The John-Henry Westen Show - Takeaways from My week with the SSPX in Switzerland

00:00:00.000 If the Catholic Church in her tradition brings forth life, the modernist church is a desert. 1.00

00:00:07.040 It kills. It kills everything that it touches. It kills the supernatural life. 1.00

00:00:13.320 It kills the sources of grace. It dries up everything.

00:00:19.380 Hello, my friends. Welcome to this special episode of the John Hunter Weston Show,

00:00:22.720 coming to you from here in Econ, Switzerland, where I have just been, as many of you know,

00:00:27.380 covering the SSPX bishops' consecrations. I want to give you my reflections on my time being here,

00:00:34.080 especially in light of what just happened at the Vatican today, the declaration of

00:00:39.340 excommunications not only on the bishops, but also on the priests, and even, it says, the faithful

00:00:45.680 who are formally in support or formally adhere to the SSPX. So let's begin, as you always do,

00:00:53.880 with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

00:01:00.380 You may notice my voice is a little bit hoarse, and that's because I've been speaking to a lot

00:01:05.900 of people. It's amazing the number of people. There was over 16,000 faithful here, not to

00:01:13.540 mention the hundreds and hundreds of priests and bishops and so on. The first thing I wanted to tell

00:01:19.120 you about was the liturgy. It was beautiful. It was also in a tent, but even in a tent, they were

00:01:27.040 able to make it incredibly beautiful. You saw those images at LifeSite and the vestments and

00:01:33.840 everything, just with such detail, such honor and glory to our Lord. And as I mentioned previously,

00:01:43.260 it wasn't easy. They were having a heat wave here. So as they were dressed up in their multiple,

00:01:51.020 multiple layers of garments to give glory to God, many people call that, oh, they're trying to,

00:01:55.720 you know, show off whatever. No, it's incredibly hot. Speaking of heat, I must also say how

00:02:03.700 impressed I was with the brothers of the society. These are monks. They are not

00:02:11.840 yet priests, maybe seminarians, but they're running around in full habits in blazing hot sun

00:02:21.700 setting up for 16,000 people. When we were getting there, they were still, you know,

00:02:26.860 they were still building the incredible, unbelievable structures that they had to

00:02:32.580 set up to care for the pilgrims. And they were doing that in blazing heat. So that was just

00:02:41.940 neat to see. It was real sacrifice, real suffering, but done with such joy. That was the weird part,

00:02:49.320 such joy, no grumpiness that I saw. And I was there for four days, long days. When we got to

00:02:55.180 the mass of the bishop's consecrations, the homily was given by Dom Pagliarani, who is the superior

00:03:02.220 of the society. And there's a neat homily. It was delivered in French. Dom Paglirani, really,

00:03:10.880 he's very, I don't know, lack of a better word, he comes across as holy. The homily struck me,

00:03:15.680 though, for something, because, you know, I'm listening to it also as a reporter. And in the

00:03:20.820 homily, it's, in fact, the first homily I've ever heard of a priest talking about being like a

00:03:27.920 serpent. So he's talking, he's giving advice to the new bishops and he says to be like a serpent.

00:03:34.300 And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, what is the media going to do with that? But you should actually

00:03:40.100 hear his words because they're beautiful. The words of our Lord, by the way, our Lord is the

00:03:44.920 one who called us to be as wise as serpents, as innocent as doves. Here were the words, watch this.

00:03:50.320 This was from him. He said, be ye therefore wise a serpent, as simple as doves, quoting from our

00:03:55.660 board. Why must one be like a serpent? Why must a bishop be like a serpent? And that's where I was

00:04:02.960 cringing, of course. But here's what he said. It's in order to discern, grasp, and detect the

00:04:09.380 duplicity, ambiguity, and cunning that exist in the world and among the enemies of the cross.

00:04:15.460 Your worst enemies will not attack you head on. They will try to make you slide gradually into

00:04:23.300 a perception of the faith, of the Christian life, and of relations with the world that

00:04:28.920 is a little more up-to-date that must be understood.

00:04:33.500 When you sense this danger, step back, pray, observe, seek advice, evaluate, remain still

00:04:40.980 before reacting like a serpent.

