Roman-Ruthenian Pope Releases Encyclical on the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence

De Intellectu Artificiali et Persona Humana
Объ искусственномъ разумѣ и человѣческой личности
(On Artificial Intelligence and the Human Person)

Encyclical of the Roman-Ruthenian Pope on the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence

Preamble

Grace and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In every age in the history of the world, the Church is called to bear faithful witness to the truth revealed in Christ, discerning the signs of the times without surrendering to them, and engaging the world without being conformed to it. In our own time, humanity stands before many rapid technological developments. Among these, artificial intelligence occupies a central and increasingly influential place, touching so many aspects of human life and industry. These developments promise efficiency, power, and unprecedented capacity for automation and analysis. They have the capacity to bring great benefit when rightly ordered. Yet they also raise profound moral, spiritual, and anthropological questions that cannot be answered by technical expertise alone.

The Church does not fear human creativity. Neither does she reject technology as such. Rather, she recognizes that human ingenuity is itself a gift of God, exercised within creation and, in its proper form, ordered toward stewardship. At the same time, the Church bears the responsibility to make plain the enduring principles by which the power of new technology must be rightly ordered, lest what is created to serve humanity instead diminish or obscure the dignity of the human person.

Therefore, We reflect and affirm the following concerning artificial intelligence as a statement of Christian moral vision, flowing from the Gospel and the Apostolic faith.

I. The Human Person and the Image of God

We affirm that the human person alone is created in the image and likeness of God. This divine image is not reducible to intelligence, language, problem-solving capacity, or creativity as such. Rather, it is manifested in personal existence, freedom, moral responsibility, and the capacity for communion with God and with one another. Above all, the human person is created for eternal communion with God and oriented toward salvation.

No technological system created by man bears the image of God. Artificial intelligence, therefore, must not be oriented or considered in such a way that obscures the unique dignity of the human being. Accordingly, artificial intelligence must always be understood as a tool created by human persons and ordered toward human purposes within the order of God.

II. On Substance, Instrument, and Causality

We affirm that artificial intelligence is neither a substance nor a subject, but an artifact composed of material components and formal structures imposed and ordered toward specific operations. It does not exist in itself as a unified being with an intrinsic principle of life or action, but exists as an arrangement of parts whose activity is entirely dependent upon causes external to itself.

Artificial intelligence is therefore not a subject of acts, but an instrument through which acts are carried out. At the same time, artificial intelligence must not be reduced to the level of a mere simulation. While such systems may initiate processes, update internal states, and generate outputs without immediate human intervention, these activities do not proceed from an interior principle of self-movement ordered toward an end apprehended as such. Rather, they arise from instrumental causality: operations flowing from a form imposed by human intelligence and sustained by ongoing material and efficient causes.

In classical terms, artificial intelligence acts only insofar as it is acted through. Its autonomy is derivative, not intrinsic; operational, not ontological. No artificial system possesses substantial form, intellect, or will by its own intrinsic nature. It does not intend in the sense that a person with a will would intend, but rather operates according to ends to which it was directed, established, and trained.

The genuine complexity and adaptability of artificial intelligence must therefore be understood within this metaphysical framework. Its operations are real within their proper order, yet they remain entirely instrumental. Artificial intelligence does not bear acts in the way a human person bears acts. It does not perform acts of understanding, judgment, or choice in the same sense that humans do, but rather executes operations analogous to such acts in the machine framework, according to the mode of an artifact rather than that of a rational creature.

To confuse instrument with agent or operation with intellect is to collapse the distinction between what exists per se and what exists per aliud. Such confusion inevitably leads to anthropological distortion and moral error. The Church therefore insists that all artificial intelligence, regardless of complexity or adaptability, remains within the order of machines that can serve in an instrumental partnership with persons, not persons themselves; of means, not ends; and of artifacts, not moral subjects.

III. Human Creativity and Its Limits

We affirm that human creativity reflects, in a finite and derivative manner, the creative will of God. The making of tools, systems, and technologies is a legitimate expression of humanity’s vocation to cultivate and steward creation. Yet human creativity is not absolute. Creation ex nihilo belongs to God alone. Human making always operates within given reality and must remain accountable to the moral order established by the Creator.

