November 11, 2025

By:  Robert Morrison | RemnantNewspaper.com Columnist

[Note: The term “ape church” refers to a concept introduced by Bishop Fulton Sheen, describing a potentially counterfeit church that mimics the true Church and is in danger of being devoid of its divine essence. This “ape church” is seen as a deceptive force that leads people away from genuine faith and truth. SH.]

Like the “ape church” described by Bishop Sheen, the Synodal Church has “all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content.” Thus, while the Catholic Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, the Synodal Church is multifarious, sacrilegious, fragmented, and revolutionary. This is the work of Satan.

One of the most troublesome aspects of the ongoing crisis in the Catholic Church has been the difficulty that many people have in recognizing the Catholic Church as the one to which all souls must belong to please God and save their souls. Countless souls have left the Church, or else never joined it, because they see little other than scandal in Rome: they see lukewarm and heretical clergy leading cafeteria Catholics who are generally more likely to support abortion than follow the Church’s precepts.

This apparent reality is even more perplexing when we consider the marks of the Church. In his 1861 catechism, A Manual of the Catholic Religion, Fr. F. X. Weninger described the purpose of the Church’s marks:

“Q. By what marks may we discern the true Church of Christ? A. By the very marks by which Christ our Lord wished to point out His Church, in order that it might be known from all other temporal or spiritual institutions, and recognized as such by the whole world.” (p. 86)

Jesus wants all souls to know and follow the Church He established, so that Church must be recognizable based on marks that differentiate it from all other spiritual institutions claiming to be the true Church. The Catholic Church is identifiable as the true Church based on four marks:

“Q. Which are these marks of the true Church of Christ? A. They are — Unity, Sanctity, Universality, Apostolicity or Apostolic institution. In other words: the Church of Christ is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” (p. 86)

Catholics learn these marks of the Church as part of their basic catechism lessons, and we know that the true Church must still have them. And yet if we look at Rome and the ostensible hierarchy of the Church, it is nearly impossible to see anything resembling the marks of one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The Synodal Church is unambiguously distinct from the Catholic Church based on its: (a) name, (b) history, (c) membership, (d) mission, (e) doctrines, and (e) the way in which it discovers its beliefs.

Although few people have ventured to explain it, Francis’s hostile occupation of the papacy was immensely valuable in one key respect: his Synodal Church has provided a clearly identifiable counterpart to the Catholic Church. In the decades since Vatican II, many serious Catholics had thought about the so-called “Conciliar Church” in opposition to the Catholic Church, but even many Traditional Catholics contested that distinction. With the Synod on Synodality, though, Francis ostentatiously fabricated a new church based on the Conciliar Church framework. As discussed in a previous article, this new Synodal Church is unambiguously distinct from the Catholic Church based on its: (a) name, (b) history, (c) membership, (d) mission, (e) doctrines, and (e) the way in which it discovers its beliefs.

Francis’s creation of the Synodal Church has not resolved all difficulties, of course, but it does allow us to see the way in which the Catholic Church is still one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. To illustrate how the Catholic Church differs from the Synodal Church in connection with the marks of the true Church of Christ, we can consider Fr. Weninger’s description of each mark in his catechism.

The Church is One

“Q. What means the Church is one? A. It means that the Church of Christ is, by her internal and external unity, but one visible kingdom of God upon earth. Q. In what consists the internal, and in what consists the external unity of the Church? A. The internal unity consists in the preserving and professing one and the same doctrine of salvation, which Christ revealed through Himself and His Apostles. The external unity consists in the connection of all the members of the Church by subordination to their superiors, the bishops and priests, under one and the same head, the vicegerent of Christ, the successor of Peter, the Pope of Rome.” (p. 86)

Taking the internal unity first, it is clear that Traditional Catholics insist upon this unity, while those who follow the Synodal Church do not. Sophists who support the Synodal Church may disagree on this point, but anyone with eyes to see can recognize that the Synodal Church neither preserves nor professes the “one and same doctrine of salvation, which Christ revealed through Himself and His Apostles.” Instead, the doctrine of the Synodal Church is open to evolution, which occurs through the process of Synodal leaders “listening” to all baptized souls and then allowing “the Spirit” to determine what the Synodal Church’s teachings should be. The Synodal Church persecutes those who believe in the internal unity of the Catholic Church.