00:04:43.800 When you react, when the Holy Ghost gives you the necessary light to act, do so and

00:04:50.420 never go back.

00:04:52.820 This is what it means to be like a serpent, to grasp the duplicity, the ambiguity, and

00:04:58.180 the cunning that exist in the world, and to speak, to preach like doves, simply, without

00:05:03.700 duplicity and without fear, without equivocation, without ambiguity.

00:05:08.500 The duplicity that you must discern in others must never be your own.

00:05:14.160 The Society of St. Pius X never will back down from the gospel, no matter how controversial.

00:05:22.680 So that was one of the things I experienced.

00:05:25.560 I should tell you, too, I had to upload files.

00:05:28.800 And the internet was not good.

00:05:30.420 And I was trying to find a place.

00:05:31.940 And even because I was using my Canadian cell phone service, finding a good tower that gave me full bars was very difficult.

00:05:40.520 So at one point, I'm praying.

00:05:42.700 I'm looking for a good spot.

00:05:43.760 my crew back at home are getting frustrated because they're trying to get the files and so on

00:05:49.000 and as I'm praying I find a spot like oh this is great and being Canadian the heat was a little

00:05:56.080 much for me I must say um and it was like you know Elijah found the the tree where our Lord gave him

00:06:01.780 shade I kid you not on this pathway where the bars were finally good for cell phone reception

00:06:06.620 there was a tree and a chair thanks be to God so I planted myself there and I was like stuck there

00:06:12.540 for 45 minutes while files were uploading.

00:06:15.120 That was a real gift, I have to say.

00:06:17.280 Because in that 45 minutes,

00:06:18.920 I got to witness countless families

00:06:21.880 going up and down the road I was on.

00:06:25.620 I was on that little road between the church

00:06:28.120 and their, what they called the Meadow Chapel,

00:06:31.380 which they set up this huge tent.

00:06:33.620 It was stunning. 1.00

00:06:34.780 Stunning to see what I can only describe as Catholics.

00:06:39.640 Beautiful, faithful families. 1.00

00:06:42.540 dressed well in a way that really marked them as Catholics. So much joy, so much light in their

00:06:51.980 eyes. A lot of them happen to know LifeSite, which is really encouraging. It's probably why my voice

00:06:57.140 is hoarse. I'm saying hi to so many of them. They're really grateful for the defense of the

00:07:03.920 faith and of life and of family that we offer at LifeSite. But their example, the example of the

00:07:10.380 faithful, really, really struck me. And it struck me most as, these are Catholics. Who can be

00:07:19.880 against these Catholics? Another thing about the families, you remember, I guess for us here,

00:07:27.880 it was a bigger deal. I thought it would be made a big deal of in the media too, but apparently

00:07:32.460 not so much. But the rainstorm that happened right after consecration was done during the holy

00:07:39.420 sacrifice the mass um that was pretty stunning it was it was pretty severe it was like thunder

00:07:45.520 and it was a lot of rain um and so i went outside during the rain to capture some of that because

00:07:55.160 it was unreal the rain was coming down in buckets but as i looked out from the media tent

00:08:03.120 the faithful were not moving in fact they were encouraged to they were there was a warning uh

00:08:08.940 they announced, you know, there's a severe thunderstorm coming. Please take shelter in the

00:08:12.960 tents up on the top, blah, blah, blah. Nobody moved. 16,000 people, little kids, many, many

00:08:20.120 little kids, um, people of all ages. They didn't move. Um, when I went outside, I saw families sort

00:08:26.760 of sheltering under one umbrella, whole family, like cuddled together, but they're all there.

00:08:34.340 And I saw that over and over again.

00:08:37.900 And then, as this was going on, the priests and the bishops, they couldn't go on with Holy Communion.

00:08:46.120 You obviously couldn't go outside to distribute Holy Communion in a massive storm.

00:08:50.960 So they decided to pray, to pray the Holy Rosary in Latin.

00:08:55.740 So there they were in the midst of an unreal storm.

