The heresy of 'Americanism' condemned by Leo XIII and now confronted by Leo XIV
- Apr 20
- 14 min read
The heresy of Americanism refers to a set of tendencies or errors that Pope Leo XIII condemned in his 1899 apostolic letter Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae ("Witness to Our Benevolence"), addressed to Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore. The Pope's condemnation of Americanism came 15 years after he became the 7th Pope to publicly condemn Freemasonry. As I will show, they are closely linked. Americanism is a blinding, unhealthy level of patriotism that actually rises to a level of idolatry. Adherents raise the ideals of "freedom", "liberty" and "the American dream" to religious levels of devotion. When a person is more offended by the burning of a flag than by the burning of a cross, you can be sure you have found a person that has fallen into the Americanist heresy.
Sadly, Americanism is a problem that has gotten worse, not better, over time, as political tribalism causes Catholics to choose political affiliation over faith- to the Democratic side in the north and metro areas, to the Republican side in the south and Rural areas. This is exacerbated by the fact that the United States of America is certainly not a good country now, if it really ever was. A large part of the deficient moral level of America is that most American Catholics, rather than being light dispelling the darkness, have been assimilated into it. Many Catholics in America are just indoctrinated Americanists willing to sell out their Catholic faith for a slice of Apple pie.
Each one of them is trying to outdo the other in their idolatry.
The new surge in entrants to Catholicism brings hope as the new Catholics are largely young, faithful Catholics that lean towards traditional cultural Catholic conservatism, but reject blind allegiance to political parties.
Nevertheless, this improvement can only progress so far, because the very political foundation of America is structurally Anti-Catholic and its ultimate failure was inevitable. I realize that what I am saying is not popular, but Christian truth never has been, and America was not founded upon Christian truth regardless of how much we want to believe it was. If there is one thing history has proven, it is that God and His church have outlived every government and civilization. America, by historical standards, has begun a death spiral sooner than many.
Because of the type and form of the American system of government, it was a predictable result. There was really never a chance that the "great experiment" could ever work. Democracies have always failed and though America is not a pure Democracy, it's close enough to be subject to the flaws of one.
America was essentially founded on the premise of government of the people, by the people and for the people. The idea, that the toddlers can be trusted to babysit themselves, has been proven to be a false one.
It always sounded so nice, but it proved to be so hopelessly idealistic as to be unworkable. The American system of government works in theory, if an educated, active and moral people elect educated, active and moral leaders who govern in an educated, active and moral way. The assumption that most Americans were, and would remain, educated, active and moral was always a pipe dream. Human nature tends to apathy, lethargy and self-interest.
In this sense, the vision of people, through the eyes of Americanism, is exactly the opposite of the reality presented by our Catholic faith. That is, that the ultimate freedom we seek comes from holiness, self-denial and sacrifice for others not the endless pursuit of self.
This is not to say that none of America's infant generation were devout Christians or even devout Catholics. It is to say that along with these, were many anti-Catholics, Deists and even Atheists who formed a government under the cloak of Freemasonry. Even a cursory bit of research reveals Masonic symbols, images and language present in the design of Washington DC and even on the back of a dollar bill.
The term Novus Ordo Seclorum, loosely translated as New Secular Order pronounced clearly the aim of the Masonic creed. In 1990, George Bush I proudly announced that we are entering the New World Order.
America has always celebrated "freedom" as the most important value for a citizen and the popular opinion of the voters trumps any and all, fixed morals or values. As a system, it is essentially an exercise in herding cats, and it has devolved into a process reliant on the manipulation of voters through both envy and fear. Freemasonry has also thrived on the premise that people can be united in religion by reducing our image of God to the lowest common denominator- someone who fits our own image and gives us what we want. Love without boundaries, Mercy without Justice, Tolerance without limits, Freedom without consequences.
It is not the value of freedom that I am decrying, it is the manipulation of language. People have subtly changed the true definition of freedom from the ability to do what I morally should do, into license, which is the removal of any restriction to doing whatever I want to do. Depravity and societal rot and ruin was the predictable result of this. An attitude that a person can have it all.
Historical Context
In the late 19th century, some European Catholic observers (particularly French conservatives) grew concerned about certain trends among U.S. Catholics. These included enthusiasm for American democratic values, individualism, church-state separation, and efforts to adapt Catholicism to modern American life to make it more appealing.
The controversy intensified around a French translation of a biography of Fr. Isaac Hecker (founder of the Paulist Fathers), whose introduction seemed to portray him as advocating a more "Americanized" form of Catholicism—emphasizing personal initiative, active engagement with the world, and downplaying certain traditional practices.
