Editor’s note: In Part 2 of Father Enoch’s 5-part essay, he continues his analysis of Pope Leo XIV’s homily at a Jubilee Mass for synodal teams at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on October 26, 2025. Click here to read Part 1.
To purchase his book The Trojan Horse, click here.
(LifeSiteNews) — Here we can consider the guiding words of Cardinal Raymond Burke. In an address at an international conference held in Rome on October 3, 2023, the day before the first session of the Synod on Synodality began (October 4, 2023), his Eminence stressed that in its canonical tradition,
the Church is not described as synodal but, instead, as hierarchical communion (cf. LG 25). It is the pastors (bishops) in the communion safeguarded and fostered by the Petrine Office, i.e., the hierarchy, who have the responsibility for the doctrinal, liturgical, and moral guidance of the Church. The Synod is an aid offered to the pastors so that they can fulfill their service. It never replaces and cannot replace the pastoral office willed and instituted by Christ Himself.
The Cardinal went on say that the clear intention of the Synod on Synodality “is to profoundly change the hierarchical constitution of the Church.”[1] As the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear: “To the apostles and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying, and governing in his name and by his power” (CCC 873).[2]
Could it be that Pope Leo’s statement that “relationships” within “synodal teams and participatory bodies do not respond to the logic of power” is a subtle reference to bishops and pastors who preach the fullness of the truth; those who refuse to go along with the contraceptive mentality embraced by the vast majority of the Catholic “faithful,” and/or who do not accept the LGBTQ and same-sex “marriage” agenda which, according to surveys, two-thirds of confused Catholics favor?[3]
Quoting Pope Francis, Leo says that this “logic of power” is a “worldly logic.”
Au contraire: Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word made flesh, established His Church as a hierarchy on the foundation of Peter, the Rock (cf. Mt 16:18) and the Apostles. Jesus gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom (cf. Mt 16:19). He said to all the Apostles: “He who hears you, hears me” (Lk 10:16), and “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18-20). With these words Our Lord and Savior gave to His Apostles a share in His divine authority in order that they may teach, govern and sanctify in His Holy Name.
But Jesus also warned what would happen to them if they courageously proclaimed and taught His truth: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first” (Jn 15:18).
In the context of the topic of his homily (synodality and the Church’s hierarchical structure), for Leo to insist that “the supreme rule in the Church is love” sets up a false dichotomy between truth and love; it implies that preaching the truth is opposed to Christian charity, when in fact just the opposite is true: “The truth will make you free” (Jn 8:32), says Our Lord. Yes, popes, bishops and priests must preach the truth in a Christ-like manner, “with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet 3:16). But it is uncharitable to either hold back or obfuscate the truth in order not to offend.
Again, for Leo to insist, “No one should impose his or her ideas; we must all listen to one another”; and “No one is excluded; we are all called to participate,” is both misleading and confusing. Preaching the splendor of the truth is the solemn duty of every bishop, every priest. By doing so one is not “imposing his own ideas”; no; rather, one is proclaiming Christ, who tells us, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). Jesus does not command us to go forth and “dialogue” with others, to “listen” to them and strive to come to some imagined “consensus” – even with non-Christians, as the Final Document proposes![4] Such is the religion of the New World Order, the religion that will be proposed by the Antichrist when he comes.
And to say, “No one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it together,” obfuscates the truth. This statement is a half-truth. It is accurate to say that no mere human being possesses the whole truth. But Jesus does; for He is Truth Incarnate. And His Church, of which He is Head, possesses the fullness of truth – the depositum fidei (the Deposit of Faith). We know this because at the Last Supper He promised His Apostles that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit upon them, the “Spirit of truth (who) will guide you to all truth” (Jn 16:13); who will “remind you of all that (I) told you” (Jn 14:26) and who will “be with you always” (Jn 14:16); i.e., with the Apostles and their successors in office, until the end of the world.
In the very next lines, Pope Leo says: “The very word ‘together’ expresses the call to communion in the Church. Pope Francis reminded us of this in his final Message for Lent: ‘ … to journey together. The Church is called to walk together, to be synodal’” – as if by “journeying,” “walking together” and sharing our experiences we will come to find the truth. But neither Pope Francis nor Pope Leo ever say that finding the truth is a goal of this “synodal process.” Perhaps this is because for them to say this would reveal the folly of their pursuit, given that (at least in the mind of faithful Catholics) the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of the truth, having been given it by its Founder, Jesus Christ, and having always been guided in it by the Holy Spirit.
Nay, it is utterly amazing that in his homily Pope Leo remains silent on the only place where the fullness of the truth can be found: in Jesus Christ; and in His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Is this because in the new church of synodality, the search for truth will not look solely to Jesus and Holy Mother Church? That instead it will look to other Christian denominations, and even turn to non-Christian religions for advice and guidance – as the Final Document and its summary Pathways document recommends for bishops in their respective dioceses and for pastors in their parishes? [5]
And recall, the Final Document was signed by Francis; but the Pathways document was approved by Pope Leo. But let us continue with Leo’s homily for the Jubilee of the synodal teams and participatory bodies.
The Gospel for that Sunday’s Mass was from St. Luke, where he recounts Jesus’ parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. Leo criticizes the “Pharisee’s attitude,” saying that he “justifies and praises himself” and is “obsessed with his own ego,” and therefore fails to “walk together” and “communicate” with the tax collector as they both go into the Temple to pray. Leo then offers a rather odd commentary:
Brothers and sisters, this can also happen in the Christian community. It happens when the ego prevails over the collective, causing an individualism that prevents authentic and fraternal relationships. It also occurs when the claim to be better than others, as the Pharisee does with the tax collector, creates division and turns the community into a judgmental and exclusionary place; and when one leverages one’s role to exert power, rather than to serve.
