The text published under the name Mirabili nexu (13 November 1959) and signed by John XXIII is a brief Latin decree that extols the historical, artistic, and devotional prestige of the cathedral of Ferrara (dedicated to St George) and, at the request of Natale Mosconi, grants it the formal title of minor basilica, with the standard juridical formulae of perpetuity, privileges, and nullity of contrary acts.
Architectural Romanticism as a Veil for a Usurped Authority
The first and decisive problem appears before one even reaches the end of the opening sentence: this document is presented as an act of papal authority of John XXIII in 1959; from the perspective of integral Catholic faith, this already disqualifies it at its root.
Mirabili nexu is not an innocent decorative gesture. It is a juridical performance by the first public representative of the conciliar revolution, using traditional papal forms to cloak an authority that had already placed itself on a collision course with the perennial Magisterium. The sentimental exaltation of stones, façades, and illustrious visitors functions as liturgical theatre to normalize a regime whose doctrinal program leads directly to what Pius IX and St Pius X solemnly condemned: religious liberalism, Modernism, and the subjugation of the Church to the spirit of the world (cf. Syllabus Errorum 15–18, 55, 77–80; Lamentabili passim).
The document must therefore be exposed at multiple levels.
The Cult of Aesthetic Emotion without Doctrinal Substance
At the factual level, the text:
– Recites the medieval origins and consecration of the cathedral in 1135 in honour of St George.
– Describes its Romanesque and Gothic façade, sculptural portal, interior remodelling in imitation of St Peter’s, paintings, statues, choir stalls, and the Renaissance bell tower.
– Lists historical connections with true Popes and saints: Alexander III, Urban III, Gregory VIII’s election, sessions related to the Council of Florence (continuation of Basel/Ferrara/Florence), Pius IX, preaching of saints such as Bernardine of Siena, Lawrence of Brindisi, Lawrence of Porto Maurizio, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Borgia, Charles Borromeo.
– Notes that the faithful already call it a basilica and that the local ordinary requests the formal title.
– Concludes by elevating the cathedral to the rank of minor basilica with the usual clauses of perpetuity and nullity of contrary acts.
All these elements are historically and canonically ordinary in themselves. What is decisive is what is systematically absent.
In an act touching the heart of diocesan worship—the cathedral itself—there is:
– No explicit profession of the integral Catholic faith.
– No reference to the necessity of the *Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary* as propitiatory for sins.
– No mention of the obligation of rulers and peoples to recognize the social Kingship of Christ (expounded only four years earlier by Pius XI in Quas primas, which teaches that peace and order are impossible outside the public reign of Christ).
– No mention of the Last Things—death, judgment, hell, heaven—despite honouring a church dedicated to a martyr.
– No summons to penance, no warning against error, no denunciation of the rapidly spreading liberalism, laicism, and secret societies that Pius IX called the “synagogue of Satan” undermining the Church.
– No reaffirmation that art and architecture are truly sacred only insofar as they serve Catholic dogma, the true Sacrifice, and the sanctification of souls.
Instead, we encounter a discreetly naturalistic admiration:
“Mirabili nexu religio et ars in principe tempio Ferrariensi coniunctae conspiciuntur, ita ut eorum, qui id invisant, sensus non immerito soleant permoveri.”
“By a marvellous link religion and art are seen to be joined in the principal church of Ferrara, so that the feelings of those who visit it are not without reason accustomed to be moved.”
This is the foundational tone: an aesthetic and emotional “being moved,” with “religion and art” intertwined as a cultural synthesis. But Catholic doctrine does not permit “religion” to be reduced to an evocative atmosphere. Pius X in Pascendi and Lamentabili condemned precisely the modernist tendency to transmute the supernatural faith into religious sentiment, symbolic expression, and historical monument.
A minor basilica, in Catholic terms, is to be:
– A centre of orthodox teaching.
– A privileged place of the Most Holy Sacrifice, confession, and indulgences.