00:08:58.920 praying the rosary

00:09:04.720 Mary after Mary after

00:09:07.380 Mary and there were the faithful

00:09:08.620 some of them kneeling in the mud

00:09:10.880 and in the rain

00:09:12.220 praying the holy rosary

00:09:14.000 just beautiful

00:09:16.980 strikingly beautiful

00:09:18.560 afterward made us think of

00:09:21.400 you know

00:09:21.840 whatever storms come

00:09:24.000 these faithful will not budge

00:09:25.880 they will maintain 0.89

00:09:26.840 in the one Shrini faith

00:09:28.920 nothing about moving to another faith, nothing about breaking from the church.

00:09:34.900 So the example of From the Faithful was really, really stunning. As I was still sitting up on that

00:09:41.980 way where I found good internet, Vespers was starting, and one of the new bishops,

00:09:48.900 the American, Michael Goldaddy, was asked to give a few words. And, you know, I'm sitting there

00:09:55.580 having been listening to things in French all the time you hear it in German in French all over

00:10:01.720 Switzerland rarely English and so they had a little bit of English but not much so this was

00:10:07.120 the first like sort of speech if you will in English and I was like oh that's great and so

00:10:11.680 he starts speaking and I'm listening it's okay okay and then he says some words which are really

00:10:19.620 striking. The kind that you're like, oh gosh, finally somebody's calling out the actual

00:10:25.860 situation. These are his words. Listen. He said, of course, today we see such wreckage.

00:10:34.260 If the Catholic church in her tradition brings forth life, the modernist church is a desert. 0.99

00:10:41.100 It kills. It kills everything that it touches. It kills the supernatural life. It kills the 1.00

00:10:48.420 sources of grace, it dries up everything. It has placed man in the place of God and therefore

00:10:55.900 turned away from the sources of life. He even said he talked to many Catholics who weren't part of

00:11:01.680 the society, who supported the SSPX, even though they weren't even into tradition. And here's what

00:11:09.380 he said. He said, these faithful who do not understand the complexities of modernism, of the

00:11:14.680 modernist disease, they see something is wrong. Something is dying with this new religion, he said. 0.99

00:11:22.020 And that in fact, it is tradition which is making a restoration, which is giving life. Those words

00:11:27.680 were honestly grace to hear. And I think for many, heartened them. Particularly all the one

00:11:34.720 English speaking ones who would have understood that. I was also struck by the humility of the

00:11:39.880 priests. I met a ton of priests there and they're very humble. One story was super touching. It was

00:11:47.300 a story shared by Dr. Micah Hickson of one of these priests who helped her grandfather.

00:11:54.060 She wasn't a member of the SSPX. Her grandfather was, I think in the Netherlands, but trying,

00:12:00.940 she was, he was dying and he wasn't a Catholic. He wasn't even a Christian or whatever,

00:12:04.740 trying to find, she was trying to find a priest for him. She called around, she could find nobody.

00:12:09.220 Finally, she got this number of this one SSPX priest far, far away.

00:12:14.360 To explain her situation, you don't know me, you don't know who I am.

00:12:17.000 He basically said to her, would you like me to leave now?

00:12:20.020 Oh, she's like, it's hours and hours from it.

00:12:22.680 It's a cold call from someone she doesn't know about her grandfather who's dying,

00:12:27.260 who's not even a Catholic, not even a Christian, really.

00:12:30.040 Would you like me to go now?

00:12:33.160 A couple days later, they do meet.

00:12:39.080 And because the grandfather had heard the story about, would you like me to go now?

00:12:43.820 He was so touched and moved.

00:12:46.300 The priest asked him if he would like baptism.

00:12:49.960 And he said yes.

00:12:52.700 And he catechized and brought that man, dying man, into the faith just before his death.

00:12:59.880 And I happened to meet that priest.

00:13:04.680 And I was like, I got to shake your hand.

00:13:08.140 That story is so awesome.

00:13:10.460 When Dr. Hickson asked him, what made you do that?

00:13:13.820 Why would you do that?

00:13:14.780 That's so unique.

00:13:15.480 No one doesn't.

00:13:16.020 He said, well, that's our training in the seminary at the Society.

00:13:20.240 It reminded me of something, you know, why are all these faithful so committed to the

00:13:26.600 Society?

00:13:28.460 Do you remember during COVID, there was only one show in town.

