Apostolic Constitutions – Antipope John XXIII

A traditional Catholic priest in a chapel holding a Latin missal, surrounded by classical statues, symbolizing the importance of Latin in the Catholic Church.

Veterum Sapientia (1962.02.22)

amdg / 2025-11-11

The constitution “Veterum Sapientia” of antipope John XXIII solemnly praises ancient wisdom, especially Latin and Greek, presents them as providential instruments for the Gospel, exalts Latin as universal, immutable, “non vulgar” language of the Roman Church, and issues disciplinary norms to ensure rigorous Latin formation and its use in higher ecclesiastical studies and administration. Ironically, this rhetorical defense of Latin serves as a seductive veil for the very regime that, under the same usurper and his successors, would soon shatter doctrine, worship, and discipline, proving that aesthetic homage to antiquity can coexist with — and camouflage — the systematic demolition of the Catholic faith.

Solemn image of Ioannes Roncalli signing 'Humanae salutis' surrounded by cardinals and bishops in a Vatican hall.

Apostolic Constitutions

Humanae salutis (1961.12.25)

amdg / 2025-11-11

Ioannes Roncalli’s constitution “Humanae salutis” solemnly announces the convocation of Vatican II, presenting it as a supernatural response to modern crises, a “new Pentecost,” and a renewal of the Church’s presence in the modern world. Throughout, it glorifies contemporary “developments,” appeals to universal human aspirations, and frames the coming council as a pastoral aggiornamento intended to reconcile the Church with the conditions, structures, and sensibilities of the twentieth century, while claiming continuity with prior councils and the perennial magisterium. In reality, this text is the programmatic manifesto of the conciliar revolution: it inaugurates the subordination of the supernatural to the natural, the displacement of dogma by history and “signs of the times,” and the enthronement of the anthropocentric, ecumenical, laicist “neo-church” in place of the divinely instituted Mystical Body of Christ.

John XXIII issuing the constitution Rivi Nigri in 1960 surrounded by bishops and clergy in a Vatican room

Apostolic Constitutions

Rivi Nigri (1960.01.16)

amdg / 2025-11-11

At first glance, the constitution “Rivi Nigri” of 16 January 1960, issued by the usurper John XXIII, appears to be a routine territorial reorganisation: from the Archdiocese of Ribeirão Preto (Rivi Nigri) a group of municipalities is detached to erect a new diocese of São João da Boa Vista (“S. Ioannis in Brasilia”), with its see, cathedral status, chapter, seminary, and financial endowment juridically regulated according to the 1917 Code. It presents itself as pastoral solicitude, claiming imitation of Christ who “traversed towns and villages” and invoking the good of souls as the pretext for multiplying diocesan structures.

A traditional Mexican cathedral scene showing the installation of a collegiate chapter in Chihuahua, with canons in liturgical vestments and 'John XXIII' signing a decree.

Apostolic Constitutions

Chihuahuensis (1959.01.08)

amdg / 2025-11-11

The Latin text published under the name of John XXIII and titled “Chihuahuensis” decrees the erection of a collegiate chapter of canons in the metropolitan cathedral of Chihuahua: it specifies the number of canons and prebendaries, outlines their dignities (Archdeacon, Theologian, Penitentiary, Administrator), regulates choir obligations and external insignia, permits accumulation of benefices due to clergy shortage, subjects details of endowment and administration to future constitutions of the “sacred prelate,” and suppresses diocesan consultors once the chapter is established, all under a solemn juridical and ceremonial form.

Catholic bishop holding 'CUSCHENSIS (SICUANENSIS)' document in Andean highlands near Sicuani, Peru

Apostolic Constitutions

CUSCHENSIS (SICUANENSIS) (1959.01.10)

amdg / 2025-11-11

The constitution published under the name of John XXIII on 10 January 1959, titled “CUSCHENSIS (SICUANENSIS)”, performs a purely juridical act: it detaches several provinces (Canchis, Canas, Espinar, Chumbivilcas) from the Archdiocese of Cuzco and erects from them a new territorial prelature nullius, Sicuani, defines its boundaries, assigns the cathedral church, its suffragan relation to Cuzco, prescribes a seminary, regulates the ascription of clergy and the temporal goods in accord with the 1917 Code, and entrusts execution to the papal nuncio.

A sedevacantist bishop in traditional garb elevates the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Changanacherry to an archdiocese, surrounded by faithful in prayer and a historic church in the background.