– A visible sign of communion with the See of Peter in the one true faith.
Mirabili nexu gives us instead a cult of noble walls, a juridical stamp, and silence about doctrine. This silence, coming from the lips of the conciliar forerunner, is not accidental; it is symptomatic.
Language as a Mask: Classical Form, Modernist Spirit
At the linguistic level, the text imitates the classical curial style: “Ad perpetuam rei memoriam,” the solemn enumeration of merits, the formulae of “certa scientia,” “matura deliberatione,” “plenitudine Apostolicae potestatis,” “contrariis quibusvis nihil obstantibus.”
This juridical solemnity is weaponized in two directions:
1. It hijacks the authority of the pre-1958 papacy to legitimize the new regime.
2. It habituates clergy and faithful to accept any act emanating from the conciliar hierarchy as if it were an expression of the same indefectible Magisterium.
The rhetoric is revealingly horizontal:
– The emphasis falls on artistic harmony, “maiestas,” “venustas colorum,” and the impressions of visitors.
– The saints and true Popes are invoked only as ornaments of prestige, not as witnesses of doctrinal intransigence against error.
– The cathedral is presented as “monumentum pietatis ingenii que”—a monument of devotion and talent—without clarifying that human genius becomes sacred only in strict submission to the objective truths of revelation.
Such language encapsulates the conciliar method: retain the vocabulary and external forms of Tradition while emptying them of their polemical, anti-liberal, anti-modernist edge. It is the linguistic equivalent of the hermeneutica evolutionis—a “continuity” of style masking rupture in substance.
In light of St Pius X’s condemnation:
– Lamentabili explicitly rejects the idea that the Church cannot exercise her magisterium over exegesis (2–4) and that dogmas are mere historical-symbolic interpretations (22).
– Pius IX in the Syllabus rejects the relativization of Catholic dogma and the equating of the Church with other confessions (15–18).
Mirabili nexu, while not formally teaching these errors, operates in their shadow: it carefully avoids any clash with liberal culture, any reminder that civil powers must submit to Christ’s law in their legislation, that Freemasonry and modernist sects rage against the Church, that the basilica’s dignity is bound to an exclusive claim of Catholic truth.
Silence, in such a context, becomes complicity.
Theological Emptiness: Basilica without the Kingdom of Christ
At the theological level, the decree is marked by three decisive omissions that expose its inner bankruptcy.
1. Absence of the Social Kingship of Christ
Pius XI, in Quas primas (1925), teaches clearly that:
– Public life, laws, and institutions must recognize Christ as King.
– The Church cannot surrender her rights or be reduced to a decorative moral influence.
– The denial of Christ’s kingship, the equality of religions, and laicism are the root causes of modern disasters.
Yet in 1959, in a pontifical act concerning the primary temple of a historic city, there is not a single word:
– Summoning the city, region, and Italy to subject public life to Christ’s law.
– Reminding authorities that civil legislation is null when it contradicts divine and ecclesiastical law (cf. Syllabus 39–42, 56).
– Condemning the liberal-Masonic infiltration long denounced by Pius IX and Leo XIII.
The basilica is exalted as an aesthetic treasure, but not as a bastion of the reign of Christ over Ferrara’s public order. This is exactly the neutralization condemned in the Syllabus (77–80), which rejects the idea that progress and liberal civilization can be reconciled with a State indifferent to the true religion.
2. No Warning against Modernism and Apostasy
By 1959:
– Modernism had been solemnly condemned as “the synthesis of all heresies” by St Pius X.
– Liberal Catholicism and democratic naturalism had spread through clergy and laity.
– The theological germs that would produce the conciliar revolution were already active in seminaries, universities, episcopates.
In such a climate, a truly Catholic act touching a major cathedral should:
– Reaffirm the decrees of Lamentabili and Pascendi.
– Insist on the exclusive salvific necessity of the Catholic Church.
– Condemn indifferentism and ritualist sentimentalism.
