Did Leo Praise the French Revolution?

David Martin | The Daily Knight

On September 25, Pope Leo addressed French civil authorities and diplomatic corps at the Élysée Palace in Paris, during which he praised the motto of the French Revolution used by Freemasons —”Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” — as “universal ethical imperatives.” 1 

“Liberty, equality and fraternity are not simply words emblazoned on the front of your public buildings; they refer to universal ethical imperatives that also find in the Gospel message an inexhaustible source of inspiration and fulfillment,” the pope said.

So the motto of the French Revolution is about “universal ethical imperatives?” ”Liberty, equality and fraternity” is also the motto of the Freemasonic Grand Orient and the Grande Loge de France. These words have nothing to do with Gospel imperatives but were born of the French Revolution during which thousands of priests, religious, and laity were beheaded for their faith. 

As we know, the French Revolution of 1789 represents everything that is against God and moral authority. It was all about stirring up revolution against God and ushering in an era of libertine merry-making, sin, and violence. Its focal point of attack was the Catholic Church, and of course,   the French Revolution was generated by the Freemasons and Voltairean members of the Illuminati in order to bring about the downfall of France.

Was He Perhaps Discouraging the French Revolution?

What is perplexing is that Leo made pointed references to the French Revolution and its violent attack on the Church and its secularist legacy, framing them as moral and spiritual challenges for the France of today, but what does he mean by “spiritual challenges?” On September 26, Leo prayed at a small stone staircase in the Carmelite Garden at the Catholic University of Paris, inscribed with the Latin Hic Cicidereunt (“Here they fell”). This memorial marked the September 2–6, 1792 massacres, when revolutionary mobs killed some 150 priests held in the convent during the Reign of Terror. The pope’s prayer is widely seen as a symbolic act commemorating the Revolution’s attempt to destroy the Church, which included abolishing religious orders, persecuting clergy, and promoting the “Cult of Reason.”

But which side of the fence is Leo on? Was he celebrating the French Revolution’s attack on the Church or was he warning France to beware of it? After all, he attacks the Church by saying that Mary is not the Mediatrix of all Grace and that we should never try to convert non-Catholics. If he defends the Church, why does he praise the motto of the French Revolution and France’s Grand Masonic Lodge?

In his address to Macron and the French authorities, Leo also said:

“France was responsible for significant advances in our world, including the recognition of human rights grounded in the nature of the human person, particularly religious freedom.”

These “advances” and “human rights” were set in motion by the French Revolution. They have nothing to do with human rights or religious liberty. Human rights in France are contained in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which is Masonic. The Masons feign respect for religious and human rights, but they’re all about human wrongs, which are not rights.

In his address at Élysée Palace, Leo said:

“Humanism flourished in 16^th century France as a means of uniting the heritage of Classical Greece and Rome with the Christian Faith.”

Leo here speaks of the French humanist movement that was spearheaded by the French Protestants or Huguenots, who were heavily influenced by Calvin and Luther. Their humanist protest had nothing to do with uniting Rome with the Christian Faith but it rather took Catholics away from the Christian Faith (Catholicism).

Humanism is a condemned ideology that contravenes Christ’s teaching in that it depends on secularized self to bring about the ‘welfare’ of the world, as opposed to Catholicism that depends on God to advance the welfare of the world. Diabolically impelled humanism was the very force that fueled the French Revolution, so why is Leo crediting it?

In his speech, Leo also said that the political community and the Church “are both at the service of the personal and social vocation of the same individuals, though under different titles.” This is not true. Today’s political community does not act in the best interests of society but acts to destroy Christianity. 

Continuing he said:

“Their service will be more efficient and beneficial to all if both institutions develop better cooperation [with the] (SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 76).”

This is stunning because Gaudium et Spes was a “counter syllabus” that opposed the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX and that revived the rebellious principles of the French Revolution of 1789. None less than Cardinal Ratzinger (later Benedict XVI) attested to this in 1982.

“We might say that it [Gaudium et Spes] is a revision of the Syllabus of Pius IX… Let us be content to say that the text serves as a counter syllabus, and, as such, represents, on the part of the Church, an attempt at an official reconciliation with the new era [French Revolution] inaugurated in 1789.” (Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 381, Ignatius Press)

Cardinal Ratzinger hit the nail on the head, so why has Gaudium et Spes been dignified from the Chair of Peter? Its objective indeed was to unite the Church with the principles of the French Revolution so how can cooperation with it make us “efficient and beneficial” in the service of God?

We should also note that on Saturday, September 26, Leo XIV celebrated an outdoor Mass at the Place de la Concorde, the site of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror and the guillotining of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, who was a devout Catholic. Was this done to lament the massacre or to dignify ”the new era inaugurated in 1789?” The late Cardinal Suenens famously said, “Vatican II is the French Revolution of the Church” and Leo’s avid promotion of Vatican II lends credence to allegations that he supports the principles of the French Revolution.

Which side of the fence is he on?  

1. Note that every time the Vatican is about to issue something absurd, it will first promote something that ‘looks traditional’ to soften up conservatives and tone down their opposition. When the saintly Bishop Fulton Sheen was beatified on September 24, we said, “watch and see what happens next,” and sure enough on the very next day, September 25, Leo issued his praise of the French Revolution motto.