Ad perpetuam rei memoriam: the document issued in 1960 under the name of John XXIII, titled Expedit sane, declares John Bosco the principal heavenly patron of the Diocese of Rivadavia, invoking his missionary zeal and assumed spiritual bond with that territory as a means to obtain divine protection and growth for the local faithful. The text, brief and stylistically mimicking pre-conciliar curial Latin, pretends continuity with authentic Apostolic authority while in fact presupposing the legitimacy of the usurper and instrumentalizing the cult of a true Saint as a facade for an emerging neo-ecclesial structure severed from the Catholic Faith.
Instrumentalizing a True Saint to Legitimize an Illegitimate Authority
At the very outset we must unmask the essential falsity that permeates this otherwise modest decree: an antipope, John XXIII, arrogates to himself the prerogatives of the Apostolic See to legislate on heavenly patronage, acting as if the visible structures he occupies were identical with the Mystical Body of Christ. This is not a minor technical irregularity; it is a direct assault on the divine constitution of the Church.
Key points to expose:
– The text presupposes, without proof, that John XXIII is Roman Pontiff and that acts performed in his name enjoy the authority of Peter.
– It uses a genuine Saint of the 19th century—John Bosco, canonized by Pius XI—to cover the transition from the true hierarchical Church to what will soon become the conciliar sect.
– It presents itself in impeccably traditional legal form to anesthetize resistance, making the upcoming revolution appear as organic continuity.
From the perspective of unchanging Catholic doctrine before 1958, this combination of formal correctness and substantive usurpation is more insidious than open rebellion. It is an application in practice of what St. Pius X described in Pascendi: enemies of the Church are no longer outside, but operate within, preserving external forms while corrupting the substance.
Factual Deviations Hidden Under a Thin Veneer of Tradition
On the factual level, the document appears harmless: assigning a principal patron to a diocese is, in itself, a legitimate and praiseworthy act when performed by the true Vicar of Christ. The text notes:
“It is indeed expedient that the dioceses, which by the provident counsel of the Apostolic See have been recently erected, be commended to a special heavenly protection…”
The deception lies in the hidden premises:
– The so‑called “Apostolic See” here is already in the hands of one who initiated and convoked the infernal project that would become Vatican II, the blueprint of the conciliar revolution condemned in substance by the pre-existing Magisterium (cf. Pius IX, Syllabus Errorum; St. Pius X, Pascendi and Lamentabili).
– The new diocesan structures being multiplied at this time are not neutral. They are designed to be the future administrative organs of the “Church of the New Advent,” in which dogma is relativized, religious liberty enthroned, and the public reign of Christ practically denied.
The invocation of Don Bosco is historically precise yet strategically abused. The text states that he sent missionaries so that the people of that region be led “to the truth and the liberty of the children of God.” That same Don Bosco:
– Defended papal authority and the integrity of doctrine.
– Fought liberalism, secret societies, and laicism.
– Understood that true liberty is submission to Christ the King and His Church, not emancipation from revealed truth.
To place this Saint as an ornament on the brow of a nascent conciliar structure which would soon explode with religious liberty, ecumenism, and the cult of man is a grotesque contradiction. It is a classic modernist tactic: use respected names of the past as camouflage while perpetrating their doctrinal negation.
The Perfumed Language of Legality Masking the Collapse of Authority
Linguistically, the letter is composed in correct curial Latin, replete with formulae: ad perpetuam rei memoriam, certa scientia ac matura deliberatione, deque Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine, and the standard clause declaring contrary provisions null and void.
This style serves three deceitful functions:
1. Legitimization by mimicry:
– By imitating the solemn forms used by true Popes, it seeks to bypass critical judgment. The faithful see familiar seals and phrases and assume authentic continuity.
– This is precisely the method identified and condemned by St. Pius X, where Modernists retain external forms while altering meaning: corruptio optimi pessima (“the corruption of the best is the worst”).
2. Anesthetizing the sense of rupture:
– There is no mention of doctrine, no explicit heresy in this short text. But the silence is itself accusatory: no reference to the fight against liberalism and secret societies that Pius IX and Leo XIII linked inseparably with ecclesial freedom; no summons to resist the growing secularist state; no trumpet blast of Christ’s social Kingship as in Pius XI’s Quas primas.
– By restricting itself to bureaucratic patronage rhetoric, the text habituates clergy and faithful to a purely administrative, sentimental Catholicism emptied of dogmatic combat.
3. Legalistic absolutization of an invalid act:
– The decree asserts that all contrary attempts are “null and void” and that its provisions stand “firms, validas atque efficaces.”
– Here we confront a juridical parody: an authority that is itself illegitimate pretends to confer juridical irreformability. This is a direct violation of the principle *nemo dat quod non habet* (no one can give what he does not have). A manifestly suspect claimant to the papacy cannot manufacture binding apostolic authority by verbal fiat.
Thus, the language of Expedit sane is not innocent; it is the scented veil thrown over a corpse.