00:13:33.740 Everybody shut their doors to the faithful.

00:13:36.240 There was no mass, except the society, of course.

00:13:42.300 So that was a big deal.

00:13:45.780 And that probably ballooned their numbers more than just about anything else.

00:13:50.240 But it came from that same spirit of this is what we're called to do.

00:13:58.880 That particular priest, when I basically, I thanked him.

00:14:01.840 I was like, wow, that is so awesome.

00:14:03.340 he said it was a blessing for me. He actually told me it was his first convert. What an encouragement.

00:14:11.300 There's been many more since. And he said it was much more of a joy for him than it was for anybody

00:14:15.460 else. This is the kind of thing that I saw here in Switzerland. In the days leading up to the

00:14:22.400 consecrations, you had various statements that were really perplexing to me. Cardinal Muller

00:14:28.780 saying there's no state of emergency in the church.

00:14:31.820 A similar statement from a man I consider

00:14:34.140 one of the holiest men I know.

00:14:37.520 A bit of a friend since I'd known him and met him

00:14:39.620 and spoken to him personally, Father Chad Ripperger.

00:14:41.940 He said in a podcast with Timothy Gordon,

00:14:45.740 he's open to correction and that, you know,

00:14:48.380 it was only an opinion of his,

00:14:49.560 but he didn't think there was a universal

00:14:51.420 or pan-emergency in the church either.

00:14:53.760 He said, you know, there's localized emergencies and so on.

00:14:56.540 And then something similar from Dr. Taylor Marshall, another friend of mine, who said that he thought it was too early to sort of act too early in Leo's pontificate to know where Pope Leo is and too early they should have waited.

00:15:13.280 I was really, really perplexed by that.

00:15:16.700 And I'll tell you why.

00:15:18.180 I mean, I've been speaking on this issue of the crisis in the church now since Pope Francis,

00:15:22.800 since one of his first documents, you know, in official documents, teaching against the

00:15:28.860 church, which we've really never had before, official teaching documents of a pope are

00:15:33.340 supposed to be adhered to.

00:15:36.580 Catholics are required to give submission of mind and will to these pronouncements from

00:15:41.960 the pope.

00:15:42.380 and especially when they're in official documents and we have exhortation after exhortation after

00:15:48.180 exhortation that totally fly in the face of church teaching probably the clearest one

00:15:53.440 is the death penalty because in the death penalty um you have the constant teaching of the church

00:16:01.240 for 2 000 years that it is permissible to use obviously with discretion but that the state

00:16:06.920 has that authority, the divine authority given by God, because in fact, the church teaching,

00:16:12.780 if you look at the old catechism, is all about how it is holding up the fifth commandment against

00:16:20.660 thou shalt not kill by doing this corrective against murderers, which upholds the law thou

00:16:28.520 shalt not kill. So that direct contradiction is just one of many to which now Catholics are 0.97

00:16:35.720 supposed to submit in mind and will, but how can you submit in mind and will to teachings that

00:16:39.960 go against the 2,000-year history of Catholic Church teaching? And there's more of them. I'll

00:16:46.740 go through a few of them here. I just want to mention them in passing. So, the gay couple

00:16:50.780 blessing document, fiducius supplicants, this is the line from it if you're looking at it. It's

00:16:54.640 paragraph 39. It is possible to bless couples who are living together or who are divorced and

00:17:01.780 remarried, or same-sex couples. Are Catholics now supposed to adhere to that in mind and in will?

00:17:10.380 Abortion and immigration are now taught to be social issues that are equivalent.

00:17:16.460 The document, Gaudete de Exultate, from Pope Francis in 2018, upheld obviously by Pope Leo,

00:17:22.460 who is demanding that the bishops in the U.S. take a hardcore stance on immigration. Why? Because

00:17:28.180 it's supposed to be equivalent to abortion. You don't think so? Read paragraph 102,

00:17:32.220 where it says, talking about abortion and immigration, some Catholics consider it a

00:17:37.780 secondary issue compared to grave bioethical questions. So he's saying some Catholics

00:17:44.740 consider immigration a secondary issue to the grave, in scare quotes, bioethical issues,

00:17:51.240 questions, obviously meaning abortion. Then he says in the teaching document that a politician

00:17:57.660 looking for votes might say such a thing is understandable, but not a Christian. 0.96

00:18:01.300 Are Catholics supposed to submit in mind and will to that teaching? 0.96

00:18:04.720 There's the one on reception of Holy Communion in Desiderio di Siderabi.