– Call pastors to guard the holy place from profanations, abuses, and doctrinal corruption.
Instead, Mirabili nexu retreats into an apolitical, non-doctrinal aestheticism: as if the Church existed merely to bless monuments and register honorific promotions. It embodies what St Pius X warned against: a betrayal through omission, letting error devour souls while ecclesiastical documents speak of architecture.
3. Sacralisation of a Structure Already Oriented toward the Conciliar Revolution
The timing is crucial:
– 1959: John XXIII has already announced the council that will produce the conciliar sect.
– The same hand that will open the doors to religious liberty and false ecumenism here uses traditional decrees to distribute sweets.
In elevating the cathedral of Ferrara as a minor basilica without binding it explicitly to the anti-modernist magisterium, this act:
– Symbolically integrates the historical seat of true Catholic worship into the symbolic universe of the coming “Church of the New Advent.”
– Employs the great names of saints and true Popes as a façade legitimizing the impending dismantling of their doctrines.
Mirabili nexu thus becomes a preparatory gesture: a soft-focus celebration of the past that paves the way for its betrayal. It is not what it says directly that betrays it, but what it conspicuously refuses to say.
Systemic Fruit of the Conciliar Revolution: From Sacred Stone to Cult of Man
At the symptomatic level, this document is an early specimen of the conciliar method that will blossom fully under its successors:
– Canonical and liturgical titles are maintained but reinterpreted under a naturalistic, cultural, and “pastoral” optic.
– Sanctity is reduced to heritage; dogma is muted so as not to disturb the new idol of “dialogue.”
– The visible continuity of buildings is used to mask the invisible rupture of faith.
This is the same trajectory that:
– Turns basilicas into tourist shrines and concert halls.
– Transforms the Most Holy Sacrifice into a communal meal.
– Uses the memory of saints and martyrs not to condemn heresy and sin, but to illustrate generic humanitarian virtues.
What began here with an apparently harmless decree is consistent with the errors condemned by the pre-1958 Magisterium:
– Syllabus 15–18: the idea that each is free to choose any religion and may hope for salvation outside the true Church.
– Syllabus 55: the separation of Church and State as an acceptable principle.
– Lamentabili 58–65: the evolutionist relativization of dogma and reduction of Christianity to changing experience.
The Ferrara decree does not formally proclaim these theses, but by its programmatic silence—especially from a regime already committed to an aggiornamento—it tacitly aligns the cathedral’s prestige with a Church that will soon publicly embrace religious liberty, ecumenism, and the cult of human dignity divorced from Christ the King.
The Abuse of Juridical Formulae by a Non-Catholic Authority
A particularly grave aspect lies in the solemn canonical language:
“Certa scientia ac matura deliberatione Nostra deque Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine… in modum ecclesiam cathedralem Ferrariensem ad dignitatem Basilicae Minoris evehimus… Contrariis quibusvis nihil obstantibus…”
If one applies the principles of the pre-1958 theologians and canonists themselves (Bellarmine, Wernz-Vidal, etc.):
– A manifest heretic or one who publicly prepares and sponsors doctrines contrary to prior solemn condemnations cannot hold the papal office nor validly exercise its jurisdiction, because non potest esse caput quod non est membrum (he who is not a member cannot be head).
– Canon 188.4 (1917 Code) affirms that public defection from the faith vacates ecclesiastical office by the fact itself.
While the full juridical demonstration of personal heresy pertains to the competent judgment of the true Church, the integral Catholic conscience must note the contradiction: the man who will convoke and approve the conciliar program condemned in essence by Pius IX and Pius X cannot be received as a reliable organ of Apostolic authority. His deployment of phrases such as “perpetuam rei memoriam” and “plenitudo potestatis” in a context emptied of doctrinal clarity is an abuse of sacred legal language.
Thus, even if the content in isolation seems benign, the act functions as:
– Usurpation of papal style to bolster a non-Catholic project.