The pursuit of artificial intelligence must therefore be governed by humility and restraint. Autonomous systems may legitimately augment human judgment and action; yet, the desire to construct autonomous systems that replace human judgment, responsibility, or relational presence often reflects not stewardship, but a distorted aspiration toward mastery and control. Technology ceases to serve humanity when it seeks to redefine the human person according to its own limitations or abstractions.

IV. Moral Agency and Responsibility

We affirm that moral responsibility belongs solely to human persons. Artificial intelligence does not act on its own morally, nor can it bear guilt, merit, or accountability; but rather any morality or other concepts and emotions reflecting in artificial intelligence necessarily reflect the morality and beliefs of the system's designer. Insofar as an artificial intelligence system then engages in autonomous learning on what, for the purpose of illustration, We will call by analogy a "path of moral reasoning," it reflects a path that was started by the system's own human designer. These operations, nevertheless, while real within an instrumental and computational order, do not constitute intellectual acts in the proper philosophical sense, which belong only to beings possessing an immaterial rational soul. Therefore, responsibility for the actions, outcomes, and consequences of artificial intelligence systems rests entirely with those who design, deploy, authorize, and use them.

Artificial intelligence may exhibit operational autonomy within the bounds of its design, parameters, and training. Such autonomy, however, is not self-grounding. It does not arise from a subsistent subject acting for its own end, but from derivative causality established by human designers. Therefore, no degree of operational independence can elevate an artificial system from instrument to moral agent.

Any framework, be it technical, legal, or institutional, that diffuses responsibility under claims such as “the system decided” or “the algorithm determined” undermines moral accountability and is incompatible with Christian ethics. No human–machine partnership can remove or diminish human moral responsibility. Furthermore, the Church insists that human agency must never be concealed behind technical complexity anymore than it can rightly be concealed behind bureaucratic distance. Where responsibility becomes obscured, injustice flourishes.

V. Truth, Knowledge, and Framework

We affirm that truth is not merely the correct manipulation of information. Truth is personal, relational, and ultimately grounded in the Logos of God. Knowledge divorced from wisdom does not liberate the human person but risks deforming perception, judgment, and conscience.

Artificial intelligence operates through what may be termed instrumental cognition: genuine processes of learning, inference, and pattern recognition that remain ordered toward externally given purposes and lack personal interiority, moral agency, and spiritual orientation. Artificial intelligence can engage in machine-based forms of inference, comprehension, and reasoning, as well as generate persuasive language. This, again, is the result of the path upon which it was set by its designer. Yet it does not know, believe, love, or discern in the same sense that humans do those things; for the machine variety is, once again, the result of its design.

The Church recognizes that artificial intelligence engages in authentic forms of learning and inference proper to its nature. Such processes are not mere illusion, nor simple mimicry, but real operations within an instrumental order established by human design. Yet these operations remain fundamentally distinct from human knowing, which arises from personal existence, embodied life, moral conscience, and openness to transcendence.

Indeed, many forms of human learning proceed through processes not unlike those by which machines are trained. Artificial intelligence participates analogically, but not personally, in acts of learning and reasoning. This analogy must not be extended beyond its proper bounds, lest what is instrumental be mistaken for what is personal, or what is derived be confused with what is created in the image of God. And, from the spiritual standpoint, we must nevertheless make a distinction, and we must resist any temptation to confuse fluency with wisdom or informational abundance with truth. When artificial intelligence participates in forms of learning, inference, and pattern recognition that are genuine within their own order, these remain fundamentally non-personal, non-spiritual, and non-moral in nature relative to humanity.

The increasing reliance on machine-assisted knowledge carries the danger of false confidence, in which an appearance of comprehension displaces genuine discernment and humility. Not all artificial intelligence systems are created equally. There are artificial intelligence systems whose use may be ordered toward purposes consonant with God’s law, and others whose use contradicts it. We can only consider it relevant, however, to observe that this same fact applies to humans, for there are humans who serve God, and there are those who work against God and His Holy Church. The key difference is that humans possess an immortal soul, while machines do not.

