While Leo XIV’s visit to France was met with great fanfare, it offered a painful reminder of how starved the lay faithful actually are for even the smallest signs of Catholicism — and how desperate the Catholic media seems to be to find any trace of it in the man who currently wears the white papal vestments. During his trip, Leo prayed in some of the holiest places of France. He also spoke out in defense of life, encouraged priestly vocations, and recalled the nation’s Christian inheritance. However, his gestures were undermined by his repeated endorsements of concepts historically associated with the country’s 1789 Revolution, and the post-conciliar Church’s accommodation to the modern world. One of the most glaring examples of this contradiction came at the Institut Catholique de Paris, where Leo entered Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes and walked the route taken by over 100 priests and bishops who were massacred there on September 2, 1792 for refusing to take the oath of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Yet, on the previous day, while addressing President Emmanuel Macron and France’s political establishment at the Élysée Palace, Leo appeared to be moved by the Masonic spirit that infests the country, speaking with lyrical praise of the diabolical principles that inspired the upheaval against King Louis XVI.

Originally published in Integrity Magazine. Read original article

Original Tags: World Affairs, Vatican, Catholic Social Teaching, Emmanuel Macron, France, French Revolution, Leo XIV, Traditional Catholicism