Apostolic Constitutions

Changanacherrensis et Aliarum (1959.01.10)

amdg / 2025-11-11

The document attributed to John XXIII, titled “Changanacherrensis et Aliarum,” is a Latin apostolic constitution dated 10 January 1959, by which the author:
– Elevates the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Changanacherry (Changanacherrensis) to the rank of an archdiocese.
– Creates a new ecclesiastical province of the same name.
– Assigns Palai (Palaiensis) and Kottayam (Kottajamensis) as suffragan dioceses.
– Grants the new archbishop ordinary metropolitan rights and insignia (including the pallium under specified conditions and the right to carry the cross within the province).
– Entrusts execution to Valerian Gracias, then of Bombay, and annuls any contrary norms.

All this is framed as an act of pastoral care for the Chaldean–Malabar faithful and as a continuation of the reorganisation initiated by Pius XII.

This seemingly technical rearrangement of jurisdictions, signed by John XXIII at the threshold of the conciliar upheaval, is in fact a symptom and instrument of a new, humanly fabricated “church order” detached from the immutable notion of ecclesiastical authority and catholic unity, and thus stands condemned as an act without true pontifical authority and without binding force before God.

A Catholic bishop in traditional vestments holds a papal decree in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guidance in Patos, Brazil, symbolizing the establishment of a new diocese in 1959.

Apostolic Constitutions

Caiazeirensis-Campinensis Grandis (1959.01.17)

amdg / 2025-11-11

The document issued under the name of Ioannes XXIII on 17 January 1959, titled “CAIAZEIRASENSIS-CAMPINENSIS GRANDIS (PATOSENSIS)”, is an apostolic constitution which, in solemn juridical language, carves territories from the dioceses of Cajazeiras and Campina Grande in Brazil to erect a new diocese of Patos. It defines its boundaries, assigns Patos as the episcopal see, designates “Nossa Senhora da Guia” as cathedral, regulates the future chapter of canons or diocesan consultors, orders the erection of at least an elementary seminary, determines the composition of the episcopal mensa (revenues), incorporates clergy incardination norms, and entrusts execution to the Apostolic Nuncio Armandus Lombardi and the Consistorial Congregation. All appears, at first glance, as a routine act of pastoral administration—yet it stands as a juridical mask legitimizing the nascent conciliar revolution by cloaking an emerging counterfeit hierarchy in the venerable forms of the pre-1958 Church.

A Catholic priest in traditional vestments stands in a mission church in Bossangoa, Africa, with African faithful kneeling in prayer, reflecting the solemnity of the 1959 Constitution Apostolica Bossangoaënsis.

Apostolic Constitutions

Constitutio Apostolica “Bossangoaënsis” (1959.02.09)

amdg / 2025-11-11

Ioannes Roncalli, styling himself “John XXIII,” here issues an act by which a portion of the Diocese of Berberati in then French Equatorial Africa (regions Bossangoa, Bouca, Batanfago, Paoua) is detached to form a new apostolic prefecture, entrusted to the Capuchin Friars Minor and made suffragan to Bangui. The text clothes this purely administrative measure in solemn formulas of papal authority, obedience, and canonical sanction.

Portrait of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre with Redemptorist missionaries and African faithful in a historic missionary setting.

Apostolic Constitutions

Niameyensis (Fadangurmaensis) 1959.02.12

amdg / 2025-11-11

The constitution presented under the name “Niameyensis (Fadangurmaensis)” (12 February 1959) is a juridical act of the late pre-conciliar Roman authority, attributed to John XXIII, by which territories of the Apostolic Prefecture of Niamey (French West Africa) are detached (Dori and Fada regions) and erected into a new Apostolic Prefecture of Fadangurmaensis, entrusted to the Redemptorists, and made suffragan to the metropolitan see of Ouagadougou. It praises missionary zeal, assigns jurisdiction, regulates procedural implementation, and threatens penalties against those who would contravene its provisions.

A solemn image depicting the signing of the apostolic constitution 'IQUIQUENSIS (ARICENSIS)' by John XXIII in a papal study.

Apostolic Constitutions

IQUIQUENSIS (1959.02.17)

amdg / 2025-11-11

The apostolic constitution “IQUIQUENSIS (ARICENSIS)” of John XXIII, dated 17 February 1959, is a juridical act whereby the Chilean ecclesiastical territory “Departamento civil de Arica” is detached from the diocese of Iquique (with a small exception around Camina) and erected as a new territorial prelature nullius, titled Arica, assigned its cathedral (St Mark the Evangelist), boundaries, subjection to the metropolitan of La Serena, norms for its revenues and seminary, transfer of documents, and execution clauses entrusted to Sebastian Baggio.