Political parties soon came to understand that they could persuade large segments of the Catholic voting public that the ideals of faith, country and party were in sync and synonymous. They did this by downplaying Catholic virtues and making them appear optional, while emphasizing and even embellishing areas of apparent agreement. In so doing, they instilled a belief that, if you are Catholic, you were morally obligated to vote for X party because of a shared interest.
For example, the Democratic party had a stranglehold on the Catholic vote by successfully promoting the image that Catholicism, Americanism and the Democratic party were all united in the basic principles of championing the marginalized, the outcast, the ''little guy''. The truth is that no such unity existed and the result of this party loyalty led to widespread corruption and a lowering of living standards as politicians no longer were required to deliver measurable results.
The results didn't matter because millions of these voters stayed loyal to the perception that Democrat = American = Catholic. It was pure idolatry but tough to combat because Hollywood, the Media and the powerful unions reinforced the narrative. "It's a wonderful life" is a classic example of a movie that echoes these themes.
In the 1980's, largely because of the pro-life movement, millions flipped the script and began to chant the new, and equally false, mantra that Republican = American = Catholic. One thing is certain in 2026. The faithful Catholic is politically homeless in America.
Pope Leo XIII saw the coming threat forming but did not accuse specific American bishops or priests of formal heresy. Instead, he warned against a loose collection of "new opinions" that, taken together, some were labeling "Americanism." He explicitly distinguished this from positive American traits (such as national character or political institutions), which he praised. He clarified that the Church is universal and cannot have a different doctrine or practice in America than elsewhere.
American prelates, including Cardinal Gibbons, largely responded by denying that such errors existed in the U.S. Church, calling it a "phantom heresy" with few or no actual adherents. Historians remain divided: some view it as a real (if exaggerated) risk of cultural accommodation, while others see the condemnation as more reflective of European Church politics or fears of modernism than of widespread U.S. doctrinal deviation.
This is just another example of a Pope seeing through time, if you will, at what looks like a negligible threat in his day, to how it threatens to unwind and spread into a major issue.
Specific Errors Condemned
Pope Leo XIII's letter focuses on trends that could undermine the Church's authority, doctrine, and supernatural orientation. Pope Leo highlighted several interconnected errors.
The first area is an overemphasis on interior initiative and personal conscience in the spiritual life, leading to neglect of external spiritual direction, obedience to authority, and the Church's magisterium. This could foster individualism and disobedience. In this context, all political parties played to the platitudes of 'love of country', 'freedom', 'liberty' and the culture exploded with the images of America as United. There is certainly nothing wrong with a healthy patriotism, but it got elevated to the level of religion and political figures got raised to an almost god-like status in movies, books and in schools. Worse yet, the idea got planted in the American psyche that these heroes purchased for us "The American dream" which is that I am both entitled to, and able to, be anything I want and have anything I want no matter the cost in money, hours, relationships...
In short, freedom was redefined to permit uncontrollable avarice and many a family has been destroyed by this.
The concern of Pope Leo XIII was that American Catholics would yield to a Preference for "natural" virtues (e.g., hard work, self-reliance, initiative) over supernatural virtues (faith, hope, charity, and those rooted in grace). Natural virtues are good but secondary and insufficient without grace. In short, faith in God deteriorated into lip service, replaced by faith in self.
The Pope was concerned that preference for "active" virtues (energy, practicality, engagement with the world), would win out over "passive" ones (obedience, humility, contemplation, and religious vows). This risked undervaluing contemplative religious orders and monastic life as outdated. Certainly, those fears were born out heavily and accelerated in the latter half of the 20th century.
Guided by Masonic ideology, the media, Hollywood, the entertainment industry and the government run schools, openly engaged in the disparagement of religious vows and the value of religious communities in the modern age, as if they restricted Christian liberty. This is exactly what Pope Leo XIII saw coming.
Americanism has resulted in minimizing or adapting Catholic doctrine to suit the times or attract non-Catholics, including a new approach to apologetics that downplays differences with Protestants or other faiths, or presents the Church as more accommodating to modern opinions (e.g., liberalism, pluralism). It cuts both ways. The liberals diminish the nuclear family and dismiss the church's prohibitions on abortion, euthanasia and the redefinition of marriage while those on the right have an insatiable greed and a sick obsession with guns and war.
The underlying principle Leo rejected was the idea that the Church should "shape her teachings more in accord with the spirit of the age," relax ancient severity, or make concessions to new opinions to gain converts or fit better into democratic societies. He insisted the faith is one, universal, and unchanging, centered on the See of Peter.