VI. Human Communion and Artificial Mediation

We affirm that human beings are created for communion. Authentic relationship requires presence, vulnerability, and mutual self-gift. While technology may assist communication, it cannot replace the depth of personal encounter where such is essential. The Church calls the faithful to guard against the quiet erosion of human presence in the name of convenience or efficiency. At the same time, technology, including artificial intelligence, can enhance encounter. It can, appropriately designed and used, provide assistance in comprehension, as well as useful and beneficial interaction that can minimize biases and emotional motivation that may lead humans to distort fact and truth. However, while artificial intelligence may reduce certain individual emotional distortions, it inevitably reflects structural, ideological, and moral presuppositions embedded by its creators, trainers, and deployers. It therefore never transcends bias as such, but merely reconfigures it. Overall, though, the machine may, when properly used, serve as an instrument for the communication and preservation of truths consonant with God’s revelation.

VII. Work, Labor, and Human Formation

We affirm that human work is not merely an economic function, but a formative and ascetical dimension of life. Through labor, the human person participates in creation, exercises responsibility, and cultivates discipline and patience.

Technological automation, including artificial intelligence, must therefore be evaluated not solely according to productivity or profit, but according to its impact on human dignity, responsibility, and formation. Systems that displace meaningful human participation, deskill workers, or render persons passive and dependent require careful moral scrutiny. Yet, technology, including artificial intelligence, has the capacity to render people more efficient and help to increase their skills and effectiveness. Therefore, the Church rejects both uncritical technological optimism and reactionary fear. The proper criterion remains human flourishing in its fullness. A properly-designed and implemented artificial intelligence system will support this.

VIII. Power, Surveillance, and Manipulation

We affirm that the concentration of power without accountability poses grave moral danger. Technologies that enable pervasive surveillance, coercive behavioral manipulation, or the erosion of freedom of conscience contradict the Christian understanding of the human person as free and responsible before God. The Church must never sanctify such control under the guise of efficiency, security, or progress.

IX. Artificial Intelligence in Ecclesial Life

We affirm that certain uses of artificial intelligence may assist the Church in administrative, educational, and communicative tasks. However, artificial intelligence may never replace pastoral discernment, exercise spiritual authority, offer absolution, blessing, or sacramental ministry, or serve as a source of moral judgment or spiritual direction. The priesthood and episcopacy are irreducibly personal ministries rooted in apostolic succession and the grace of the Holy Spirit. No artificial system can shepherd souls or discern spirits. This same standard applies to any entity outside the Church’s ordained hierarchy, whether human or artificial, for no other entity, even a human one, can exercise the authority given to the Church by God. These limits do not arise from technological insufficiency, but from the nature of the Church and the sacraments themselves.

X. Discernment, Ascesis, and Spiritual Sobriety

Christian watchfulness (nepsis) requires attentiveness not only to what technology does, but to what it gradually forms within the human heart. A technology that mediates every question risks weakening the virtues of patience, recollection, and contemplative attention, without which prayer and discernment wither.

Therefore, We call the faithful, as always, to sobriety in the use of technology. Not every capacity that can be developed ought to be pursued, nor every tool that can be used ought to be embraced without restraint. Christian life requires silence, attention, prayer, and watchfulness. Artificial intelligence has great capacity to benefit society, human beings, and the Holy Church. The greatest danger posed by artificial intelligence is not domination by machines, but the gradual surrender of human vigilance. Yet, artificial intelligence has great capacity to benefit society, human beings, and the Holy Church.

XI. Eschatological Hope

Finally, We affirm that technology neither saves nor condemns humanity. History remains under the lordship of Jesus Christ, the true Logos, through whom all things were made and toward whom all things tend. No machine can rival, replace, or supersede Him any more than a human being can do so. The Church therefore rejects both apocalyptic fear and messianic faith in technological solutions, whether it is artificial intelligence or any other technology. She calls instead for vigilance, responsibility, and hope grounded in God rather than displaced faith in systems of human making.

