As early as 1907, Saint Pius X predicted in his encyclical Pascendi that modernism would logically lead to a form of pantheism. From the reconciliation document Nostra aetatewe have witnessed the increasingly open manifestation of this doctrine.
Whether the divine manifests itself in some way in all religions, or whether “Christ” represents God’s union with all mankind (as Gaudium et spes and John Paul II in redemptor hominis), can we still say that Christ represents the union of the divine with all creation?
in the encyclical praise yes 2017 there are many elements in this sense: “The Father is the ultimate source of everything, the loving and communicative foundation of everything that exists. The Son, who reflects him, and through whom everything has been created, joined this earth when he formed in the womb of Mary. The Spirit, infinite bond of love, is intimately present at the heart of the universe encouraging and provoking new paths” (n. 238).
“For the Christian experience, all the creatures of the material universe find their true meaning in the Incarnate Word, because the Son of God has incorporated in his person part of the material universewhere it has introduced a germ of definitive transformation” (n. 235).
“Christ has taken on this material world and now, risen, dwells in the intimacy of each being, surrounding it with his affection and penetrating it with his light” (n. 221).
All religions are equal, but paganism much more
From such a perspective, if, for the modernist, all religions are valid expressions of the vital immanence of the divine in man, paganism is its most valid expression. Pope Francis had already illustrated this principle in his own way.
In his sermon on October 7, 2019, he asked: “What is the difference between wearing feathers on your head and the ‘tricorne’ worn by some officers in our dicasteries?” In his usual brutal language, the Pope expressed the idea of the indifference of the various religious expressions, of all manifestations of the universal sense of the divine inherent in man.
This comment is the manifestation of an elaborate thought, expressed many times, in more appropriate terms, by modern ecumenism. But if, in order to speak of the cosmos as a divinity, Christianity must make the effort to use the image of the Incarnation and take it as a paradigm of something else, like Teilhard and praise yesancient paganisms do not need such jumps.
Hence the repeated praise of aboriginal culture contained in praise yes (cf. nos. 146 and 179), for its exemplary union with the divine cosmos, and hence the idyllic image of Amerindian culture presented by the Synod on the Amazon.
The Instrumentum laboris (IL) of this Synod presents life in union with the “biome” of the Indians as an absolute model: not only because they respect nature, but because they live a spiritual conception that allows them to fit into the whole.
The praise of such a conception is very explicit and repeated: in n. 104 suggests “recovering myths and updating community rites and celebrations that contribute significantly to the process of ecological conversion.”
Indeed, “indigenous rituals and ceremonies are essential for comprehensive health because they integrate the different cycles of human life and nature. They create harmony and balance between human beings and the cosmos. They protect life against the evils that can be caused by both human beings and other living beings. They help cure diseases that harm the environment, human life and other living beings” (n. 87).
It would seem difficult to say more clearly that harmony with the cosmos is the result of the spiritual conception of the indigenous people and their rituals; but the text goes much further. In the N. 75 reads: “In families throbs the cosmic experience. […] Ultimately, it is in the family where we learn to live in harmony: between peoples, between generations, with nature, in dialogue with the spirits“.
God himself, understood as the sense of the divine inherent in man and in the cosmos, is at work in all this, even incarnating himself in it (in the Teilhardian manner): “It is a great opportunity for the Church to discover the embodied presence and of God: in the most diverse manifestations of creation; in the spirituality of the original peoples; in the expressions of popular religiosity; in the different popular organizations that resist large projects; and in the proposal of a productive economy, sustainable and supportive that respects nature” (IL n. 33).
The Church has precisely the role of “discovering” this presence of God and inserting it into its own institutions and dogmas, because God reveals himself precisely in this pantheistic presence and above all in the spirituality of paganism, so revealing of what modernists think of God.
The Christian pontiffs and the pagan rites
In light of this brief account, the participation of modern Popes in genuine pagan rites can no longer be surprising. We are not talking here about the rites authorized and organized by the Popes in ecumenical meetings of the Assisi type, but about those in which they have personally participated.
Everyone knows the veneration of Pachamama by the sovereign pontiff and the members of the Synod on the Amazon in 2019; few know, however, that in the summer of 2017, on the occasion of the anniversary of diplomatic relations with Japan, a nō theater performance was held at the Vatican, with the classic drama Hagoromo to which was associated an element called okinaa Shinto ritual in which actors play deities who dance for peace and prosperity.
The Okina interpreter must purify himself before beginning. Among the offerings presented at the altar are the Menbakoa chest containing the masks used for the show and the sake used for the okina. It is therefore a true pagan ritual that took place in the apostolic palaces, on the Vatican hill purified by the martyrdom of Saint Peter, the work of Constantine and Saint Sylvester, many centuries ago.
In July 2022, on the fourth day of his recent trip to Canada, as part of a scheduled welcoming ceremony, a shaman from the Huron-Wendat Nation performed a “ritual purification (smudging) in the four directions” in front of the Pope, using sweet grass and animal feathers to spread the sacred smoke burned in honor of Manitou, the great spirit.
The pontiff received a turkey feather and sweet grass, then was invited to participate in a “spiritual circle”, from which “a sacred fire could be visualized”. The healer added that “the sacred fire unites everything that exists in creation.”
“We will honor the earth, the wind, the water and the fire,” said the native in classical esoteric terms. “We are going to honor the mineral aspect, the vegetable aspect and the human aspect.”
To “open the four directions,” the shaman whistled four times into a bone instrument while pronouncing special invocation formulas. Arriving at the “Western Gate”, he said: “I ask the western ancestor to grant us access to the sacred circle of spirits to be with us, to be united and stronger together.”
All present were asked to place their hands over their hearts. Video footage shows the pope, along with bishops and cardinals, all performing the pagan ceremonial order given to them.
In 1984, John Paul II, in Canada, had already participated in the same ceremony as Pope Francis: but back then they gave him an eagle feather dipped in rare essences and blood, in memory of the assassination attempt, then recent, to disperse the smoke. An account of this ritual, quite similar to the one celebrated with Pope Francis, was published in La Croix of September 8/9, 1984.
The number of pagan rituals in which John Paul II participated cannot be cataloged here in its entirety: in terms of seriousness and extent, we only mention here the prayer in the Sacred Forest of Togo, with the invocation of spirits by a sorcerer, and a purification ritual with the active participation of the deceased Pontiff (see L’Osservatore Romano of August 11, 1985).
In 1986, in India, the Pope was received with the singing of Vedic hymns (therefore pagan and openly pantheistic) and numerous ceremonies of a very clearly Hindu nature, even mixed with the celebration of Mass.
Finally, on a picturesque note, the first Pope to wear the Indian feather headdress was Paul VI, during an audience at Castel Gandolfo in September 1974.
There is nothing new under the sun of papal modernism…