the halls of the convent, beating time with her cane and chanting her ‘Marching Song’: God’s will, God’s will, God’s will be done! Praise be the Father! Praise be the Son! Praise be Divine Love, Lord Holy Ghost! Praised be in union with the heavenly host!” (p. 76)

No Catholic is required to believe the messages from the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the three children of Fatima, but the reactions to the messages from high-ranking churchmen reveal several vital aspects of the current crisis in the Church. The conclusions we can draw from these reactions do not depend on the Fatima messages being legitimate — all that matters in this analysis is that the churchmen under consideration purported to believe them. And yet, if we honestly assess the way in which Church’s leaders have acted in light of the messages of Fatima, we can see something absolutely staggering: their actions paint the same picture of apostasy as that apparently contained in the complete Third Secret of Fatima that they have concealed.

One of the meditations in St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises depicts the spiritual war between Jesus Christ and Lucifer, in which all men must choose which standard to follow:

“Consider that we are all placed between Jesus Christ and Lucifer, and that it is equally impossible either to serve both at once—‘No one can serve two masters’ (Matt. 6:24)—or to remain neutral without serving one or other, for Jesus Christ says, ‘He who is not with Me is against Me’ (Luke 11:23). It is, then, necessary to make a choice.”

“What I am going to say is not a dogma of faith but my own personal view: I like to think of hell as empty; I hope it is.” (Francis, January 14, 2024 interview)

If we wanted to compile a list quotations which could encapsulate the crisis in the Catholic Church and world today, we would do well to include the following from Archbishop Hélder Câmara (signer of the Catacombs Pact and a crucial influence on Klaus Schwab):

“It would shock many people if the Church came along giving the impression that I am the solution to every problem — I have the solution to every problem. No, we come only to try to collaborate with the world, not by throwing our weight around but by shedding a bit of light here and there” (Archbishop Hélder Câmara, quoted in the Archbishop Lefebvre Documentary, 39:00)

In his classic The Spiritual Combat and a Treatise on Peace of Soul, Dom Lorenzo Scupoli wrote of the absolute necessity of striving to discard the “old man” in ourselves if we want to overcome evil:

“The most effective remedy against evil is purity of heart. Everyone engaged in the spiritual combat must be armed with it, discarding the old man and putting on the new. The remedy is applied in this way. In everything that we undertake, pursue, or reject, we divest ourselves of all human considerations, and do only what is conformable to the will of God.”

As one indication, among many, that Francis has convinced most rational observers of his heterodoxy, it is worth noting that he has developed quite a following with the Babylon Bee, a Christian satirical website, as we can see from recent articles:

December 11, 2023: “The Catholic Church announced this week Pope Francis has excommunicated the Apostle Paul over the latter's outdated views on women, families, and social issues.”

November 12, 2023: “Pope Francis has officially sacked Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas for being ‘way too Catholic.’”

October 3, 2023: “Pope Francis today released a papal decree warning Christians against going through the narrow gate, and instead encouraging everyone to take the broad road.”

These satirical observations demonstrate that the Babylon Bee has a far greater grasp of Catholic teaching — and the extent to which Francis opposes it — than Francis’s professional Catholic defenders. Should we Catholics therefore take all of this to heart and leave the Church so that we can “sleep soundly” like the Protestant man in the Babylon Bee’s December 19, 2023 article mocking Fiducia Supplicans?:

“As controversy continues to swirl following Pope Francis's pronouncement that Catholic priests are free to bless people who are in same-sex relationships, a local protestant man slept soundly due to the knowledge that he doesn't need to pay any attention to what some guy who wears a funny hat in Rome says about anything theologically.” 

“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.’’ (St. Padre Pio to Fr. Gabriel Amorth)

“Be nothing solicitous; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petition be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

“To promote ecumenism means signing a treaty of non-aggression, granting all religions citizenship in the great pantheon of creeds. The only commandment is the exclusion of exclusivity: freedom for all in all things, except for those who believe in the truth.” (Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, One Hundred Years of Modernism