Apostolic Letters – Page 11 – Antipope John XXIII

A serene and devotional image of the Marian shrine of Madonna del Bosco in Imbersago, Italy, reflecting its status as a Minor Basilica and its significance in traditional Catholic devotion.

Fortiter suaviterque (1958.12.10)

amdg / 2025-11-12

Ad perpetuam confusionem erroris.

The text bearing the title “Fortiter suaviterque” is a Latin apostolic letter attributed to John XXIII, by which he confers the title and privileges of Minor Basilica upon the Marian shrine of Beata Maria Virgo Nemorensis (“Madonna del Bosco”) in Imbersago, in the Archdiocese of Milan. The document is brief, sentimental, and juridical in form: it recalls his youthful Marian devotion to this sanctuary, enumerates its aesthetic and devotional qualities, and then, “motu proprio” and by supposed apostolic authority, elevates the church to the status of Basilica Minor with all attached rights and privileges, declaring all contrary dispositions null.

A reverent depiction of Catholic missionaries in traditional attire standing in a Chinese mission field with local converts, symbolizing faith and sacrifice amidst persecution.

Apostolic Letters

Gratiarum actio (1962.03.27)

amdg / 2025-11-12

This Latin letter of John XXIII to Otmar Degryse, superior general of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM), marks the centenary of that missionary institute by praising its rapid expansion, extolling its labor in numerous countries (especially in China), honoring its sufferings and martyrs, and imparting an “Apostolic Blessing” with the hope of renewed access to the Chinese mission fields and greater diffusion of the Gospel under Mary’s patronage. Its sugary exaltation of a missionary institute serves as a pious veil for the emerging conciliar revolution, substituting sentimental rhetoric and geopolitical accommodation for the clear, unbending proclamation of the Kingship of Christ and the exclusive claims of the Catholic Church.

Venerable Cardinal Eugenio Tisserant receiving a congratulatory letter from John XXIII in a Vatican hall, symbolizing the shift in the Church's focus from divine authority to worldly honors.

Apostolic Letters

Hoc mense quinque (1961.06.15)

amdg / 2025-11-12

Venerable Eugenio Tisserant is congratulated by John XXIII for the fiftieth anniversary of his elevation to the cardinalate, praised for his erudition, his work in the Apostolic Library, his services regarding the Eastern Churches, and for the prestigious recognition of membership in the Académie française; the letter concludes with benevolent wishes for further virtues and an “apostolic blessing.” This apparently innocuous panegyric is in fact a concentrated manifestation of the anthropocentric, naturalistic and proto-ecumenical mentality that paved the way for the conciliar revolution and the systematic erosion of the Catholic notion of authority, sanctity, and the reign of Christ the King.

Bishop Lajos Shvoy of Székesfehérvár receiving a letter from John XXIII in a traditional Catholic church setting.

Apostolic Letters

Octogesimum Natalem (1959.02.25)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The brief Latin note known as “Octogesimum Natalem” (25 February 1959) is a congratulatory letter in which John XXIII addresses Bishop Lajos Shvoy of Székesfehérvár on his 80th birthday, praising his pastoral diligence under difficult conditions, invoking God’s grace upon him, and imparting an “Apostolic Blessing” to him, his clergy, and people. Beneath this seemingly innocuous politeness stands the claim of a man already inaugurating the conciliar subversion to speak and bless as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church — a claim that, measured by the perennial Magisterium, is illegitimate and thus the entire gesture is deprived of true ecclesial authority and tainted by the emerging revolution against the Kingship of Christ.

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.

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.

Saint Isidore the Farmer with John XXIII in a pious rural setting symbolizing the patronage of Spanish agricultural workers.

Apostolic Letters

Agri culturam (1960.12.16)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The document under review is a Latin apostolic letter of John XXIII, dated 16 December 1960, in which he declares St Isidore the Farmer heavenly patron of all agricultural workers of Spain. It extols agriculture as a noble, innocent art, praises rural virtues such as simplicity, diligence, and justice, presents St Isidore as exemplar of prayerful labor and obedience, and grants the corresponding liturgical patronage privileges to Spanish rural workers. Beneath this apparently pious act lies the characteristic strategy of the conciliar revolution: sentimental naturalism, sociological flattery, and liturgical manipulation used to veil the deeper doctrinal subversion that would soon formally erupt at Vatican II under the same usurper.

Shrine of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers with Catholics and Muslims in prayer, highlighting traditional Marian devotion and conciliar syncretism.

Apostolic Letters

Praefervidum erga Beata Maria Virgo «Afrorum Domina» (1960.11.23)

amdg / 2025-11-10

The document attributed to John XXIII proclaims the Marian title “Afrorum Domina” (“Our Lady of Africa”) as principal patroness of the archdiocese of Algiers, rehearsing a narrative of longstanding local devotion, episcopal consecrations, papal coronation of the statue under Pius IX, and the daily veneration of the shrine by Catholics and even Muslims. It wraps this gesture in the solemn legal formulae of Apostolic authority, presenting the act as a Marian, pastoral and “pacifying” intervention for Algeria.