Silence on the Kingship of Christ and the True Mission of the Church
The most damning aspect is not what is said, but what is omitted.
Authentic pre-1958 pontifical acts, even in matters such as patronages and diocesan arrangements, breathe clear supernatural priorities:
– Affirmation of the *public* rights of Christ the King over nations and laws (Pius XI, Quas primas).
– Condemnation of religious indifferentism, liberalism, freemasonry, and naturalism (Pius IX, Syllabus).
– Constant insistence upon the sacraments, state of grace, and eternal salvation as the ultimate horizon.
– Assertion of the independence and superiority of the Church’s divine constitution over civil usurpations.
By contrast, this text:
– Speaks vaguely of “greater growth” and “protection” without any explicit mention of the combat against prevailing errors destroying souls in that historical moment.
– Ignores the central doctrinal battles blazing in the 20th century: Modernism (already condemned, but resurfacing), atheistic socialism, the cult of the state, secularist schooling, and the emerging “human rights” ideology detached from Christ the King.
– Evades the clear anti-masonic, anti-liberal teaching of previous Popes, even though Don Bosco himself fought these forces.
The omission is not accidental. It is symptomatic of the shift from a militant, doctrinally precise Catholic Church to a paramasonic humanitarian association that uses pious vocabulary while neutralizing the Faith’s exclusive claims. Silence on the social Kingship of Christ, where it should be proclaimed, is already a betrayal. As Pius XI teaches in Quas primas, peace and order are impossible until both individuals and states acknowledge the reign of Christ; to speak of “growth” and “blessing” while keeping this truth hidden is practical denial.
Theological Incoherence: Usurped Apostolic Power and the Cult of Saints
From the standpoint of integral Catholic theology, several theological contradictions become evident:
1. Patronage presupposes legitimate ecclesial authority:
– The invocation and assignment of a heavenly patron by a supposed Supreme Pontiff presupposes:
– Valid papal election.
– Orthodoxy of faith.
– Communion with the perennial Magisterium.
– Pre-1958 doctrine (as summarized by theologians such as St. Robert Bellarmine and reiterated in the sources compiled in the file “Defense of Sedevacantism”) holds that a manifest heretic cannot be head of the Church because he ceases to be a member. A non-member cannot exercise authority over the Church. Consequently, acts of such a usurper lack the supernatural and juridical authority they claim.
2. Manipulation of a Saint loyal to true doctrine:
– Don Bosco’s entire mission is rooted in fidelity to the Roman Pontiff, sacramental life, Marian devotion rightly ordered, catechetical clarity, and militant opposition to the errors of his age.
– To place him as a banner over structures being silently prepared for conciliar apostasy is theological fraud: it abducts his image while repudiating his spirit.
– This corresponds to the modernist pattern condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili and Pascendi: historic Catholic realities are reinterpreted as flexible symbols in the service of evolving “consciousness.”
3. Contradiction with the anti-liberal Magisterium:
– Pius IX in the Syllabus condemns religious indifferentism, state control of education, and the separation of Church and State.
– Pius XI, in Quas primas, demands public recognition of Christ’s rights by nations and rulers.
– Yet the emerging line of John XXIII and subsequent usurpers moves toward religious liberty, collegiality, and ecumenism—the very positions anathematized in substance.
– Even in a small act like Expedit sane, we notice the absence of any alignment with these robust doctrinal positions; there is a quiet reorientation from confessional Catholicism to benign, non-confrontational devotion.
The theological conclusion: the decree is an externally pious act issuing from an authority internally severed from the rule of Faith. Its content, though not heretical in isolation, operates as part of a falsified magisterial continuum that prepares souls to accept the conciliar revolution.
Symptomatic Revelation of the Conciliar Sect’s Operating Method
This document, precisely because of its brevity and apparent orthodoxy, is a pure specimen of how the neo-church consolidates itself:
– It does not yet trumpet obvious novelties.
– It carefully imitates the canonical and linguistic patterns of the pre-conciliar papacy.
– It uses a canonized Saint of unimpeachable reputation.
– It addresses a precise, local, uncontroversial matter.
But beneath these features lies the systemic mutation:
1. Transfer of symbolic capital:
– By issuing a legitimate-looking decree about a true Saint, the conciliar usurper borrows the Church’s symbolic capital: Saints, Latin, seals, formularies.
– This borrowed capital is then gradually invested to support new doctrines (religious liberty, ecumenism, collegiality, anthropocentrism) in later acts, under the guise of continuity.
2. Gradual moral disarmament:
– Clergy and faithful learn to accept the signatures, rings, and formulae of the usurper as normal, no matter how different the underlying orientation is from that of Pius IX or St. Pius X.
– Once the habit of resistance has been dulled by countless “harmless” acts, the stage is set for massive doctrinal subversion (Vatican II texts, new “Mass,” ecumenical scandals).
3. Substitution of purpose:
– Authentic acts of patronage aim at strengthening the faithful against concrete errors and leading them to holiness, sacrifice, and fidelity to dogma.