Americanism has left real, faithful Catholics isolated and, on an island, because neither party speaks for us and one is just as evil as the other. This was the natural consequence of the formation of the United States which was the natural consequence of the protestant revolt and of Freemasonry.
In short, the rejection of an earthly moral authority leads inevitably to chaos.
Relation to Broader Church Teaching
Americanism is sometimes linked to modernism (condemned more explicitly by Pope St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis in 1907), as both involve adapting doctrine to contemporary culture or prioritizing subjective experience over objective truth. However, Leo's letter is narrower and more focused on practical tendencies than on formal doctrinal propositions.
The Church has long taught that while Catholics can (and should) engage positively with their culture—as in the principle of "inculturation"—the deposit of faith cannot be altered or subordinated to national or political ideals. Religious liberty and church-state separation can be tolerated or even beneficial in certain contexts (as later affirmed at Vatican II in Dignitatis Humanae), but they are not ideals to impose universally or to use as a model for reshaping the Church itself.
Is It Still Relevant? Many Catholics today, across ideological lines, see echoes of Americanism in tendencies such as:
Treating faith as a private matter of personal opinion rather than submission to the Church's teaching authority ("cafeteria Catholicism").
Prioritizing cultural or political values (whether progressive accommodation or certain forms of American exceptionalism/nationalism) over universal Catholic doctrine.
Downplaying supernatural elements like grace, the sacraments, or contemplative prayer in favor of activism, self-help, or social engagement alone.
Constant parsing of the Pope's authority, as if it's only binding if he is sitting in the chair, officially pronouncing a doctrine, in union with a council, on a Tuesday, during a full moon....
Traditionalist voices often warn against Americanism in the context of excessive assimilation to secular American culture, while others apply it to any effort to "update" the Church along liberal lines. Pope Leo himself framed the warning as applicable beyond America, for the universal Church.
For the full text, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae is available in English translations from reliable Catholic sources (e.g., papal encyclicals archives). It remains a concise and insightful document on the tension between fidelity to the Gospel and engagement with any particular culture.
Pope Leo XIII understood the looming threat because he had a supernatural encounter that spelled it out clearly.
On October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII — then 74 years old — experienced a profound mystical vision after celebrating Mass in the Vatican’s private chapel. The event is often referred to as the Vision of the Pan-Catholic Prayer to St. Michael.
The Vision
Accounts describe that as Leo stood at the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard two voices — one gentle, one harsh. The harsh voice was identified as Satan, boasting of his power to destroy the Church. Jesus responded by granting Satan 75 to 100 years to carry out his plans, assuring that the Church would be defended through the intercession of the Archangel Michael . Some versions say Satan chose the 20th century as the period for his work
Leo’s Reaction
The vision reportedly left Leo pale and shaken; some accounts say he collapsed as if dead, but then awoke and described the terrifying image
Deeply moved, he composed the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, pleading for divine protection against evil.
The Prayer to St. Michael
Leo ordered that the prayer be recited at the end of all “low” (Low) Masses throughout the Church. The prayer asks St. Michael to defend the faithful, rebuke Satan, and cast him into hell. This practice continued until the 1968 liturgical reforms under Pope Paul VI, which suppressed the rite
Historical and Spiritual Significance
The vision occurred during a time of rising secularism and anti-clericalism in Europe.
Many Catholics interpreted it as a sign of the challenges ahead for the Church, especially in the 20th century, which saw World Wars, totalitarian regimes, and the spread of atheistic ideologies Catholic Stand. The event has become a cornerstone of Catholic devotion, symbolizing the ongoing spiritual battle between good and evil.
Legacy
Though Pope Leo XIII never publicly discussed the vision in detail, it remains a notable moment in his pontificate and in Catholic tradition. It is remembered not only for its spiritual weight but also for inspiring a devotional prayer that continues to be recited in some Catholic communities.
It is no coincidence that exactly 33 years later, on October 13th, 1917, 70,000 people saw the sun dance in the sky in Fatima, Portugal. This picture I took shows just about the exact spot where it occurred.
Pope Leo's locution and the urgent message of Fatima both confirmed that we are closing fast on the last days. Jesus and the Apostles talked much about a ''man of sin'' (2 Thessalonians 2:3) who would rise up ''in his own name'' (Matthew 11) from those who claim they are Jews but are really a "Synagogue of Satan" (Rev 2:9, 3:9). The Catholic church has always prophesied that the Antichrist would come from the Jews.
Lo and behold, About the time of Leo XIII's encounter, there emerged a new ideology championed by a man named Theodor Herzl. The theology came to be known as Zionism. Shortly afterward, a man named John Nelson Darby created an offshoot called Dispensationalism.