Could the reference to “the ego prevail(ing) over the collective” be a veiled criticism aimed at Catholics who faithfully adhere to the teachings of Christ and His Church, and (especially) to orthodox bishops and priests who are supposedly “obsessed with their own egos” and therefore, like the Pharisee, refuse to “walk together” and accept the views of their brother bishops and priests who promote the homosexual agenda and argue (like Cardinal Robert McElroy and Fr. James Martin) that the Church should not maintain “structures and cultures of exclusion” (McElroy) but rather allow for ways of expressing love and affection for those who are “differently ordered” (Martin)?[6] And that it is these bishops (like Thomas Paprocki[7] and Joseph Strickland[8]) and priests who “exert power, rather than serve” and “claim to be better than others”; who “create division” in the Church and “turn the community into a judgmental and exclusionary place”?
One gets the sinking feeling that this is precisely whom Pope Leo is targeting with his words.
And let us further ponder the phrase, “when the ego prevails over the collective” – a very strange choice of words for a pope, indeed.[9] To whom does the “collective” refer? The collective or prevailing consciousness of the majority, as the modernists hold?[10] But here we can recall the figure of Moses who uncompromisingly held to God’s Commandments. He valiantly prevailed over the collective consciousness of the Israelites who were worshipping a golden calf and participating in revelry at the foot of Mount Sinai!
In his homily Pope Leo speaks of how we must instead imitate the humility portrayed in the parable by the tax collector: Instead of being “judgmental” and trying to “exclude” others (understand here: requiring that those who engage in adulterous and homosexual sex must demonstrate authentic repentance before allowing them to receive Holy Communion), we must “listen to each other and enjoy walking together.”
But is this what Jesus calls His bishops and priests to do? “Go forth and listen to each other, and enjoy walking together.” Hardly! Christ’s first words as He began His public ministry were, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15); and Our Lord ordained that John the Baptist would go before Him to prepare His way by calling people to a baptism of repentance.
What does Leo’s exhortation to “listen to each other and enjoy walking together” have to do with the proclamation of the Good News, especially in a culture like our present one in which many celebrate the murder of preborn children as a “right,” and in which the beauty and truth of human sexuality is deformed by young people who engage in one-night hook ups, who “identify” as the opposite sex, or who suffer from the horrible addiction to pornography?
And yet the pope in his homily goes on to proclaim:
The synodal teams and participatory bodies are an image of this Church that lives in communion. Please trust me when I tell you that by listening to the Spirit in dialogue, fraternity and parrhesia (freely expressing oneself), you will help us to understand that, prior to any differences, we are called in the Church to walk together in the pursuit of God. By clothing ourselves with the sentiments of Christ, we expand the ecclesial space so that it becomes collegial and welcoming.
Suffice it to say that these words are pretty much incomprehensible to the average Catholic, whether cleric or lay. We know Our Lord never spoke in such terms. Can anyone honestly imagine one of the Apostles, or great Fathers and Doctors of the Church, or popes before Francis and Leo, speaking about the need to “expand the ecclesial space so that it becomes collegial and welcoming”?
We must ask: Precisely how are “synodal teams and participatory bodies … an image of this Church that lives in communion”? Is it simply because individuals on these “teams” come together and discuss a topic assigned to them? And why is it that we, the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, should “trust” Leo when he presumptuously asserts that the Holy Spirit is guiding these groups in their discussions? In fact, the vast majority of the faithful are unaware that this “synodal process” is taking place; and the few who actually follow this process likely know only the general topics designated for “study groups,” such as “liturgy in a synodal perspective” and “shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues” (see discussion below wherein I treat the latter).
To be continued …
To purchase Father Enoch’s book The Trojan Horse, click here.
References
[1] “Synodality Versus True Identity of the Church as Hierarchical Communion,” delivered at The New Daily Compass International Conference “The Synodal Babel,” sponsored by the staff of La Nuova Fussola Quotidiana; avail. at https://cardinalburke.com/presentations/synodality-vs-true-identity-2/; also avail. at https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12728; see The Trojan Horse, 26-27.
[2] See the paragraphs in the CCC that follow, 874-896, under the heading “The Hierarchical Constitution of the Church.”
[3] Gabriel Borelli, “About six-in-ten Americans say legalization of same-sex marriage is good for society,” Pew Research Center (Nov. 15, 2022); avail. at https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/15/about-six-in-ten-americans-say-legalization-of-same-sex-marriage-is-good-for-society/. The report found that among Catholics those who favor same-sex marriage is even greater than the general population: about two-thirds.
[4] See FD no. 107; and the Pathways document (for the implementation of the FD), no. 2.1; see also my discussion in The Trojan Horse, 64, 148.
[5] The FD no. 107 states that “ecclesial assemblies at all levels” should operate “without limiting consultation to members of the Catholic Church,” and that “these gatherings should be open to listening to the consultations from other Churches and Christian Communions. Attention should also be paid to the [non-Christian] religions in the territory.” And no. 2.1 of the Pathways document recommends that at both the diocesan and parish levels “synodal teams” be formed which include members of “other Christian communities or other [non-Christian] religions as observers”; see The Trojan Horse, 64, 149.
[6] See The Trojan Horse, 116, 81.
[7] See The Trojan Horse, 81-82.
[8] See The Trojan Horse, 65, 123-24.
[9] We see the same type of condemnatory language used by Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia, no. 305 when he speaks of pastors who simply “apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives,” rather than permitting such couples (both heterosexual and homosexual) to “follow their conscience” and thus be admitted to Holy Communion. See my discussion in The Trojan Horse, 103-04.
[10] See my discussion of the heresy of Modernism in The Trojan Horse, 48 ff.