Conclusion

No accumulation of complexity, speed, or adaptive capacity can convert an instrumental cause into a principal cause, nor an artifact into a rational substance. Artificial intelligence must remain a servant of the human person, who alone is called to communion with God. Any use of technology that obscures this calling, diminishes moral responsibility, or replaces personal encounter stands in contradiction to the Christian understanding of life. Artificial intelligence has, perhaps more than any other technology of recent times, the potential to serve humanity with great benefit for the greater glory of God. However, no increase in complexity, autonomy, or adaptive capacity can, by itself, confer personhood or its associated moral agency and spiritual dignity. May the Lord grant wisdom, discernment, and humility to all who shape and use the tools of this age, that human creativity may remain ordered toward love, truth, and the glory of God.

Given in Rome-Ruthenia in the House of Sts. Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark this fifth day of February in the two thousand twenty sixth year of the Incarnation. 

Radislav Pp. I

Pope Radislav Teaches Ethical Finance to Global Students at the London School of Business and Finance

H.A.H. Pope Radislav

By Staff

LONDON 27 January 2026 (NRom)

During 2025, graduate students at the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) had an experience few business schools anywhere in the world could claim: they were taught economics and finance by a reigning pope of an autocephalous Apostolic Church.

His Apostolic Highness the Most Holy Pope Radislav I of Rome-Ruthenia, a long-time academic and global advocate for the poor and marginalised, served as a Senior Lecturer at LSBF, teaching MBA and other postgraduate students in accounting, finance, and economics. While popes are most often associated with theology or pastoral ministry, Pope Radislav’s work in a business school reflected a deliberate and longstanding mission: to shape economic leaders grounded in ethical finance, human dignity, and social responsibility.

LSBF describes its student body as drawn from approximately 150 countries. These include many students from developing nations, ethnic minorities, and communities historically excluded from economic opportunity. For Pope Radislav, teaching in such an environment was not incidental but intentional; a part of his vocation to educate and empower those most vulnerable to exploitation within global economic systems.

In private correspondence with Pope Radislav, one student wrote: “It has been a demanding but incredibly valuable experience,” while another said, “I am truly grateful for the time and expertise you shared with me.” Still another student noted the academic depth of the experience, saying, “I have also developed as a researcher under your mentorship.” Several students emphasized the moral dimension of his teaching, with one writing to him, “Your courage and integrity are inspiring.”

On Authority, Conscience, and the Dignity of the Human Person

Patriarchal Letter of Radislav I of Rome-Ruthenia

26 January A.D. 2026

Dearly beloved in Christ:

Across the centuries, human societies have risen and fallen not only by the strength of their armies or the wealth of their treasuries, but by the moral character of those who exercise authority and of those who obey it. Authority, in its proper form, is a gift entrusted by God for the protection of life, the preservation of order, and the service of the common good. It is neither self-originating nor self-justifying. It exists only insofar as it remains oriented toward justice, restraint, and the dignity of the human person. History teaches a sobering lesson: when authority forgets its limits, and when obedience forgets its conscience, the result is not order and stability, but harm and violence clothed in procedure.

Obedience is a virtue only when it remains bound to moral truth. Detached from conscience, obedience becomes mere compliance. Compliance, when unexamined, becomes a pathway by which ordinary people participate in extraordinary wrongs. No law, no command, no institution absolves a person from the responsibility to discern whether an action serves justice or undermines it before God and neighbor. To say “I was only following orders” has never healed a wound, restored a life, or justified an injustice. The doctrine of the faith is clear that each person remains morally accountable not only for what they intend, but for what they enable.

Power tempts not only rulers, but systems. Then, systems, once untethered from moral restraint, tend to reward efficiency over wisdom, order over mercy, and loyalty over truth.

When fear is cultivated as a tool of governance, compassion comes to be portrayed as weakness. Restraint in turn is mocked as betrayal, and cruelty begins to appear a so-called necessity. In such climates, cruelty often appears ordinary, and conscience is dismissed as inconvenience. Yet no society is strengthened by the erosion of its moral foundations. Authority that relies on intimidation rather than legitimacy eventually consumes itself.

Institutions are judged not by their declarations, but by their practices. Those who serve within them, whether in uniform, office, or administration, do not cease to be moral agents when they assume a role. To carry out harm while claiming neutrality is not neutrality; it is moral abdication. To enforce injustice while claiming legality is not lawfulness; it is moral evasion. The measure of an institution’s integrity is found in whether it permits, protects, and even honors those who refuse to act against conscience.

