Motu Proprio – Antipope John XXIII

A solemn Catholic priest in a traditional chapel with a portable altar, reflecting the themes of authority and spiritual privilege in Divini pastoris by John XXIII.

Divini pastoris (1958.11.12)

amdg / 2025-11-12

John XXIII’s motu proprio “Divini pastoris,” dated 12 November 1958, is a brief decree in which the newly elected claimant, styling himself “Ioannes PP. XXIII,” grants to the ecclesiastics who served in the recent conclave (officials and conclavists accompanying the cardinals) two main favors: first, the privilege of a portable altar (altar portatile) under canon 822 §3 of the 1917 Code, with some restrictions (not on major feasts or other days excluded by the local Ordinary); second, a one-time free reception of apostolic letters and provisions for any benefices granted to them. The text is framed as an act of paternal benevolence of the “Divine Pastor” newly raised to the “throne of the Supreme Pontificate,” rewarding conclave clerics with spiritual and juridical privileges in recognition of their service.

A solemn depiction of the historic Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum with a reflective elderly cleric in a Gothic-style hall symbolizing the shift from sacred doctrine to worldly academic prestige.

Motu Proprio

CUM INDE (1959.05.17)

amdg / 2025-11-12

The document “Cum inde,” issued motu proprio by John XXIII on 17 May 1959, elevates the Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum to the title and status of the “Pontifical Lateran University.” It rehearses John XXIII’s sentimental connection with the institution, praises its past services in forming clergy, lists its faculties and institutes (theology, philosophy, canon law, pastoral studies, “Jesus Magister”), cites Pius XI’s apostolic constitution “Deus scientiarum Dominus” as the juridical framework, and decrees that, in continuity with prior papal initiatives, this Roman center of higher studies should enjoy the dignity, name, and recognition of a “university” among analogous institutions in the world. It presents this as a gesture of benevolence toward sacred studies, of support for Roman ecclesiastical science, and as a means to increase its international prestige. In reality, this apparently innocuous juridical act is a programmatic step in subordinating priestly formation and sacred doctrine to the categories, standards, and ambitions of the modern world and its academic idolatries.

A traditional Catholic priest celebrating the Tridentine Mass in a richly adorned sanctuary, surrounded by faithful followers kneeling in prayer.

Motu Proprio

Rubricarum instructum (1960.07.25)

amdg / 2025-11-12

Ioannes Roncalli’s motu proprio Rubricarum instructum (25 July 1960) announces and promulgates a “new corpus” of rubrics for the Roman Breviary and Missal, replacing the existing rubricial structure (including those stemming from St Pius X’s Divino afflatu and the 1955 decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites), abrogating contrary decrees, privileges, and even immemorial customs, and aligning all local calendars and propers to this central reform, under the pretext of simplification and pastoral burden. In reality, this text is the juridical prelude and spiritual manifesto of the liturgical demolition: the self-authorized dismantling of organically developed apostolic worship and the quiet enthronement of a new anthropocentric cultus that prepares and legitimizes the later revolution of the “conciliar sect.”

A solemn depiction of the abolishment of the right of option for suburbicarian sees by John XXIII in a traditional Catholic church setting.

Motu Proprio

AD SUBURBICARIAS DIOECESES IUS OPTIONIS (1961.03.10)

amdg / 2025-11-12

The text issued under the name of John XXIII on 10 March 1961, presented as a motu proprio, announces the abolition of the canonical “right of option” for suburbicarian sees and reserves to himself and his successors the free appointment of cardinal-bishops to those dioceses, invoking demographic and pastoral changes as a pretext for centralizing control within the already deformed conciliar structure. In one seemingly technical gesture of juridical micromanagement, the antipope exposes the underlying project: to re-engineer the visible structures inherited from the Church while emptying them of their Catholic substance, bending episcopal office and ancient order to the will of a revolutionary regime.

Pope John XXIII signing the Consilium datae document in 1962, initiating the Second Vatican Council in a traditional papal study.

Motu Proprio

Consilium datae (1962.02.02)

amdg / 2025-11-12

This short Latin text, issued by John XXIII on 2 February 1962, fixes 11 October 1962 as the opening date of the so‑called Second Vatican Council, invokes the memory of Ephesus, exhorts worldwide prayer for the event, and presents the future council as a means for the Church to radiate its divinely given strength more widely and to promote peace among nations. In reality, this motu proprio is the juridical spark that lights the conflagration of conciliar revolution, preparing the stage for an institution that dares to refashion doctrine, worship, and discipline against the perennial Magisterium of the Church of Christ.

