Author: Mark Docherty

As a lifetime Chicago cradle Catholic and clergy sex abuse investigator and child advocate attorney, the address by Cardinal Prevost in May of 2023 at the Universidad Católica Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, portends alarming theological and ecclesiastic tribulation for the Catholic Church as the newly elected Pope Leo XIV guides the Catholic Church—I mean the “New Synodal Church.”

Frankly, it’s shocking and inconceivable that a newly elected pontiff would cite as his guiding light the theology of Joseph Bernardin, a known sexual predator and radical collaborator of Marxist and community activist, Saul Alinsky. Here are a few books for Pope Leo XIV to read in the first months of his pontificate: 1)Malachi Martin’s Windswept House- Special attention should be given to the grotesque and demonic first chapter where a priest assists in the Satanic Enthronement of the Fallen Angel Lucifer Ceremony. That person in the satanic ritual is known as Cardinal Leonardine aka Joseph Bernardin. Malachi Martin described the scene as pure fact, only the names were changed. 2) The Rite of Sodomy-Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church authored by Randy Engel. In grueling and authoritative detail, Ms. Engel lays out the radical progressive agenda of the Catholic clerical homosexuals which not only shaped the “AmChurch” and destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent boys. To learn about your mentor, Joseph Bernardin begin on page 562 where he is described as “a flaming homosexual.”

In 1986, Bernardin paid to send Barack Obama to California to attend an Alinsky community organizing Marxist training seminar. The radical alignment of the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese under Bernardin and the Alinsky Marxists undermined the American Catholic Church and gave birth to the moral relativism of Bernardin’s seamless garment religion, which is referenced in Prevost’s speech.

Prevost espouses the “seamless garment” radical ideology of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, former Archbishop of Chicago. It is long overdue that American Catholics wake up about the real Joseph Bernardin, not the slick media puff pieces that defined his time in Chicago as Cardinal Archbishop. Pope Leo XIV better brush up on the Chicago Way of catholicism which ruined the American Catholic Church.

Below is the speech of Cardinal Robert Prevost-Translation provided by Mike Lewis at https://wherepeteris.com/pope-leo-xiv-on-cardinals-bernardin-and-cupich-and-the-value-of-life/

Discurso de Robert Francis Prevost

First of all, I would like to greet all the authorities present here today: His Eminence Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, who shares with us this great privilege this morning; His Excellency Archbishop Paulo Waltier, Apostolic Nuncio in Peru; His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, Metropolitan Archbishop of Trujillo and President of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference; His Excellency Bishop Jesús Moliné Labarta, Bishop Emeritus of Chiclayo—to whom we all owe a great deal for his many years of service to this diocese and this university—and all the bishops present.

I also extend my greetings to Monsignor Guillermo Cornejo, who is today the Grand Chancellor of this university, Dr. Patricia Campos, Rector of the Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University, the academic and civil authorities, others who are here today, my brother priests, the professors who are members of this faculty, and all distinguished participants in this ceremony.

I deeply thank the Rector and the authorities of this Catholic university for the meaningful gesture of conferring upon me the title of Doctor Honoris Causa. I am sincerely grateful, and if you’ll allow me to briefly step away from my prepared remarks, it feels as if, after hearing all these generous words, I should be heading straight to confession—because surely all of this cannot be true!

I have come here accompanying Cardinal José Tolentino, who was invited to celebrate the university’s silver anniversary. Indeed, we are truly blessed by his presence this morning. I thank him sincerely for his kind words, his goodness, and his generosity in participating in today’s ceremony, which holds great significance for our beloved Catholic university. This is a beautiful occasion as we celebrate within the framework of the 25 years of life of this cherished institution. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all those who have been part of the wonderful history of these years.

Now, I wish to share a few thoughts and reflections that perhaps align with what the sponsor, Dr. Rosa Sánchez, mentioned during her presentation, touching upon the mission of this university, which proudly carries the word “Catholic” in its name. Indeed, it aims to genuinely fulfill its mission of forming students from a perspective that transversally embodies the principles of the Gospel as well as the teachings of the Church.

Allow me to share reflections drawn from the discourses and insights of three cardinals—all from Chicago: Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who was Archbishop of Chicago in the 1990s; Cardinal Blase Cupich, who is currently the Archbishop; and myself, as you know, born in Chicago. As the Apostolic Nuncio humorously mentioned earlier, “Chicago, Chiclayo—what’s the difference? Just a single letter.”

Forty years ago, in the month of December, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago, delivered a speech at Fordham University in New York. This speech was truly historic for the Church, at least in the United States. It established a very significant direction in his ministry, presenting a new way of thinking about how the Church might respond to ethical challenges and problems that arose both at that time and continue to arise today.