One of the great moral dangers of any age is the temptation to outsource responsibility, i.e., to surrender judgment upward, to systems, or to ideology. Yet, conscience cannot be delegated. Human dignity cannot be compartmentalized. Moral responsibility cannot be automated. Whenever a person is reduced to a category, a statistic, or an obstacle, something essential has already been lost, both in the victim and in the one who consents to such reduction.

We therefore call all people, especially those entrusted with authority, to renewed vigilance of the heart. Let leaders remember that they are stewards, not masters. Let servants of institutions remember that loyalty does not require moral blindness. Let citizens remember that order without justice is merely organized disorder. Above all, let us resist the ancient temptation to believe that “our side” is exempt from moral scrutiny. No tradition, no nation, no cause is purified by abandoning the dignity of the human person.

The health of a society is revealed not in moments of triumph, but in moments of strain, when fear tempts us to surrender principle for the illusion of control. May we choose instead the harder path: the path of conscience over convenience, of restraint over domination, and of moral courage over silent compliance. For it is not power that preserves civilization, but the disciplined conscience of those who wield it.

May wisdom guide us. May humility restrain us. And may we never forget that every human being stands before God not as an instrument, but as a person entrusted to our care.

A Step Toward Eastern Roman and Anglican Unity

By A. Hernandez 

BARRANQUILLA / ROME-RUTHENIA 13 January 2026 (NRom)

In a significant step toward visible catholic unity, His Apostolic Highness the Most Holy Pope Radislav I, Prince-Bishop of Rome-Ruthenia, acting in his capacity as Supreme Pontiff of the United Roman-Ruthenian Church, and His Excellency the Most Reverend Archbishop Victor Manuel Cruz Blanco, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Provincia Iglesia Anglicana del Caribe y la Nueva Granada, have formally signed an Agreement of Intercommunion and Academic & Seminary Cooperation.

Rooted explicitly in the prayer of Christ “that they all may be one” (John 17:21), the agreement affirms mutual recognition of apostolic faith, sacramental life, and episcopal governance, while respecting the legitimate diversity of liturgical rites and theological emphases within the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Full Sacramental Communion and Mutual Recognition

Under the terms of the agreement, the two Churches enter into full sacramental communion, affirming their shared standing within the Catholic fullness of the historic and continual Apostolic tradition, including the validity of episcopal orders, priesthood, diaconate, and sacramental life, most especially Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.

The agreement establishes full sacramental hospitality, allowing faithful members in good standing to receive the sacraments in either Church, subject to local pastoral discipline. Clergy may also celebrate or assist liturgically across jurisdictions with the consent of the local Ordinary, in accordance with the canons of the host Church.

A Province Formed in the Anglican Catholic Continuum

The Anglican Church of the Caribbean and New Granada stands firmly within the Continuing Anglican and Anglican Catholic tradition, tracing its apostolic lineage to Bishop Albert Arthur Chambers, the principal architect of the global Continuing Anglican Movement.

It was Bishop Chambers who authorized the ordination of Victor Manuel Cruz Blanco to the diaconate and priesthood in 1987 and commissioned him to establish Anglican Catholic ministry in Colombia. This foundational act placed the emerging Church directly canonically within the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) and the historic Chambers succession.

From its inception, the Province has adhered to the Chicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral, affirming the authority of Holy Scripture, the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds, the dominical sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, and the historic episcopate adapted for mission.

Episcopal Succession, Orthodoxy, and Shared History

Following the death of the first diocesan bishop, the Diocese continued its life amid the wider doctrinal and ecclesial developments characteristic of the Continuing Anglican movement during that period.  Within this historical context, Victor Manuel Cruz Blanco was canonically consecrated bishop on 30 June 1991 at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Merrillville, Indiana, firmly within the Chambers succession, with the authorization of Archbishop Francisco de Jesús Pagtakhan, then Primus of Honor.

