Today I continue to illustrate the contrast between the modern Catholic Church and–for discussion’s sake–the preconcilliar Church of the pre-1960s.

We all know things don’t change overnight or even over a decade, but again, this is for discussion’s sake, and let’s face it, it was the mid-twentieth century that the Sacred Liturgy was overhauled–an apocalyptic marker all unto itself.

This past weekend, Pope Leo XIV hosted Hollywood inside the Vatican, inviting Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, Chris Pine, George Miller, and Monica Bellucci under the banner of art, dialogue, and human values. In an NBC New York article that dubbed the visitors “Hollywood luminaries,” Vatican analyst Deborah Lubov spoke about the goal of the gathering:

“They want to use what they have in common, not focusing on the differences, to work toward common goals and toward the common good,” Lubov said.

In a preview published on LifeSite News last Wednesday:

“Pope Leo XIV has expressed his desire to deepen dialogue with the World of Cinema, and in particular with actors and directors, exploring the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values,” the Vatican declared.

Dialogue.

Common goals.

Common good.

Human values.

The Church of Synodality.

It was what Pius X and so many other popes and saints warned about and what I’ve been exploring at length for a month now: When we shake hands with the secular world and make mankind the centerpiece, the common denominator that “brings us together” will continually seek new lows–because these handshakes are always on the secular’s terms.

Christ warned about this. It is why he was so adamant about being hot or cold, not lukewarm.

What exactly, with respect, does wicked Hollywood have to do with Catholicism?

Or perhaps the more honest question–

What should they have to do with it?

I admit I thought I could navigate that world years ago when Hollywood was here in New Orleans. But you can’t. The sacred cannot mix with the secular. This is what creates the lukewarmth Christ vomits from his mouth.

The Vatican frames all of this as a noble exploration of how “artistic creativity” can serve mission. Sounds lovely. But it’s how all poisons are presented to the general public. How exactly does this mission coexist with the Church’s mission as taught consistently for 2,000 years–rooted in Christ as King and the salvation of souls?

Compromise and conversation with the outside world was never a part of that. It is why we have martyrs who died the bloodiest of deaths for Christ and the Faith.

When the red carpet meets what is supposed to be a sacred space meant to save souls, one must ask, are we truly witnessing the evangelization Christ commanded in the Great Commission of the Gospel of St Matthew?

Or the quiet drip of Modernist poison, baptizing the spirit of the age?

No judgment on their souls’ eternal resting place here, understand; but when such an audience becomes the stage, does the supposed Catholic mission speak louder than the glamour, or does the glamour speak for the mission? And when the Church shamelessly borrows celebrity authority, does it not risk surrendering its prophetic voice to those whose currency is fame rather than faith?

And–where exactly is Christ in all of this? Is it all just about the brotherhood, about unity, about mankind?

One not-so-simple truth of the matter is that they are uncrowning the King everywhere we look.

Cate Blanchett said Leo’s comments highlighted the ability of cinema to cross borders and approach difficult subjects without deepening divides. “Filmmaking is about entertainment, but it’s about including voices that are often marginalized and not shy away from the pain and complexity that we’re all living through right now,” the Australian actress said.

Voices often marginalized? Given the Vatican and the USCCB’s stance on illegal invasion, one doesn’t have to think very critically to see where such lovely platitudes can go in the realm of story.

Particularly when we should know all too well the liberal propaganda constantly peddled in film.

History offers warnings, and I have shown in previous articles caveats that are consistent with more traditional Church teaching. In one, we saw pontiffs wary of entertainment’s moral erosion. In another, we traced the subtle seductions of cinema, how images can shape hearts before reason even wakes. And in explorations on the Frankfurt School, we saw the organized machinery behind the death of culture itself: narratives engineered to dissolve traditional structures, stories designed to collapse restraint into spectacle.

And even those popes could have been stronger.

All of the following is not even to mention the dozen or so pieces we’ve run on Modernism in just the past month or so. We invite you to take a look:

ROUGH CUT: Sean Combs, Babylon, and Two Popes That Tried to Warn Us

FINAL CUT: The Glitter of Hollywood and the Ghost of Pius XII

Do Americans Know About the Frankfurt School? The Cultural Engine Behind the Collapse

Do Americans Know About the Frankfurt School? The Ideological Machine Behind the Movie Screen

AIN’T NO PARTY: The Terrible Truth About the Celebrity Spectacle | E19

Do we as Catholics really believe that Leo has zero idea what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood? Or that he doesn’t know the historical wiles of such groups as the Frankfurt School?