These reflections particularly concern issues related to the value of human life. Last week, Cardinal Blase Cupich delivered another address at Fordham University in New York, marking the 40th anniversary of Cardinal Bernardin’s original speech. Cardinal Bernardin, deeply concerned about how abortion and other social justice issues had come to divide certain sectors within the Church, offered an important response rooted firmly in Church doctrine. From this teaching, he proposed looking outward, towards society, within a framework he called a “consistent ethic of life.” Cardinal Bernardin continued developing this idea up until his death.

Bernardin’s vision suggested understanding the Church’s moral teachings as responding holistically to the many challenges affecting human life, as if they were threads woven into a single garment. This perspective outlines a path for the Church, one which remains relevant today. For instance, a Catholic cannot truly claim to be “pro-life” by maintaining a stance against abortion while simultaneously advocating in favor of the death penalty. Such a position would lack coherence with Catholic social teaching. Our thinking and teaching must manifest coherence, consistently defending the value of human life from its beginning to its natural end.

As a community of believers—and also as members of broader society—we frequently find ourselves deeply troubled by divisions, perplexed, and occasionally confused by a series of emerging questions concerning life, the relationship between the Church and society at large, and even about personal identity and our relationship with ourselves. Divisions exist among Christians. For example, within the Church, there are people who harshly criticize the Holy Father or certain bishops, rejecting their teachings, actively fostering division. Merely glancing at blogs or interviews published over the last few months, particularly before and during the concluding month of the Synod on Synodality, one encounters numerous examples of misinformation, distortions, conspiracy theories, and erroneous interpretations about many beautiful experiences we shared during the Synod.

In a certain sense, I propose that we again embrace Cardinal Bernardin’s proposal—perhaps now more urgently than ever. Building upon Bernardin’s foundation, Cardinal Cupich has recently suggested reclaiming and further developing the concept of the consistent ethic of life, expanding it into what he calls a new, integral ethic of solidarity. By embracing this proposal, the Church can offer a precious gift to the People of God and indeed to all who seek the common good. If the Church takes seriously Pope Francis’s call to embody a synodal Church, we must instill an integral ethic of solidarity into every dimension of our lives.

The consistent ethic of life emerged from recognizing that a variety of moral questions spanning the entire spectrum of life—from conception to natural death—were increasingly pressing, partly due to the rise of new technologies. Today, these advances continue to pose profound challenges to the Church, families, individuals, and society as a whole. In Cardinal Bernardin’s words, across the spectrum of life—from genetic research, abortion, capital punishment, modern warfare, to the care of the terminally ill—these diverse issues are fundamentally rooted in one essential Catholic principle: the loss of even a single human life is a profoundly significant event.

Seen in this context, abortion, war, poverty, euthanasia, and capital punishment share a common identity: each one is rooted in a denial of the right to life. We could add other contemporary issues to this list, such as the implications of artificial intelligence, human trafficking, and the rights of immigrants, among many others.

Our response to all these challenges demands coherence, anchored in respect for human dignity and a genuine reverence for the image and likeness of God inherent in every human being. If we hold—as indeed we do—that the right of every unborn child must be protected by civil law and backed by civil consensus, then our moral, political, and economic responsibilities cannot end at the moment of birth. We must strive to ensure that every child born into this world receives the care they require, safeguarding their rights to life, health, and education. Those who champion the right to life for the most vulnerable among us must be equally visible in supporting the quality of life of others who are vulnerable, including the elderly, children, the hungry, the homeless, and undocumented immigrants.

At the same time, Cardinal Bernardin emphasized clearly that each issue has its distinct moral character. Any effort to conflate these issues, without properly understanding their relative moral importance, would diverge from Catholic teaching. In other words, the Cardinal did not claim that all life issues were morally equivalent. Rather, he stressed the unique character of each challenge or dilemma—each requiring its own criteria for analysis—while simultaneously underscoring the interconnectedness of all threats to human dignity.

One of our greatest challenges today, particularly within this Catholic university and indeed across all Catholic universities, is to discover the best way to teach and promote precisely this kind of thinking. We must strive to unify efforts within the Church, in politics, and across all sectors of society, working harmoniously to build a society in which the value of every human life is respected and protected.

Catholic universities carry an immense responsibility to deepen this reflection and, following the spirit of synodality, to accompany society in this vital task: illuminating challenges and proposing viable solutions. I thank you once again and congratulate everyone for the work done at this university, particularly on this special occasion celebrating the 25th anniversary of Universidad Católica Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo.

Happy anniversary to you all, and thank you very much.

https://www.yorechildren.com/blog/2025/5/20/the-chicago-way