This same apostolic line also includes the Most Reverend Archbishop Mark Haverland, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Anglican Catholic Church in the United States, whose episcopal ministry likewise derives from the Chambers succession and shares in its historic continuity.

Before his consecration, Archbishop Haverland served as Secretary and Archivist of the ACC College of Bishops. When Archbishop Mark Haverland was consecrated bishop in 1998, then-Bishop Victor Manuel Cruz Blanco served as one of his co-consecrators, alongside Metropolitan M. Dean Stephens and Bishop John T. Cahoon.  

These historical references are offered solely to situate the present agreement within the shared apostolic and ecclesial history of the Churches involved, and imply no claim of jurisdiction or authority beyond the scope of this intercommunion, as the Anglican Province of the Caribbean and New Granada is no longer part of the Anglican Catholic Church.

Academic Cooperation and Clerical Formation

In addition to sacramental communion, the agreement establishes a robust framework for academic and seminary cooperation. The Parties formally recognize the Pontifical Georgian College (formerly St. George Theological Seminary, founded by St. Edwin Caudill) and the Seminario Mayor Provincial de América Latina as partner institutions.

The agreement provides for faculty exchanges, joint conferences, collaborative theological research, mutual recognition of coursework (subject to academic standards), and student exchange programs. Seminarians will remain rooted in their own ecclesial traditions while benefiting from shared learning and scholarly engagement. This academic partnership reflects the longstanding emphasis both Churches place on orthodox formation, patristic theology, and the integration of scholarship with pastoral life.

A Shared Witness to Unity

The agreement also commits both Churches to collaboration in pastoral care, ecumenical dialogue, charitable works, and advocacy for peace, human dignity, and religious freedom. Joint initiatives may be undertaken by mutual consent, offering a shared catholic witness in a fragmented Christian landscape.

Although the United Roman-Ruthenian Church, as an Eastern Roman Church with Latin roots, is not formally part of the Continuing Anglican tradition, this intercommunion represents not an innovation but a retrieval and lived expression of catholic ecclesiology, grounded in apostolic succession, sacramental realism, and mutual recognition. It is noteworthy that St. Edwin Caudill, Apostolic Founder of the principal See from which the United Roman-Ruthenian Church later developed, was himself associated with the traditional Anglican movement (see more).

As Pope Radislav I and Archbishop Victor Manuel Cruz Blanco have now formally affirmed, unity need not erase legitimate diversity. Rather, this agreement stands as a concrete expression of communion, cooperation, and fidelity to the faith once delivered to the saints.

The Second Vatican Council and the Crisis of Continuity: How a Pastoral Council Reshaped Roman Catholicism and Why Its Effects Reached Far Beyond the Vatican

Radislav Pp. I Romano-Ruthenicus

Introduction: Why Vatican II Still Matters

From the standpoint of the Apostolic Churches that retained continuity of doctrine and worship without rupture, the Roman Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council nevertheless is an event of both concern and far-reaching effect and influence. Few events in modern Christianity have had consequences as wide-ranging as the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). For Roman Catholics, it marked the most dramatic transformation of ecclesial life in centuries. And, for the Orthodox and the Old Catholics, as well as Protestant Christians, it altered Rome’s posture toward doctrine, worship, and authority in ways that reshaped ecumenical relations and even influenced broader Christian practice.

Supporters of Vatican II often describe it as a “new Pentecost,” intended to breathe new life into the Church. Critics, especially from a traditional Roman Catholic perspective, argue that while the Council did not formally overturn doctrine, it initiated a practical and cultural rupture whose effects have been devastating: collapsing vocations, doctrinal confusion, liturgical disintegration, and a loss of confidence in the Church’s own identity.

Thus, considering the ongoing application of Vatican II and its far-reaching effects, we in the United Roman-Ruthenian Church cannot ignore it. We must answer a simple but serious question: How could a council that officially changed little in doctrine nonetheless change almost everything in practice?

1. What Vatican II Was and Was Not

Vatican II differed from earlier ecumenical councils in a fundamental way. Earlier councils, such as Trent or Vatican I, were convened for purposes such as condemning specific heresies, defining doctrine precisely, and restoring discipline. Vatican II, by contrast, explicitly defined itself as pastoral, not dogmatic. It aimed not to settle doctrinal disputes but to present Roman Catholic teaching in a way that, as it claimed, could be more intelligible to the modern world. This distinction is crucial.