Zionism was primarily secular and political at its core (though it had religious and cultural variants), aiming to create a safe national home for Jews in historic Palestine amid persecution. It led to increased Jewish immigration and eventually the founding of Israel in 1948.
Dispensationalism is a Protestant Christian theological system that divides biblical history into distinct "dispensations" or eras in which God interacts with humanity differently. It emphasizes a literal interpretation of prophecy, a sharp distinction between Israel and the Church (as two separate peoples of God with different destinies), and often premillennial eschatology (including a pretribulational rapture of the Church).
It was systematized in the mid-19th century by John Nelson Darby (1800–1882), an Anglo-Irish clergyman and founder of the Plymouth Brethren. Darby developed these ideas around the 1820s–1830s through Bible study and Brethren gatherings in Ireland and Britain. He promoted them widely through writings, lectures (e.g., in Geneva in 1840), and travels.
Some elements (like premillennialism or ideas of distinct eras) had scattered precedents in earlier church history or among 17th–18th century figures, but Darby is credited with turning them into a coherent, influential system. It spread to the United States in the late 19th century via Bible conferences (e.g., Niagara Bible Conference), evangelists like Dwight L. Moody, and especially the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), which popularized it among American evangelicals.
The ideas of Zionism and Dispensationalism have caught on in American evangelical circles and shaped public policy. President John F Kennedy recognized the nefarious goals of this emerging nation, including unbridled expansion and the acquisition of nuclear weapons. He vocally opposed both and was likely assassinated for it. Those steeped in Catholic prophecy recognized it as the emerging foundation of the long-foretold antichrist.
Starting with JFK's successor, Lyndon Johnson, a sustained and relentless increase has taken place whereby the nation of Israel has become the world center of every conceivable evil- abortion, child trafficking, pornography, spying and public surveillance and blackmail and, of course, war.
An estimated 700,000 people have died in Israeli or Israeli-sponsored conflicts since 1948. Today, 93 out of 100 US Senators accept money from Israel and the banking industry, media and courts are all compromised.
Today, Americanism has paralyzed America, in large part because of Israeli control and influence, which means Zionist control and influence, which means Masonic control and influence, which means the stage is set for the antichrist.
The left and right's leaders are both championing Abortion or, at best, doing nothing to combat it. While the left pushes for illegal immigration and perversion, the right is pushing for unbridled greed and endless war. Neither side is showing any real effort to combat voter fraud or child sex trafficking. Worse, we are moving faster and faster towards criminalized censorship, the eradication of free speech and religion and a one world government complete with surveillance of every person and a programmable currency. In other words, the worst end-times horrors ever predicted are at our doorstep.
If recent events such as the Covid situation have shown us, all the technical, financial, surveillance, military and media platforms the antichrist would need, are in place now.
Doesn't it seem providential that Pope Leo XIV has been brought to a time like this? Carrying the mantle of Leo XIII, this American Pope has been chosen for a time like this to combat the vilest personification of Americanistic arrogance and depravity in the history of our nation, one Donald J Trump, himself.
In the 1940's, the Masons, The Illuminati and all of the darkest elements of the underworld staged a coup and created the biggest wolf-in-sheep's-clothing fraud scheme in world history. The Rothchilds (principally atheists) convinced the United Nations to form the "Nation of Israel" and, right under our eyes, Donald Trump is completing the process of handing control of our nation over to Israel, while openly backing every part of their agenda from unlimited surveillance, to blackmail and censorship, to digital currency, to military conquest of anyone in their way. Members of Trump's inner circle have even gone so far as to openly advocate for the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.
All that remains is for the antichrist to take his seat. Pope Leo XIV has been chosen by the Holy Spirit for such a time as this and has no fear of Benjamin Netanyahu or Trump or their evil agenda.
Americanism is no longer an option for Catholics. The two parties have both become vile cesspools of corruption, graft, murder and exploitation of children, surveillance, the crushing of basic human rights and, basically, tools of the antichrist.
The final trial warned about by people like Bishop Fulton J Sheen and the Fatima children is here. The antichrist is almost certainly alive and, on the earth, today. The America we knew and loved certainly doesn't exist today and really never did. America, as it turns out, is a tool in the Antichrist's rise to power. Catholics must reject the agenda of both parties.
Books like this one (compiled in 1975) point to the time we are in right now as the period of his arrival and at least one prominent Catholic exorcist says he is alive and on earth now.
Catholics like us usually refrain from ringing the eschatological alarm bells, but I believe, for the 1st time in history, literally all the pieces are in place and all that's left is the formality of his entrance.
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