Letters – Page 23 – Antipope John XXIII

Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani as papal legate for the centenary of the Canadian hierarchy in a grand cathedral, reflecting the pious facade and hidden turmoil of the conciliar revolution.

Si summo (1959.08.25)

amdg / 2025-11-09

Dated 25 August 1959, this Latin letter of John XXIII to Alfredo Card. Ottaviani appoints him as papal legate for the centenary celebrations of the establishment of the hierarchy in Canada, extols the divine benefits granted through the erection of the Canadian hierarchy, praises Laval and the missionary ancestors, urges the Canadian bishops and faithful to preserve pure doctrine, defend against errors, and proclaim Christ even amid materialism, and grants a plenary indulgence and apostolic blessing to those participating in the solemnities. Behind this apparently edifying façade lies the quiet programmatic preparation of the conciliar revolution, the instrumentalization of a once-Catholic hierarchy for an already planned neo-church, and the pious camouflage of an emerging apostasy.

Image of a traditional Catholic Eucharistic Congress in Argentina 1959 with Cardinal Cento presiding, showcasing solemn devotion and reverence for the Eucharist.

Letters

Non excidit (1959.08.20)

amdg / 2025-11-09

Pseudopontiff John XXIII’s brief Latin letter “Non excidit” (20 August 1959) appoints Ferdinand Antonelli (Cardinal Cento) as legate to the National Eucharistic Congress in Argentina (Cordoba in Tucumán), recalls with sentimental emphasis the 1934 International Eucharistic Congress in Buenos Aires presided over by Eugenio Pacelli, praises the organizational zeal of bishops and laity, and warmly commends the collaboration of the Argentine civil authorities, linking it to a century of diplomatic relations with the Holy See. It presents the Congress as a moment for promoting devotion to the Eucharist, peace, and harmony between Church and State. In reality, this smooth, pious-sounding text is a programmatic piece of conciliar diplomacy: a calculated substitution of supernatural Catholic faith and the reign of Christ the King with a saccharine cult of events, national sentiment, and political concord, preparatory to the full-blown conciliar revolution.

Cardinal Marcello Mimmi at the 1959 Catana Eucharistic Congress, reflecting traditional Catholic worship and emerging conciliar themes

Letters

Catana urbs (1959.08.02)

amdg / 2025-11-09

Catana, a city marked by ancient martyrdom and chosen in 1959 as the site of a nationwide Eucharistic gathering, is presented in this letter of John XXIII as a fitting stage for solemn eucharistic homage, entrusted to Cardinal Marcello Mimmi as papal legate, with the stated aim that the faithful may ever more fervently venerate the Blessed Sacrament, grow in unity and peace, and draw spiritual and even civil benefits from the event. The entire text, while outwardly pious, functions as a refined exercise in liturgical propaganda for the emerging conciliar revolution, evacuating the Eucharistic mystery of its propitiatory and sacrificial character, subjugating it to horizontal pacifism and national sentiment, and thus preparing the faithful for the neo-church of anthropocentric ceremonialism.

Cardinal Alfonso Castaldo receiving a letter from John XXIII in a grand Catholic cathedral.

Letters

A A A LA IOANNES PP. XXIII (1959.06.24)

amdg / 2025-11-09

This Latin letter of John XXIII to Cardinal Alfonso Castaldo on the 25th anniversary of his episcopal ordination is an ornate panegyric: it praises his pastoral zeal in Pozzuoli and Naples, exalts his works for parishes, clergy, youth, and charitable institutions, grants him the faculty to impart the “papal blessing” with plenary indulgence on the jubilee celebration, and wraps everything in the rhetoric of “good shepherd” and apostolic fruitfulness. Behind its devout vocabulary, the text reveals the early consolidation of a new, horizontal, sentimental, and bureaucratic ecclesial mentality in which episcopal office is measured by sociological efficiency and public recognition rather than uncompromising guardianship of the deposit of faith and the rights of Christ the King; it is thus an edifying mask covering the nascent conciliar apostasy that John XXIII was already preparing.

Bishop Aloysius Stepinac in prayer before a crucifix in a war-torn church in Zagreb, symbolizing his perseverance and faith under communist persecution.

