Cardinal uses synodality to exclude Legionaries of Christ the King

Cathcon:  This group as far as I can see has not connection to the Legionaries of Christ.  Any further information that anyone has on the background would be gladly received, either as a comment or use the email box.  I could not see any bad press online.

Open Synodal Letter to Cardinal Rossi Regarding the Legion of Christ the King

Open Synodal Letter to Cardinal Rossi, Archbishop of Córdoba (Argentina)

Subject: Regarding the Legion of Christ the King

Your Eminence, allow me to address a few synodal lines that I deem appropriate. I will enter into the subject without further ado.

An official document from your Archdiocese dated 5/26/2025 (Prot. 125/2025) has gone viral these days (and will continue to go viral in several languages) signed by Your Eminence[1]. This decree decrees that the Legion of Christ the King (a virtuous youth group founded by Father Torres Pardo, a survivor of the emblematic Marxist siege of the Alcázar of Toledo) was expelled from your Archdiocese (prohibited from carrying out "any of its pastoral activities"), not because it violates any divine commandment or an article of the Creed, but because Your Eminence sees that the Legion opposes what you are "discovering in synodality" (sic).

Two series of questions arise here, which literally kept me up at night (and that's why the first thing I did this morning was start writing these lines).

First series of questions: What methods did Your Eminence use that led you to synodically discern that the Legion should be excluded? Who participated in that discernment? Where are the minutes of that discernment that would allow the "Holy People of God"[2] to know what happened? The "Final Document" of the Synod of Synodality spent much ink urging prelates to be transparent and to account for their actions before the People of God.[3] If this demand for transparency and accountability is required for ecclesial activity in general, it should be even more so for decisions deemed "synodal," such as this one about the cancellation of the Legion.

Perhaps Your Eminence made this decision in a personal capacity and uses the first person plural as a majestic plural, or perhaps he uses "we" because he made the decision together with his clerical curial advisors. If that is the case, then appeal to your episcopal Auctoritas and not to a "synodal discernment," since the so-called "Final Document" of the Synod laments autocracy. [4]

Now, if your decision was the fruit of a synodal discernment of the "Holy People of God," then we ask you to please be accountable and transparent, showing who met, how, and when to discern and come to the conclusion that "listening to the Word" (DF no. 6) now inspires them to cancel the glorious Legion of Christ the King. And, assuming that this popular-synodal assembly ever took place, were the Legionaries and their friends invited? Or is discernment carried out only by a caste of those chosen by the curial clerics? If so, what is synodal about this? If so, many might think that your modus operandi is more like Soviet assemblies under Stalinism than synodal meetings for "listening to the Word."

I still have a second set of questions… Considering that if there is one thing the Final Document of the aforementioned Synod emphasizes, it is the inclusion of “all,” repeating the term “all” to the extreme (DF # 2, 6, 8, …) and condemning the vague concept of “exclusion.”[5] Can Your Eminence please explain to us how now, by means of a laconic two-paragraph decree, a very fruitful youth group can be excluded from “communion, participation, and mission”[6] solely because it does not conform to an ongoing synodal discernment conducted by an anonymous group (especially in Córdoba, where the vast majority of young people never set foot in a church)?

In brief, the Supreme Pontiffs promote “synodality” to combat exclusion, and Your Eminence, by an unappealable decree, excludes a fruitful youth group in the name of “synodality.”

Your Holiness Leo XIV insists on the call to build "bridges." What kind of bridges is Your Eminence building by excluding, with a stroke of the pen, what we were told was one of the best youth groups in Córdoba?

Finally, His Holiness Benedict XVI and, after him, His Holiness Francis affirmed that "the Church grows by attraction." Could Your Eminence please explain to us how excluding the Legion will make the Church more attractive? The reality is that these types of measures are repugnant to the common faithful, since the average baptized person believes that if the synodal narrative of non-exclusion is accompanied by the open practice of synodal exclusion, then one falls into the most complete hypocrisy, which is not only one of the main reproaches that Our Lord addressed to the Pharisees (cf. Mt XXIII 13) but, moreover, is one of the vices most reproved by the "Final Document" of the aforementioned Synod (cf. DF no. 96).

Your Eminence, in the name of Christ and in my capacity as a member of the "Holy People of God," I ask you to give us a completely transparent account of the synodal process surrounding the very sad cancellation of the heroic Legion of Christ the King. Otherwise, no one will believe Your Eminence when you speak of "bridges," "welcome," "synodality," and "walking together," but rather many will think you are taking us for a ride.

Yours most devotedly in Christ the King and Mary the Queen, who are watching us from Heaven,

Father Juan

Argentine Priest

June 13, 2025, Jubilee Year

Footnotes

[1] Letter from Cardinal Rossi

Prot. No. 125/2025

Córdoba, May 26, 2025

To the President of the Legion of Christ the King in Córdoba, D. Gustavo Ramírez

Presenting

My highest consideration:

Having read all the material attached to the letter you sent me, in a timely manner, in the spirit of discernment in the mission that God entrusts to me at this time to accompany this Archdiocese, I have decided not to authorize the Legion of Christ the King to carry out any of its pastoral activities in the territory of the Archdiocese of Córdoba.