00:18:10.900 I like to call that the Nancy Pelosi exhortation, where Francis teaches that basically Nancy

00:18:17.620 Pelosi can receive Holy Communion.

00:18:18.940 Remember, he criticized publicly her bishop, Archbishop Corleone, for daring to deny her

00:18:25.020 Holy Communion because she was such a pro-abortion advocate. But the line from Francis's exhortation

00:18:30.740 is this, paragraph five, if you're looking for it. To be admitted to the feast, that is Holy

00:18:38.280 Communion, is all that is required is the wedding garment of faith, which comes from the hearing of

00:18:45.700 his word. If you also look at Amoris the Titia, no one's condemned forever. That's not the message

00:18:49.560 of the gospel, or that's not the logic of the gospel.

00:18:53.280 Are we supposed to give submission of mind and will?

00:18:55.820 I looked up what does submission of mind and will actually mean.

00:18:59.680 If you look it up, you'll find it in Lumen Gentium 25, Canon Law number 752.

00:19:04.400 You'll find it in the CDF's Donum Veritatis.

00:19:07.800 So here's the points that they make about submission of mind and will.

00:19:12.120 You're supposed to give an interior assent of both the intellect and the will to the teaching.

00:19:17.980 Really?

00:19:18.300 Really?

00:19:19.300 All those teachings? 1.00

00:19:20.300 The blessings of same-sex couples? 1.00

00:19:21.300 Come on. 1.00

00:19:22.300 Really?

00:19:23.300 You have to give a sincere effort to accept that teaching is true and to conform one's

00:19:27.300 thinking to it.

00:19:29.300 Seriously.

00:19:30.300 You're supposed to make an honest attempt to understand the teaching and INTEGRATE

00:19:33.760 it rather than simply tolerating it or dismissing it.

00:19:38.720 And you're supposed to refrain from any kind of public dissent or opposition that

00:19:42.700 could harm the faith of others and undermine the unity of the church.

00:19:46.980 really weird. Where are the cardinals, the bishops, asking the SSPX to obey the Holy Father

00:19:54.460 in their submission of mind and will to gay couple blessings, to the community teaching, 0.94

00:20:04.420 to the death penalty? Has Cardinal Burke switched his steps on the death penalty?

00:20:09.780 I don't think so. And yet, while not giving religious submission of mind and will,

00:20:18.200 we're asking the SSPX to make their obedience. It's very confusing stuff. I don't know. But when

00:20:26.560 I saw those statements, I had just given a talk actually quite recently in Croatia,

00:20:32.420 and it outlined this stuff from Pope Leo and I put it to a poem because I wanted to condense it

00:20:43.700 it was a talk given probably about an hour long or less 45 minutes whatever but

00:20:47.820 I wanted it short in like under five minutes so that it might be heard widely and seen um I actually

00:20:56.020 gave it to uh trying to give it to an artist friend of mine who I thought would be able to

00:21:01.600 it to music and it's pretty controversial so i uh wasn't surprised to hear him say hey have you

00:21:08.080 heard of suno uh you know kind of an ai music developer so fed it into suno and they came out

00:21:15.680 with this song i'm going to leave you with this song i had our video crew put a video to it

00:21:21.520 the videos are i think pretty much part of that story check it out hope you like it john henry

00:21:29.680 Weston here in Econ, Switzerland, for LifeSite News and Sound of Cross Media. I bid you a good

00:21:35.240 night. I encourage you to pray for the church, pray for the Society of St. Pius X, and we know

00:21:45.140 in the end her immaculate heart will triumph. This is nothing to worry about. Enjoy this song. May God bless you.

00:21:59.680 Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful shift that started from

00:22:14.580 Vatican II and set this park adrift.

00:22:18.080 The skipper said he was a humble man from Buenos Aires shore.