Letters

Abeunte tibi (1959.06.14)

amdg / 2025-11-09

Dated 14 June 1959, this brief Latin letter of John XXIII to Aloysius Stepinac marks the 25th anniversary of Stepinac’s episcopal consecration. John XXIII congratulates him for his supposed piety, firmness, charity towards the persecuted, defense of Catholic doctrine, and patience in suffering, praises Pius XII’s creation of him as cardinal, spiritualizes his isolation and trials, and imparts his “apostolic blessing” to Stepinac, his auxiliaries, clergy, and faithful of Zagreb. In doing so, the text canonizes not sanctity, but an already advanced state of ecclesial disorientation, using Stepinac’s real sufferings as a backdrop for the rising cult of the conciliar revolution’s founding figure.

Depiction of Pope St. Gregory VII presiding over the 1059 Lateran Synod with Canons Regular of St. Augustine in traditional habits.

Letters

Epistula ad Ludovicum Severinum Haller (1959.05.25)

amdg / 2025-11-09

This Latin letter, issued in 1959 by antipope John XXIII to Louis Severin Haller (titular “bishop” of Bethlehem and Abbot Primate of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine), commemorates the ninth centenary of the 1059 Lateran Synod and encourages the Canons Regular to celebrate their history, strengthen their confederation, promote liturgy, pastoral work, learning, common life, Augustinian charity, and strict observance of religious discipline within their communities.

Portrait of Benedict Aloisi Masella receiving jubilee honors at the Lateran Basilica with a marble monument to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Letters

Epistula ad Benedictum Aloisi Masella (1959.05.24)

amdg / 2025-11-09

John XXIII’s 1959 Latin letter to Benedict Aloisi Masella, then “cardinal,” bishop of Palestrina, archpriest of the Lateran Basilica, and prefect of the “Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments,” congratulates him on his approaching 80th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his episcopate. It praises the local clergy and faithful for planning solemn public celebrations, notes with particular satisfaction the inauguration of a marble monument in Palestrina in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the renewal of the consecration of the people to her Immaculate Heart, and grants Masella the faculty, on the set day and after a pontifical Mass, to impart in John’s name a plenary indulgence to the faithful under the usual conditions. The text closes with the “Apostolic Blessing.”

Archbishop James Duhig reading a letter from John XXIII in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane

Letters

A A A LA IOANNES PP. XXIII EPISTULA AD IACOBUM DUHIG… (1959.05.17)

amdg / 2025-11-09

At the end of the first century of the Brisbane ecclesiastical structure, John XXIII addresses James Duhig with courteous praise for a century of institutional expansion: new dioceses, parishes, churches, schools, hospitals, charitable works, capped by the dedication of a provincial seminary named after Pius XII. He attributes this growth to divine favour, exhorts to deeper charity, obedience to pastors, moral integrity, and zeal “for the name and glory of Jesus Christ,” and imparts an “apostolic” blessing to the hierarchy and faithful of Queensland.

Traditional Catholic bishop in pontifical vestments before an Argentine cathedral, symbolizing the shift from spiritual to naturalistic values in ecclesiastical diplomacy.

Letters

Si ingratae mentis (1959.05.11)

amdg / 2025-11-09

This Latin letter of John XXIII to Antonio Caggiano and the Argentine hierarchy marks the centenary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Argentina and the 25th anniversary of several ecclesiastical provinces created there. The text congratulates the civil authorities and hierarchy on institutional growth—new dioceses, parishes, churches, religious institutes, schools, hospitals, and Catholic Action—and urges further collaboration between state and hierarchy, presenting Argentine national prestige and “Christian humanism” as signs of God’s favor.

St. Francis of Assisi kneeling in prayer in a serene landscape of Assisi's countryside.

Letters

Cum natalicia (1959.04.04)

amdg / 2025-11-09

The letter “Cum natalicia” of John XXIII, addressed in 1959 to the Ministers General of the Franciscan branches on the 750th anniversary of Innocent III’s approbation of the Rule, is a brief panegyric that praises St. Francis, exhorts external fidelity to the Rule, commends poverty, humility and apostolic zeal, and urges the Franciscans to adapt their preaching to “the conditions and ways of our time” while remaining devoted to the “Apostolic See.” Beneath its polished Latin and seemingly pious Franciscan vocabulary, the text functions as an ideological prelude: an attempt by the newly installed antipope to enlist the prestige of St. Francis and of the great mendicant tradition into the service of the coming conciliar upheaval, emptying poverty and penance of their doctrinal edge and subordinating authentic Franciscan spirituality to the programmatic naturalism of the neo-church.