Motu Proprio

Suburbicarian Sees As Mirrors Of The Conciliar Power Usurpation

amdg / 2025-11-12

The text issued under the name of Ioannes XXIII on 11 April 1962, a Motu Proprio concerning the “regimen of the suburbicarian dioceses,” reorganizes the relationship between the historic suburbicarian sees and those bearing the red hat: it transforms Cardinal-Bishops into merely titular holders of suburbicarian churches without real jurisdiction, centralizes in the antipope the free appointment of such titles, assigns actual ordinary power to separate residential bishops, and integrates these ancient sees structurally into a “conference” with the Roman diocese, all under the sign of administrative optimization and curial efficiency. In one stroke, the historic nexus between the episcopal dignity, real pastoral jurisdiction, and the highest rank of the Roman clergy is stripped and replaced by a functionalized, bureaucratic, jurisdictionless aristocracy at the service of a new power structure—an act that manifests not pastoral care, but the progressive demolition of the visible constitution of the Church in favor of the conciliar sect’s paramasonic regime.

A gathering of Cardinals in Vatican City, reflecting the solemn atmosphere of a traditional Catholic liturgy before the conciliar revolution.

Motu Proprio

Cum gravissima (1962.04.15)

amdg / 2025-11-12

The document “Cum gravissima” (15 April 1962), issued Motu proprio by John XXIII, decrees that all members of the College of Cardinals are henceforth to be endowed with episcopal dignity; it confirms the threefold internal division (episcopal, presbyteral, diaconal) as merely honorific and juridical while granting all Cardinals the fullness of the priesthood, and it adjusts canon law so that Cardinal Deacons may pontificate in their diaconal churches similarly to Cardinal Priests in their titles. In the self-congratulatory rhetoric of institutional efficiency and universal representation, this text calmly instrumentalizes the episcopate, desacralizes hierarchical order, and prepares a bureaucratic oligarchy as the governing core of the conciliar revolution.

John XXIII and modernist cardinals plotting Vatican II Council with symbolic elements of apostasy.

Motu Proprio

Appropinquante Concilio (1962.08.06)

amdg / 2025-11-12

The document “Appropinquante Concilio” (Motu Proprio, 6 August 1962) issued by John XXIII lays down the procedural rules, structures, and personnel for the forthcoming Vatican II assembly: it exalts the “spectacle” of a worldwide episcopal gathering, defines who are “conciliar fathers,” establishes commissions (including for missions, liturgy, ecumenism, media, and a “Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity”), prescribes Latin and ceremonial order, and details voting mechanics, secrecy, and organizational bureaucracy—thus constructing the juridical and technical framework of Vatican II as an allegedly ecumenical council. In reality, it codifies the machinery of a pseudo-council designed to enthrone a new religion within the visible structures of the Church and to instrumentalize episcopal authority against the perennial Magisterium.

A solemn traditional Catholic conclave scene with cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel voting for the next Pope.

Motu Proprio

SUMMI PONTIFICIS ELECTIO (1962.09.05)

amdg / 2025-11-12

Ioannes Roncalli’s motu proprio “Summi Pontificis Electio” modifies selected procedural norms of Pius XII’s apostolic constitution “Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis” concerning the interregnum and conclave: it regulates photography and recordings of a dying or deceased “pope,” details the transfer and sealing of the corpse, clarifies interim roles if the Camerlengo’s office is vacant, specifies non-use of papal apartments during conclave, reiterates subordination of conclave personnel to the Camerlengo, expands and recalibrates oaths of secrecy and of resistance to civil veto or interference, updates rules on conclavists, communication control, ballot documentation, and reaffirms the two-thirds majority as ordinary mode of election.

Interior view of St. Peter's Basilica with honorary canons in their stalls, highlighting the external splendor and liturgical pomp described in Templorum Decus.

Motu Proprio

Templorum Decus (1962.09.11)

amdg / 2025-11-12

Templorum Decus is a Latin motu proprio of John XXIII dated 11 September 1962, in which he establishes the category of “honorary canons” in the three major Roman basilicas (Lateran, St Peter’s, St Mary Major), granting selected clerics decorative privileges (stall in choir, insignia, limited use of canonical dress) without binding obligations, with explicit linkage to the forthcoming Vatican II as a moment to display more solemn rites in Rome. In reality, this apparently innocuous act exposes the spirit of the conciliar revolution: liturgical pomp without doctrinal substance, honorary titles without sacrificial duty, aesthetic solemnity weaponized to conceal the transfer of authority from the true Church to a paramasonic neo-structure.