The motivation for this decision is the understanding that the proposal put forward by the Legion of Christ the King is not in line with what we are discovering regarding synodality, which is lacking in the Church of Córdoba.

I hope you can understand the decision taken, and I greet you fraternally.

In Christ and Mary

[Signature] SILVIO ROGER LOTO, SECRETARY, CHANCELLOR

[Signature] ANGEL SIXTO, Cardinal ROSSI, S.J., ARCHBISHOP OF CÓRDOBA

[2] This expression is used in No. 26 of the "Final Document" of the last session of the Synod of Synodality, dated 10/26/2024, which is the main current document on synodality. From now on, we will cite this document with the acronym DF. The translation is ours.

[3] The DF calls for "commitment to decision-making processes based on ecclesial discernment and a culture of transparency and accountability" (no. 80).

[4] The DF laments that "we live in an age marked by ever more marked inequalities, (…), by growing autocratic tendencies, ..." (no. 47).

[5] The Synod calls for "specific pastoral attention" to be given to "places of marginalization and exclusion" (DF no. 111).

[6] This is the motto of the Synod on Synodality.

On the death of Father Torres-Pardo, witness of Christ the King

Father José Luis Torres-Pardo (1928-2023) founded the Institute of Christ the King in Argentina, which also has houses in Spain and the United States.

Father José Luis Torres-Pardo (1928-2023) founded the Institute of Christ the King in Argentina, which also has houses in Spain and the United States.

Last Monday, April 24, Father José Luis Torres-Pardo passed away in Roldán, Argentina.

Father Torres-Pardo was born in Córdoba, Spain, in 1928. As a child of just seven, he lived with his parents during the heroic defense of the Alcázar of Toledo, which was finally liberated on September 28, 1936. He spent his childhood and youth in that Spain so full of courage and martyrdom in the service of Christ the King. He was raised in Christian virtues, in a warm home, and in an austere, healthy, and magnanimous social environment.

In 1948, he entered religious life in the Parish Cooperators of Christ the King, after having met the founder of that congregation, Father Francisco de Paula Vallet.

He was ordained a priest in Digne, France, in 1958 and served as novice master and superior of his congregation's house near Madrid. In 1968, he arrived in Argentina as the local and regional superior of Argentina and Uruguay, where he also carried out a fruitful activity, primarily preaching spiritual exercises and teaching doctrine.

After a serious discernment, in 1974 he left his beloved congregation, which he had served with fervent dedication and which he always remembered with affectionate gratitude. The then Archbishop of Rosario, Monsignor Guillermo Bolatti, offered Father Torres-Pardo the opportunity to teach at the diocesan seminary, where he was a professor of spirituality and various philosophical subjects for many years.

The Father had a profound appreciation for Christian wisdom and devoted himself intensely to its study; he enjoyed the "company" of the Word of God, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and other saints of his devotion, among whom Saint Ignatius of Loyola stood out in particular. When "striking and strange" opinions (regarding the Catholic faith) circulated, he strove to contrast the light of truth with the confusion of the moment.

Some of the young men who participated in the Retreat with him at that time felt called to follow him in the consecrated life, attracted by the clarity, strength, and anointing of his words. Thus a fledgling community emerged, to which Monsignor Bolatti gave initial approval in 1980.

The first brothers of the Institute of Christ the King: from left to right in the photo, Jorge Piñol (author of this article), José Laxague, Father Torres-Pardo, and Daniel Almada.

Thus was born the Institute of Christ the King, made up of priests and brothers. Along with the Institute, the Legion of Christ the King emerged, a movement of lay people who share the same charism of Christ's kingship.

To promote the spread of Christ's reign in both personal life and in the family and social spheres, Father Torres-Pardo intended that the Christ the King Institute should have as its pastoral priority the dedication to the formation and sanctification of priests and consecrated persons.

Monsignor Bolatti's successors in the Archdiocese of Rosario continued to approve and encourage the Institute's life. Today, the Institute has houses in Argentina and Spain, and also carries out its apostolate in the United States, where the Legion of Christ the King has received formal approval from two archdioceses.

For health reasons, Father Torres-Pardo resigned as Superior General of his Institute in 2011. From that moment on, he was completely occupied with prayer, study, and teaching the brothers residing at the Institute's motherhouse in Roldán, near Rosario, Argentina.

Over the last three years, Father Torres-Pardo's life had become simpler and consisted of spending almost all day in his oratory before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, with his rosary and some of his favorite spiritual readings. His priestly spirit was reflected most clearly in the centrality of the daily Mass.

His constant and growing spirit of piety was manifested primarily in his loving and filial devotion to the Triune God, to Jesus Christ the King, and to Mary Most Holy. This same spirit moved him to "feel with the Church" in every circumstance, while continuing to discern and suffer the weaknesses and vices of some of its members. His vision of faith and sincere love for Holy Mother Church instilled in him great respect and humble obedience to the pastors, always beginning with the Successor of Peter, regardless of the personal characteristics of each Pope of the last century.

We, the spiritual children of Father Torres-Pardo, feel completely grateful.

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