– Here, in context of the conciliar trajectory, the aim shifts toward integrating Don Bosco into a new ecclesiology in which holiness is detached from doctrinal militancy and aligned instead with pastoral sentimentality and “opening to the world.”
Thus, Expedit sane is not an isolated curiosity. It is one of many minor bricks in the construction of the paramasonic structure that would publicly manifest itself in the council opened by the same usurper. The tactic is subtle: never alarm the faithful where a gentle sleight of hand will suffice.
Don Bosco Against the Conciliar Spirit
A decisive irony must be emphasized: everything authentic in Don Bosco’s life and doctrine condemns the path onto which John XXIII and his successors led the visible structures.
Consider the essential features of Don Bosco’s Catholic spirit:
– Absolute doctrinal clarity, anti-liberal and anti-modernist.
– Uncompromising fidelity to the Roman Pontiff as defined by Vatican I: *pastor et doctor omnium Christianorum* (shepherd and teacher of all Christians) whose duty is to guard, not innovate.
– Deep Eucharistic devotion centered on the Most Holy Sacrifice as propitiatory, not as a communal self-celebration.
– Formation of youth explicitly opposed to the spirit of the world, to freemasonry, to indifferentism.
These elements align perfectly with:
– Pius IX’s rejection of liberalism in the Syllabus.
– Leo XIII’s condemnation of freemasonry and naturalism.
– St. Pius X’s merciless exposure of Modernism in Pascendi and Lamentabili.
They are irreconcilable with:
– Ecumenical relativism.
– Religious liberty as a civil “right” to propagate error.
– Democratization and collegial dismantling of papal monarchy.
– The cult of man preached by the conciliar mentality.
To invoke Don Bosco as a diocesan patron while simultaneously preparing an ecclesial order built upon these condemned principles is a twofold sacrilege: against his memory and against the faithful misled under his stolen banner.
Why This “Small” Document Matters: The Logic of Apostasy in Miniature
Some might object: Is it not an exaggeration to subject such a short, apparently orthodox letter to such severe criticism?
This objection betrays a failure to grasp how apostasy actually operates in history.
– Large-scale doctrinal revolutions are never imposed solely through manifestly heretical manifestos. They are prepared, normalized, and secured by thousands of seemingly minor administrative and devotional acts that accustom souls to accept as “Pope” one who breaks with Tradition, to accept as “magisterium” what contradicts previous Magisterium, and to see continuity where there is only juxtaposition.
– Every decree that quietly accepts the usurper’s authority without reaffirming the integral doctrine he was historically subverting becomes part of the anesthetic.
– The spiritual danger lies precisely in these texts which do not shock. The faithful do not sharpen their discernment. They do not hear the trumpets of Pius IX and St. Pius X; they hear instead the smooth bureaucratic soothing of a system which will soon preach “dialogue,” “opening,” and “aggiornamento.”
Therefore, Expedit sane must be read not in isolation, but as an organic element of the conciliar revolution’s prelude. Its theological and spiritual bankruptcy lies in:
– presupposing an illegitimate authority;
– exploiting a true Saint for institutional self-legitimation;
– maintaining a sterile, administrative tone devoid of doctrinal militancy;
– omitting any reference to the real enemies of the Faith in that historical moment;
– sealing an empty gesture with full juridical absoluteness, as if sacramental power and apostolicity remained untouched.
In short, it is a mask. And the duty of anyone faithful to the unchanging Catholic Faith is to tear off such masks.
Return to the Uncompromised Magisterium and True Ecclesial Authority
Confronted with documents like this, Catholics must:
– Measure every act, however small, against the doctrinal granite of pre-1958 Magisterium:
– Pius IX: no reconciliation with liberalism and masonic naturalism.
– Leo XIII: Christ’s social Kingship, condemnation of secret societies.
– St. Pius X: Modernism as the synthesis of all heresies; obligation to reject it in all its forms.
– Pius XI: necessity of the reign of Christ the King over individuals and societies.
– Recognize that where manifest rupture with these principles exists, there can be no true papal authority.
– Refuse to be emotionally manipulated by appeals to beloved Saints when those appeals serve structures that undermine the very faith for which the Saints laboured.
– Cling to the Most Holy Sacrifice offered by validly ordained priests who remain in continuity with the Faith and sacraments of all ages, outside the syncretistic performances of post-conciliarism.
The patronage of Saints is real, powerful, and necessary. But it is effective only within the bosom of the true Church, not as a decorative seal affixed by usurpers. Don Bosco indeed can and should be invoked as protector of souls in Argentina and throughout the world—but precisely against the poisonous errors that the conciliar revolution, launched by John XXIII and his successors, poured into those same souls.
The way forward is not sentimental trust in documents like Expedit sane, but uncompromising adherence to the integral Catholic Faith that preceded and condemns the entire conciliar project. Only there does one find true apostolic authority, true sacraments, and true heavenly patronage.
Source:
Expedit sane (vatican.va)
Date: 08.11.2025