The “casting couch” doesn’t even touch the tip of it all.

What exactly are we “compromising” and “dialoguing” with?

Here is a pull from the fourth article in the above list, “The Ideological Machine,” although I could have pulled any number of passages. Sure, you will find similarities, some of the niceties, between some of what the popes were saying decades ago and what took place at the Vatican this past weekend, but context is of utmost importance–2025 is not your great-grandfather’s Catholicism. The attack on Tradition is everywhere, including the Sacred Liturgy, despite the faithful’s growing thirst for it. The shepherds are very much at war with the sheep shunning the “progress” that kills and instead trying to live authentically Catholic lives–that is the context.

Moreover, we have the gift of hindsight and what warnings were being given by many popes concerning the strategies of the Modernists. What took place this weekend could and maybe should be considered through the following lens:

The Frankfurt School’s philosophy was never about honest debate—it was a deliberate project to disrupt Christian civilization, specifically its moral and cultural underpinnings. What they saw as oppressive social structures in religion, family, and traditional values had to be dismantled….

This strategy is particularly powerful in the entertainment industry, where actors, producers, and directors often appear to operate autonomously, while in reality, they are guided by larger financial and ideological forces, often due to high-level occult entanglements, far beyond mere cosmetic “upgrades.” Just as the Frankfurt School theorists used “critical theory” to undermine traditional beliefs, today’s entertainment executives use their platforms to normalize radical ideas, creating a mass-produced illusion of societal progress.

This deception is still alive and well–no matter what Trump does. Sure it’s great we’re “winning” on some policy debates concerning boys and girls in bathrooms and gas prices are down, but really, has much changed in the way of morals in our society?

That is part of the design–small victories, scraps at the table, to give us false hope.

So if the Frankfurt School planted the seeds, who watered them?

Who built the media scaffolding, fashioned the pipelines of global funding, and made sure the right puppets–including both on the controlled right and unhinged left–had microphones while the rest–the authentic truth bearers–were demonetized, deplatformed, disposed of entirely in a great communistic sweep?

The answer lies not just in ideology as so many of us have been conditioned to believe, even by the Church for decades.

—but in infrastructure.

The Church, once upon a time, was steadfast in its teaching–about ringing the bells on all of this.

Who makes up the current Church infrastructure?

Pius XII and others’ encyclicals expressed recognition of something Leo XIV either doesn’t or now must navigate in a clear and unambiguous way for us Catholics (not exactly the method of the Modernist): Cultural engagement may be unavoidable in today’s world, but moral compromise is never an option for the Church. The Church, at least traditionally, teaches the truth, shapes belief according to the Gospels, and lets the chips fall where they may–without apology.

Then again, am I as a writer compromising even myself there, in writing “Cultural engagement may be unavoidable”?

I know families who have unplugged the television and the cell phones entirely.

I know my wife and I’s own personal efforts to be in the world but not of the world.

Hm. So interesting how easy it was there to slide into “compromise,” even as I write against it.

We cannot compromise, and we cannot apologize.

Read Acts.

Read the Fathers.

Read papal encyclicals across the centuries.

Or, more simply–listen to Christ.

Guarding the Deposit: Pius VII, the French Revolution, & the Great Conspiracy

The new synodal Church does not do or practice any of this–that is the context. And the Frankfurt School, in similar fashion, understood culture as a conveyor belt: feed an idea into the machine, and the machine shapes desire, perception, and ultimately belief.

That is Modernism.

This was not just a one-off meeting. This was not a gathering to discuss the salvation of souls. This was an illustration consistent with the teachings and tenor of a post-1960s Church that has lost its way, its Tradition. As Coach Saban would say, don’t take the rat poison presented in the lovely words of a press release.

This is one of those myriad tests of discernment all Catholics must take seriously, and the Vatican is provided them aplenty in recent years. Ignorance will not be an excuse with God–there are simply too many stories like this in our face all the time. Ok fine, you don’t agree with me here, but there will be another tomorrow, and next week, and next month. We cannot keep procrastinating on asking the serious questions about all of this. We cannot keep putting off the truth scratching at our very door.

If we’re honest, we’ll see the modern style of pontificating as not something that lifts up Christ as King or chases after the salvation of souls, but as just one more cog in the propaganda machine moving toward a one world synodal religion, the Noahide Laws, where everyone just gets along in one wonderful brotherhood of unity.

Can’t we all just get along?

Sure we can.

That is the point.

A means to an end…

Until, of course, the carpet starts running red with Christian blood.