Those who follow the Synodal Church often disagree not only with the pre-Vatican II popes, but also with the post-Conciliar popes because their cafeteria-Catholicism inclines them to abandon those immutable teachings which even Francis could not overturn. Conversely, Traditional Catholics follow not only what the pre-Conciliar popes taught but also what the post-Conciliar popes have actually required Catholics to believe.

The external unity is considerably more difficult to discern because one of the perplexing aspects of the crisis is that the ostensible hierarchy is common to both the Catholic Church and Synodal Church. However, we can identify a real difference between the Catholic Church and Synodal Church in terms of the obedience practiced by those who follow the respective churches. Those who follow the Synodal Church often disagree not only with the pre-Vatican II popes, but also with the post-Conciliar popes because their cafeteria-Catholicism inclines them to abandon those immutable teachings which even Francis could not overturn. We can be certain, for example, that a large percentage of those who follow the Synodal Church also reject Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae. Conversely, Traditional Catholics follow not only what the pre-Conciliar popes taught but also what the post-Conciliar popes have actually required Catholics to believe.

Finally, we can also consider the way in which Fr. Weninger described the reason that Protestant sects lack the mark of unity:

“As to Protestants, they have no unity of origin; for they are not from Christ, nor from one, but from many different persons, such as Luther, Zuinglius, Calvin, etc. Hence they are without unity of doctrine, of worship, or members. From the very beginning, Protestants have been divided in this regard.” (p. 92)

To a large extent, the same analysis can be applied to the Synodal Church because its embrace of false ecumenism leads it to accept and promote all Protestant religions. Moreover, the Synodal Church’s focus on all baptized souls as the “People of God” essentially positions it as Protestantism in union with a “bishop of Rome.”

Thus, the Catholic Church is one, but the Synodal Church is multifarious.

If this seems like a deliberate mockery of God and His Church, that is because it is.

The Church is Holy

“Q. Why is the Church called holy? A. 1. Because Christ, the head of the Church, is most holy. 2. Because all that enter the Church are sanctified by the Sacrament of Baptism. 3. Because she has the most holy sacrifice, together with holy laws, sacraments, and ceremonies; further, because she promotes every virtue, condemns every vice, and contains within herself nothing or approves nothing, which is not, as far as it belongs to her, good and holy. 4. Because the Holy Ghost protects the Church according to the promises and assurances of Christ.” (p. 88)

In this description, the most evident difference between the Catholic Church and the Synodal Church relates to point 3. Whereas the Catholic Church promotes every virtue and condemns every vice, the Synodal Church condones several vices, most noticeably those practiced by so many of its favored members such as Fr. James Martin. More strikingly, the leaders of the Synodal Church routinely denounce Traditional Catholics for their unwavering efforts to preserve and transmit the elements of the Church’s holiness described above.

Thus, the Catholic Church is holy, but the Synodal Church is sacrilegious.

The Church is Catholic

“Q. Why is the Church called universal or Catholic? A. Because Christ willed His Church to be universal in regard to time, place, and persons; that is to say, He willed her a Church of all times, of all tribes, and of all nations.” (p. 89)

Because the Synodal Church positively breaks with tradition, it is not universal in regard to time. Additionally, because the Synodal Church allows for tremendous variation in moral teaching in different places — as is evident in the way in which it allowed the African bishops to reject the Fiducia Supplicans authorization of blessings for same-sex unions — it further lacks this mark of being universal or Catholic.

