In some ways, this is already ‘old news.’ The agreement was made last year to give away the ancient church at Smyrna, the first Greek Orthodox liturgy was celebrated months ago, and the church was inaugurated over a week ago. But these stories are often intentionally forgotten, being inconvenient for the narrative that Pope Francis is a perfectly ‘orthodox’ or even ‘conservative‘ Pontiff.
It is easy to brush aside the important divisions we have with the Orthodox, especially since their liturgies are often much more ‘reverent’ than the average Novus Ordo. However, as we show in the attached video, the Catholic Church had the Eastern schismatics in mind when it made its condemnations, declaring that even martyrdom could not save a schismatic. Similarly, it is easy for those desperately acting as Pope Francis-apologists to claim that he upholds the necessity of Christ for all, yet little attention is given to the behavior of the post-conciliar Church and its relations with non-Catholic communities. One could write hundreds of pages of treatises, articles, and defenses asserting that the documents of Vatican II are completely orthodox and did not effect any substantial changes to Catholic doctrine.
But even if this were proven, what would it matter when, in the name of Vatican II Ecumenism, historic churches are handed over to schismatics, traditionally thought to be outside the bosom of salvation?
