November 2025 – Page 36 – Antipope John XXIII

A reverent depiction of the Pontifical Urban University's historic hall with antipope John XXIII's document 'Fidei Propagandae,' symbolizing the institution's role in the Neo-Church's ecumenical agenda.

Fidei Propagandae (1962.10.01)

amdg / 2025-11-10

This Latin text, issued by antipope John XXIII on 1 October 1962 under the title “Fidei Propagandae,” pretends to elevate the Pontifical Athenaeum Urbanianum to the status and name of a “Pontifical Urban University,” praising its historic role in missionary formation and aligning its structure with the norms of Pius XI’s Deus scientiarum Dominus, so that it may enjoy full academic recognition in Rome and worldwide. Behind the academic flattery and curial formalism stands a calculated step in weaponizing ecclesiastical institutions for the coming conciliar revolution, subordinating genuine missionary zeal to a humanistic, juridicized, and soon-to-be-modernist apparatus that will export the new religion to the nations.

Image depicting Antipope John XXIII's creation of honorary canons in Roman basilicas before Vatican II.

Motu Proprio

Templorum Decus (1962.09.11)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The document promulgated by antipope John XXIII under the title “Templorum Decus” (11 September 1962) announces the creation of “honorary canons” in the three principal Roman basilicas (Lateran, St Peter’s, St Mary Major). It extols the splendour of sacred worship in Rome, invokes the unique dignity of the Eternal City as “head” of Catholic life, and frames this honorary expansion of capitular ranks as both a sign of favor toward certain clergy and a suitable ornament for the imminent “Second Vatican Council.” In essence, it is a juridical-administrative act that clothes itself in pious language to justify multiplying purely titular dignities, while carefully avoiding any clear doctrinal teaching or call to penance.

Already in nuce, this text reveals a liturgical aestheticism and bureaucratic clericalism that serve as a cosmetic veil for the conciliar revolution about to be unleashed.

A solemn depiction of a papal election in the Sistine Chapel, with cardinals in traditional robes praying and casting ballots under soft natural light.

Apostolic Letters

Summi Pontificis electio (1962.09.05)

amdg / 2025-11-10

This motu proprio of Ioannes XXIII reworks selected procedural norms for the election of a Roman Pontiff, modifying and supplementing Pius XII’s constitution Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis (1945). It details technical regulations on photography and recordings of a dying or deceased pontiff, funeral and burial arrangements, the role and election of the Camerlengo, the integrity of conclave enclosure, the number and vetting of conclavists, the formulation of oaths, the exclusion of civil vetoes, the secrecy of ballots and communications, and the formal confirmation of the two‑thirds requirement in conclave, presenting all as prudent adaptations to “changed circumstances” for the protection of the freedom and dignity of papal elections.

Motu Proprio

Appropinquante Concilio (1962.08.06)

amdg / 2025-11-10

Appropinquante Concilio is the motu proprio of John XXIII establishing the procedural norms, structures, personnel, and voting mechanisms for the upcoming Second Vatican Council: it solemnly anticipates a “marvelous spectacle” of bishops from all nations, defines who are “Conciliar Fathers,” erects commissions, a technical and ecumenical secretariat, an administrative tribunal, sets Latin as the official language, codifies secrecy, and details how schemas are to be proposed, debated, amended, and finally approved for promulgation by the “pope.” Behind its juridical precision, this document is the cold, technocratic blueprint for institutionalized apostasy, architecting the conciliar revolution that would mutilate doctrine, worship, and discipline under a pseudo-Catholic facade.

Motu Proprio

Cum gravissima (1962.04.15)

amdg / 2025-11-10

John XXIII’s motu proprio “Cum gravissima” (15 April 1962) decrees that all members of the Sacred College of Cardinals are henceforth to be raised to episcopal dignity, modifying canons so that every Cardinal, including Cardinal Deacons, may act with pontifical rites in their respective churches, while formally preserving the tripartite division (episcopal, presbyteral, diaconal) de iure. The text justifies this institutional engineering by appealing to the “grave” responsibilities of the College, its advisory role to the Roman Pontiff, its international composition as a sign of the Church’s catholicity, and the supposedly more coherent alignment of cardinalitial status with the plenitude of the priesthood.

