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October 31, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Athanasius Schneider is truly one of the most awe-inspiring bishops in the Catholic Church today. An intrepid defender of truth raised up by God, he recently wrote an open letter condemning the idalatrous “Pachamama” statue featured so prominently throughout the Amazonian Synod. For today's Special Episode of The John-Henry Westen Show, I wanted to share with you the highlights of His Excellency's awesome statement.

In his letter, Bishop Schneider drew attention to several of the many verses in Scripture that warned against the worship of false gods. He said that he had to speak up in respoinse to the Amazon Synod because “syncretism and paganism are like poisons entering the veins of the Mystical Body of Christ.” As a successor to the Apostles, entrusted with care for God’s flock, he continued, “I cannot remain silent in the face of the blatant violation of God’s holy will and the disastrous consequences it will have upon individual souls, the Church as a whole, and indeed the entire human race.”

Noting the “evasive and contradictory” answers given by persons in the Vatican Press Office on what the Pachamama idols truly represented, His Excellency firmly stated, “Catholics cannot accept any pagan worship, nor any syncretism between pagan beliefs and practices and those of the Catholic Church. The acts of worship of kindling a light, of bowing, of prostrating or profoundly bowing to the ground and dancing before an unclothed female statue, which represents neither Our Lady nor a canonized saint of the Church, violates the first Commandment of God.”

He then praised the men who removed the statue from Santa Maria in Traspontina in Rome:

Like a new “Maccabees” they acted in the spirit of the holy wrath of Our Lord, who expelled the merchants from the temple of Jerusalem with a whip. The gestures of these Christian men will be recorded in the annals of Church history as a heroic act which brought glory to the Christian name, while the acts of high-ranking churchmen, on the contrary, who defiled the Christian name in Rome, will go down in history as cowardly and treacherous acts of ambiguity and syncretism.  

Incredible!

He continued: “It would be good for all true Catholics, first and foremost bishops and then also priests and lay faithful, to form a worldwide chain of prayers and acts of reparation for the abomination of the veneration of wooden idols perpetrated in Rome during the Amazon Synod…The first in the Church who should condemn such acts and do reparation is Pope Francis.”

Amen to that!

Bishop Schneider is truly a courageous bishop helping to lead us through this time of great crisis in the Church. Please pray for Him. Also, pray for LifeSiteNews and for Pope Francis so he will affirm his bretheren in the Holy Faith of Almighty God. Read Bishop Schneider's full statement by clicking here.

The John-Henry Westen Show is available by video on the show’s YouTube channel and right here on my LifeSite blog.

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John-Henry is the co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.com. He and his wife Dianne have eight children and they live in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada.

He has spoken at conferences and retreats, and appeared on radio and television throughout the world. John-Henry founded the Rome Life Forum, an annual strategy meeting for life, faith and family leaders worldwide. He is a board member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family. He is a consultant to Canada’s largest pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and serves on the executive of the Ontario branch of the organization. He has run three times for political office in the province of Ontario representing the Family Coalition Party.

John-Henry earned an MA from the University of Toronto in School and Child Clinical Psychology and an Honours BA from York University in Psychology.