STEPHEN COUGHLIN: Tradition, the Deposit of Faith, and Revelation are center mass of how all future understandings are to be understood. V2 inverts the Church and subordinates it to the New Theology.

Properly understood, this rejects Tradition in favor of Nouvelle Théologie esotericism. Tradition, the Deposit of Faith, and Revelation are center mass of how all future understandings are to be understood. V2 inverts the Church and subordinates it to the New Theology. This is a profound intentional error. As a matter of Church doctrine, it cannot be true and, hence, cannot be Catholic. V2 expressly stated that it promulgated no new doctrines or dogmas. Hence, the last (real) Council was V1. Everything that was licit at V1 is still licit today. Nothing that was illicit then can be licit today. And that's just the way it is. It's that simple. In opaque language, Ratzinger said the same thing. It's not recent development, it's inherent in V2

— Stephen Coughlin (@S_Coughlin_DC) October 6, 2026

from Stephen Coughlin, 

Properly understood, this rejects Tradition in favor of Nouvelle Théologie esotericism. Tradition, the Deposit of Faith, and Revelation are center mass of how all future understandings are to be understood. V2 inverts the Church and subordinates it to the New Theology. This is a profound intentional error. As a matter of Church doctrine, it cannot be true and, hence, cannot be Catholic. V2 expressly stated that it promulgated no new doctrines or dogmas. Hence, the last (real) Council was V1. Everything that was licit at V1 is still licit today. Nothing that was illicit then can be licit today. And that's just the way it is. It's that simple.

In opaque language, Ratzinger said the same thing. It's not recent development, it's inherent in V2

 

POPE PIUS XII: Equality degenerates to a mechanical leveling, a colorless uniformity; the sense of true honor, of personal activity, of respect for tradition and dignity-in a word all that gives life its worth-gradually fades away and disappears.

Pope Pius XII on how mass democracy turns liberty into licentiousness and tyranny:

"Against this picture of the democratic ideal of liberty and equality in a people's government by honest and far-seeing men, what a spectacle is that of a democratic state left to the whims of the… pic.twitter.com/jIfe2qXQYa

— The Old World Show (@theoldworldshow) September 20, 2026

Pope Pius XII, 1876-1958, [WWII Pope, 1939-1958] on how mass democracy turns liberty into licentiousness and tyranny:

Against this picture of the democratic ideal of liberty and equality in a people's government by honest and far-seeing men, what a spectacle is that of a democratic state left to the whims of the masses! Liberty, from being a moral duty of the individual, becomes a tyrannous claim to give free rein to a man's impulses and appetites to the detriment of others. Equality degenerates to a mechanical leveling, a colorless uniformity; the sense of true honor, of personal activity, of respect for tradition and dignity-in a word all that gives life its worth-gradually fades away and disappears. And the only survivors are, on one hand, the victims deluded by the specious mirage of democracy, naively taken for the genuine spirit of democracy, with its liberty and equality; and on the other, the more or less numerous exploiters, who have known how to use the power of money and of organization in order to secure a privileged position above the others, and have gained power.

This quote is recorded in the fantastic book Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites, which covers social hierarchy in the Christian tradition, including the American tradition. [A website.]

The Amazon blurb reads, 

Since the eighteenth century, generations have been schooled in utopian principles proclaiming total equality as the guarantor of liberty and justice for all. The egalitarian myth of a classless society was proffered as the unquestionable path down which mankind must travel to reach perfect social harmony. This book does much to shatter these myths and provide a Catholic approach to the way society should be structured as seen by the Popes.