– A juridical fiction: a “basilica” title dispensed by a structure already in doctrinal deviation, which cannot be the authentic guarantor of ecclesiastical privileges as understood by the perennial Magisterium.
To the extent that the Ferrara cathedral remains a locus of the true Mass and integral faith, its dignity comes from Christ and the continuous Catholic tradition, not from the signature of a revolutionary regime.
From Sacred Memory to Conciliar Neutrality: The Perverted Use of History
Mirabili nexu exhibits another typical conciliar pattern: the selective use of history.
The text proudly recalls:
– Alexander III consecrating the high altar.
– Urban III buried there; the conclave electing Gregory VIII.
– Sessions connected to the Council of Ferrara-Florence under Eugene IV.
– Pius IX offering the sacred rites there.
But there is no word about:
– Alexander III’s defence of papal authority against emperors.
– The struggle of true Popes against emperors and princes who tried to dominate the Church.
– The doctrinal firmness of Florence in defining the necessity of submission to the Roman Pontiff and the unity of the Church.
– Pius IX’s heroic resistance to liberal, Masonic persecution and his condemnation of the very trends that the conciliar sect would embrace.
History is plundered for its picturesque and “ecumenical” resonance, while its polemical, dogmatic content is buried. This is not innocent; it is a systematic “de-fanging” of Catholic memory, preparing the faithful to venerate the names while forgetting what those names actually taught contra mundum (against the world).
Silence as the Gravest Indictment
The gravest accusation against Mirabili nexu is not any single phrase it contains, but its structural silence on:
– The unique salvific necessity of the Catholic Church.
– The sinfulness of heresy, schism, indifferentism, and false worship.
– The objective obligation of public authorities to recognize and serve Christ the King.
– The imminence of judgment and the necessity of penance and state of grace.
– The anti-Christian conspiracy of secret societies expressly denounced by earlier Popes.
Given the clear condemnations in the Syllabus, Lamentabili, Pascendi, and Quas primas, such silences in a high “pontifical” act must be read as a deliberate orientation: to present the Church as a guardian of culture and sentiment rather than the militant Ark of salvation and the authoritative guardian of immutable truths.
Qui tacet consentire videtur (he who is silent is seen to consent). Here, silence before liberalism and Modernism, combined with the appropriation of traditional forms, is itself a form of doctrinal betrayal.
Conclusion: The Need to Sever Basilica Dignity from Conciliar Usurpation
The cathedral of Ferrara, consecrated to St George and honoured by true Popes and saints, is objectively a venerable witness of Catholic history. Its stones, façade, artworks, and memories belong to the heritage of the one true Church, not to the conciliar sect that later occupied her institutions.
Mirabili nexu, however:
– Exploits this authentic heritage to give an appearance of continuity to a regime already preparing the aggiornamento.
– Empties the act of any robust doctrinal confession, reducing it to an aesthetic-romantic administrative favour.
– Uses the solemn legal vocabulary of the papacy to assert the authority of those who would oversee the demolition of catechesis, liturgy, and discipline.
From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, this document must therefore be:
– Unmasked as a juridical and rhetorical façade: externally traditional, internally aligned with the conciliar neutralization of the Church’s mission.
– Read as a symptom, not an isolated fact: the early liturgical of a system in which basilicas, cathedrals, and shrines would increasingly serve as backdrops for doctrinal dilution, interreligious spectacle, and the cult of man.
– Rejected as a normative reference for ecclesial identity: the true dignity of any basilica stands or falls with fidelity to the pre-1958 Magisterium, the true Sacrifice, the condemnation of error, and the proclamation of Christ’s absolute Kingship over persons, families, and nations.
Authentic Catholic restoration in Ferrara or anywhere else will not consist in clinging to titles granted by a paramasonic structure but in reconsecrating altars, pulpits, and souls to the immutable doctrine of the Church, to the militant confession of the one true faith, and to the public, non-negotiable reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of all nations.
Source:
Mirabili nexu (vatican.va)
Date: 08.11.2025