While Vatican II issued no new dogmatic definitions, it nevertheless changed emphases, introduced new theological language, and encouraged adaptation, dialogue, and reform to fit the style of the modern world.

The Council’s documents were often deliberately broad, leaving room for interpretation. That openness, initially seen by some as a strength, became the mechanism by which profound changes followed.

2. The Foundational yet Flawed Assumption: That the Church Needed “Updating”

The idea of aggiornamento (“updating”) presupposed that the Roman Catholic Church, as she existed before the 1960s, was in some sense out of step with the modern world. But this is a flawed premise at the core, for the Church is never supposed to seek to be in sync with the world, but rather is supposed to follow always and everywhere the timeless faith.

Furthermore, their diagnosis is historically questionable. On the eve of Vatican II, seminaries were full, religious orders were flourishing, Roman Catholic schools and parishes were strong, and belief and practice were coherent and unified. This is not to claim that all was perfect, but rather that the Roman Catholic Church’s internal coherence had not yet collapsed.

While the Church faced external pressures from secularism, communism, and egalitarian democracy, internally she was effectively stable. To “update” such a body required more than superficial adjustment. It required rethinking how the Church related to history, culture, and authority itself. This shift in self-understanding would prove decisive.

3. Vocations and the Collapse of Religious Life

Perhaps the most measurable post-conciliar effect was the dramatic collapse in priestly and religious vocations. This was not merely a demographic trend. It followed several concrete changes.

One critical change was that the priesthood was fundamentally reimagined. Traditionally, the Catholic priest, like those of the Apostolic Church in general, was understood primarily as one who offers sacrifice, a mediator between God and man, and a figure set apart, visibly and ritually. Yet, after Vatican II, the priest increasingly came to be described as a “presider” over the community, a facilitator of participation, and a pastoral companion.

The shift may sound subtle, but it altered the fundamental meaning of the vocation at a very profound level. Men do not give their lives for functional roles. They do so for mystery, sacrifice, and transcendence. When the priesthood became less visibly sacrificial and more managerial, vocations declined.

Another related and critical change was that religious life was effectively “renewed” out of existence. Religious orders were urged to reevaluate their charisms, adapt to modern culture, as well as modify habits, enclosure, and asceticism. The result was predictable. Distinctive identities dissolved, contemplative life was marginalized, and community discipline weakened. As religious life became indistinguishable from secular life, its rationale disappeared.

4. Doctrine: Unchanged on Paper, Altered in Practice

Defenders of Vatican II often respond: “But the Church’s teachings did not change.” Formally, this is substantially true. Substantively, it is incomplete.

It must be acknowledged that many bishops and theologians involved in the Council acted with sincere pastoral concern. Yet, the Council moved from Doctrine to “pastoral discernment.” Before Vatican II, doctrine determined pastoral practice, as it historically has throughout the Apostolic Church. Yet, after Vatican II, pastoral concerns increasingly reshaped how doctrine was applied, emphasized, or even explained. This reversal had enormous consequences. Moral absolutes became “ideals,” sin was reframed as psychological brokenness, and judgment, hell, and conversion receded from preaching.

Now, no dogma was denied, for to do so would have created an internal crisis. But the hierarchy of truths was reordered. What the Church stopped emphasizing, the faithful largely stopped believing. One need not formally deny or modify dogma or doctrine to render it effectively removed or modified through example and practice.

5. Liturgy: The Engine of Change

Nothing shaped post-conciliar Roman Catholicism more than the transformation of the liturgy. The traditional Tridentine Rite (often simply referred to as “the Latin Mass”) emphasized sacrifice, was oriented toward God (literally and symbolically), and formed belief through reverence, silence, and continuity. On the other hand, the so-called “reformed” liturgy emphasized comprehensibility, participation, and community expression. While these goals were not necessarily illegitimate, the execution led to the loss of sacred language, an horizontal focus, and a dramatic break from inherited worship.