A solemn image depicting a traditional Catholic cardinal-bishop in a historic suburbicarian diocese, symbolizing the loss of pastoral authority due to the 1962 motu proprio 'Suburbicariis sedibus' by John XXIII.

Motu Proprio

Suburbicariis sedibus de suburbicariarum dioecesium regimine (1962.04.11)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The motu proprio issued by John XXIII on 11 April 1962 reorganizes the governance of the suburbicarian dioceses around Rome. It praises the historical link of these sees with the papacy, recalls concern of past pontiffs, and then decrees that: (1) suburbicarian “cardinal-bishops” retain only a titular relationship to their sees without real jurisdiction; (2) a residential bishop, appointed by the Roman pontiff, will be the true ordinary with full diocesan authority; (3) titular suburbicarian “cardinals” enjoy certain liturgical honors and privileges, but are freed from diocesan responsibilities; (4) the suburbicarian dioceses are to form one conference with the diocese of Rome. In essence, the text strips the historic cardinal-bishops of their proper pastoral rule and subordinates the ancient structure to a centralized curial model, thereby manifesting the juridical, theological, and spiritual dislocation characteristic of the conciliar revolution.

A traditional Catholic cardinal-bishop in a historic suburbicarian see near Rome, reflecting reverence and resistance to modernist reforms.

Motu Proprio

Ad Suburbicarias Dioeceses (1961.03.10)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The motu proprio “Ad Suburbicarias Dioeceses” of 10 March 1961, issued by John XXIII, suppresses the canonical ius optionis of cardinal-bishops for suburbicarian sees (CIC 1917, can. 236 §3), and reserves to himself and his successors the free nomination of the cardinal-bishops to those historic dioceses surrounding Rome, under the pretext of “changed conditions,” demographic growth, and pastoral needs; it cloaks a cold juridical centralization in pious rhetoric about solicitude for these dioceses.

A solemn depiction of the false proclamation of Our Lady of Izamal by antipope John XXIII in 1960, highlighting the deception and doctrinal betrayal.

Apostolic Letters

LUCE COLLUSTRANS (1960.12.22)

amdg / 2025-11-10

Luce Collustrans is a brief Latin text in which antipope John XXIII, invoking the authority of his usurped office, proclaims the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title “de Izamal” as the principal heavenly patroness of the Archdiocese of Yucatán, confirming and crowning an already existing local Marian devotion with liturgical privileges and juridical force. It dresses this act in apparently pious language, but in reality it functions as a devotional anesthetic that helps consolidate the illegitimate conciliar regime while offering no call to conversion, no defense of the rights of Christ the King, and no stand against the nascent apostasy that John XXIII himself was engineering.

A reverent Catholic ceremony in a traditional church, with a bishop in full regalia holding a document titled 'Qui Catholico,' against the backdrop of a large statue of the Assumption of Mary.

Apostolic Letters

Qui Catholico (1960.12.16)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The Latin text known as “Qui Catholico,” dated 16 December 1960 and issued under the name of John XXIII, declares the Blessed Virgin Mary assumed into Heaven as the principal heavenly patroness of the Diocese of Greensburg (separated from Pittsburgh in 1951), citing the people’s traditional devotion, numerous Marian churches, and their historical filial piety toward Our Lady. The act is framed as an expression of pastoral solicitude and an encouragement of Marian devotion, promulgated with the usual juridical formulae and assurances of perpetual validity.

Statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary protecting the Diocese of Oudtshoorn with faithful Catholics in prayer.

Apostolic Letters

EO CONTENDENTES (1960.12.16)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The Latin text titled “Eo contendentes,” issued by John XXIII on 16 December 1960, declares the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Heart as the principal heavenly patroness of the Diocese of Oudtshoorn (South Africa). It justifies this act by asserting that the spread of the Kingdom of Christ is made “more apt and expedient” when Marian devotion flourishes, and it grants the corresponding liturgical honors and privileges attached to a primary diocesan patron.