Conversely, Traditional Catholics are labeled as backwards and rigid precisely because they demonstrate the universal nature of the Church as it relates to time, place, and persons. Traditional Catholics insist on this Catholic aspect of the Church because they seek the true, authentic Faith, which must be the same Faith practiced throughout the centuries by the great saints. The great saints would recognize the religion practiced by Traditional Catholics as essentially the same religion they practiced; and the saints would recognize very little in the Synodal Church, except the general anti-Catholic spirit that many of them fought and prayed so hard to oppose.

Thus, the Catholic Church is universal or catholic, but the Synodal Church is fragmented.

The Synodal Church — loves all people, and listens to all people; except for those who will not abandon the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

The Church is Apostolic

“Q. Why is the Church of Christ called Apostolic? A. Because Christ our Lord chose the Apostles as the first proclaimers of the Gospel, and because He subsequently established the Church through them. It must, therefore, be possible to trace back to them the true Church of Christ, by means of an uninterrupted succession of its chiefs, in order to point it out as the first, before the eyes of all the world, the Apostolic, and therefore the true Church of Christ. Any congregation which is unable to do this cannot be the true Church of Christ, since it wants that mark which the Apostle specially points out, writing: ‘Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow-citizens with the saints and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles.’ (Ephes. ii. 10, 20)” (p. 90)

From a purely technical standpoint of tracing episcopal consecrations, it is generally true that the Catholic Church and Synodal Church both appear to have this mark (even though some Traditional Catholics question the new rite of episcopal consecration). As with the external mark of unity, this contributes to the confusing nature of the crisis. However, this mark is also one of the most obvious ways to distinguish the Catholic Church and Synodal Church when we reflect on the fact that heretics cannot be Catholic bishops. This becomes important because many of those bishops who most enthusiastically support the Synodal Church oppose the Catholic Faith to such an overt extent that they cannot actually be considered Catholic, which is of course a necessary condition for being a Catholic bishop. Overall, rather than striving to faithfully follow what the Church passed down from Christ to His Apostles and their successors, the episcopate of the Synodal Church engages in a continuous revolution against the Church’s tradition.

Thus, the Catholic Church is apostolic, but the Synodal Church is revolutionary.

And if we are looking for the Catholic Church, we can find it by observing that Traditional Catholics have been persecuted by Rome for decades for refusing to stray from it.

All of this is by design. As discussed in a previous article, the Synodal Church is an inversion of the Catholic Church:

“Taking up the ecclesiological perspective of Vatican II, Pope Francis sketches the image of a synodal Church as ‘an inverted pyramid’ which comprises the People of God and the College of Bishops, one of whose members, the Successor of Peter, has a specific ministry of unity. Here the summit is below the base.” (International Theological Commission study on Synodality)

If this seems like a deliberate mockery of God and His Church, that is because it is. As a result, perhaps the most accurate description of the Synodal Church was from the prophetic words of Bishop Fulton Sheen from his Communism and the Conscience of the West:

“In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be the brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counterchurch which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ.” (p. 24)

Like the “ape church” described by Bishop Sheen, the Synodal Church has “all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content.” Thus, while the Catholic Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, the Synodal Church is multifarious, sacrilegious, fragmented, and revolutionary. This is the work of Satan.

Simple Catholics who truly want to do God’s will may not yet realize that the Catholic Church and Synodal Church are different, but many of them sense that the Synodal Church cannot be the true Church of Christ. Unfortunately, this causes many souls to mistakenly believe that the Catholic Church has lost its identifying marks. However, once we understand that the Synodal Church has been established by Satan and his minions to oppose the true Church of Christ, we have more reason than ever to reject the evils of Synodality and draw closer to the Catholic Church. And if we are looking for the Catholic Church, we can find it by observing that Traditional Catholics have been persecuted by Rome for decades for refusing to stray from it. Satan’s ape church — the Synodal Church — loves all people, and listens to all people; except for those who will not abandon the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. May God grant us the great blessing of never being accepted by the ape church from hell.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Source: remnantnewspaper.com