00:22:23.540 Two leftist men set sail that day for a synod all tour.

00:22:28.480 a sin not all to all the weather started getting rough the lord's own bark was tossed

00:22:38.100 if not for the courage of a faithful few the church would seem all lost the church would seem

00:22:47.240 all lost the first one opened every door to errors old and new the second smoothly faked

00:22:56.660 restore making falsehoods now seem true the timeless mass the ancient right must never be

00:23:03.520 cast down but leo 14th and francis have turned truth upside down rome would lose the one true

00:23:13.220 faith that larsa that she cried two wormy popes would come she warned it seems they have arrived

00:23:22.680 pachamama james martin trying to deal lgbt women acolytes and pride parades in peter's house you 0.53

00:23:32.140 see they bless the sin they change the faith in documents they teach death penalty communion to 0.98

00:23:40.980 the ancient truths they breach all religions are pathways to god we're already one they say 0.96

00:23:48.400 While a pedophile bishop they raise

00:23:51.960 Toward sainthood on the way 0.90

00:23:54.080 They downgrade Mary's titles 0.99

00:23:56.140 Grand, co-redemptrix cast aside 1.00

00:23:58.780 Mediatrics of all graces too 0.95

00:24:01.960 In documents they lied 0.74

00:24:06.020 Rome would lose the one true faith 0.96

00:24:08.460 That Lassa let she cry 1.00

00:24:10.480 Two wormy popes would come 0.99

00:24:12.920 She warned it seems 1.00

00:24:14.580 They have arrived

00:24:16.940 Our lady came at Fatima with warnings strong and clear

00:24:23.140 But errors spread and slaughter grew

00:24:25.860 Nations will disappear

00:24:28.100 The greatest mark of God's own wrath

00:24:30.520 St. John Hughes made it plain

00:24:32.500 When wolves in shepherds' clothing come

00:24:35.900 And souls are lost in vain

00:24:38.440 With errors in official text

00:24:40.920 A douche and a morris too

00:24:43.000 Blessings for sin and doubt upheld 1.00

00:24:46.640 The ancient faith they slew

00:24:48.960 Archbishop Vigano raised his voice

00:24:52.080 With courage strong and true

00:24:54.420 Now it is our turn to stand and fight

00:24:57.220 This church we will not lose

00:24:59.880 But fear not

00:25:00.940 Little ones arise

00:25:02.560 The immaculate will win

00:25:05.180 Her triumph comes 1.00

00:25:07.160 Her heel will crush the serpent's head right in

00:25:11.700 Rome will lose no one true faith 0.64

00:25:15.000 that loss 0.70

00:25:15.780 that let she cry

00:25:16.980 to wormy 1.00

00:25:18.440 popes would come 0.98

00:25:19.440 she warned

00:25:20.220 it seems

00:25:21.120 they have

00:25:22.520 a

00:25:22.820 but fear not

00:25:23.760 little ones

00:25:24.820 arise

00:25:25.380 the immaculate

00:25:26.480 will win

00:25:27.380 her triumph

00:25:28.760 comes

00:25:29.340 her heel 0.99

00:25:29.940 will crush 1.00

00:25:30.620 the serpent's 0.97

00:25:32.200 head

00:25:33.100 riding

00:25:34.960 Hey, my friends, it's going to be an historic night.

00:25:46.860 On September the 24th, Archbishop Fulton Sheen will be beatified in St. Louis.

00:25:53.880 That same evening, LifeSite News is hosting a special celebratory banquet just steps from the stadium.

00:26:01.740 We will have Bishop Sheen's own favorite mitre with us for veneration.

00:26:07.400 Come celebrate Blessed Fulton Sheen with lifelong Sheen promoters Terry Barber and Peter Howard.

00:26:15.240 Hotel rooms are already very difficult to find.

00:26:18.380 Most are already booked.

00:26:20.040 But LifeSite has secured a block of rooms for those who join us for the dinner.

00:26:25.360 Reserve your seats today.

00:26:27.100 The link is below.

00:26:28.640 We'll see you in St. Louis.

The John-Henry Westen Show - July 03, 2026

Takeaways from My week with the SSPX in Switzerland

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