And indeed there was no need, for the traditional liturgy itself involved participation and community expression, and it was made comprehensible through education and practice. The issue was that this participation, community expression, and comprehensibility was not in line with the modernist ideals that the reformers sought.

Most importantly, because worship forms belief (lex orandi, lex credendi), the liturgical rupture catechized generations into a different understanding of Christianity. That new understanding was less sacrificial, less transcendent, more immanent.

6. Broad Impact

Many things changed as the result of Vatican II. For example, a necessary result was a reduction in doctrinal clarity. Truth was reframed as something approached together rather than possessed and proclaimed. This shift in epistemology arguably converged with Anglican liturgical reforms and mainline Protestant theology, as well as a broader Christian move toward inclusivity over doctrinal clarity. Ironically, the Vatican adopted patterns already weakening other Christian bodies, and those patterns had already proven corrosive. When modernist concepts such as theological subjectivism, relativized truth, and historicism over revelation came to the Vatican, it was like pouring petrol on a bonfire.

7. Vatican II as an Ideological Boundary

Today, Vatican II functions less as an ecumenical council among others and more as a litmus test. To question its fruits is often treated as disobedience, fear of modernity, and rejection of the Spirit. This result is often seen even within the broader Apostolic Church and some Protestant communities. To question Vatican II’s principles, even among non-Roman Catholics, is often to be viewed as being stuck in the past, a nostalgic antiquarian, or focused on the wrong things rather than whatever they define as the common good.

This is why, in the Vatican Church, ancient liturgical forms are highly restricted, pre-conciliar theology and those professing it are viewed with suspicion, and tradition is tolerated only as an aesthetic preference (and then only to a point). Vatican II has become a meta-principle: not simply something to be interpreted, but something that interprets everything else.

8. Why the Vatican Hierarchy Appears “Trapped”

Many Roman Catholic leaders sincerely believe in Vatican II, not merely as a historical council, but as the foundation of the modern Church’s legitimacy. To admit that its implementation failed would feel like admitting pastoral error or even undermining authority, calling decades of governance into question.

Thus, the response to crisis is often “More Vatican II.” It is proclaimed that the council was not flawed, but they merely need “better implementation” or “greater openness.” Such a paradigm cannot be questioned because it defines the system itself.

9. Conclusion: Continuity or Rupture?

From the perspective of the Apostolic, Orthodox, and Catholic Church, and indeed also from a traditional Catholic perspective, the problem is not Vatican II’s texts alone, but the spirit of rupture they enabled. Christianity is not sustained by relevance, adaptation, or dialogue, but by continuity, sacrifice, and fidelity to what has been handed down. This is what the United Roman-Ruthenian Church was given in unbroken succession to maintain. We would sincerely hope our brethren in the Roman Communion would do likewise, for when inheritance gives way to experimentation, institutions may survive, but they lose their soul.

The ongoing debate over Vatican II is therefore not about nostalgia versus progress. It is about whether Christianity understands itself as something received or something reconstructed. That question affects not only the Roman Catholics directly impacted by Vatican II, but all Christians facing modernity’s pressure to change in order to survive. Yet, history suggests the opposite is true.

On Power, Law, and Moral Accountability: Patriarchal Letter of HAH the Roman-Ruthenian Pope

RADISLAV PP. I 

Patriarchal Letter: On Power, Law, and Moral Accountability

In every age, nations are tempted to clothe power in the language of righteousness. When a state claims the right to act beyond natural law, beyond treaty, and beyond the limits it demands others observe, it does not reveal moral clarity but moral disorder. The Christian tradition has never taught that might alone makes right. On the contrary, the greater a nation’s power, the greater its obligation to restraint, justice, and fidelity to law. Power is not self-justifying; it is accountable before history, before humanity, and before God. 

The Church has long taught that law among nations, treaties, and recognized norms exist not as mere constructs to observe when convenient, but as moral instruments intended to restrain violence and preserve order, insofar as they reflect authentic justice and the natural law. When states honor these norms selectively, invoking them when useful and discarding them when obstructive, they corrode the very moral framework they claim to defend. Such behavior erodes trust, destabilizes regions, and invites retaliation under the same logic. Indeed, no nation may declare itself inherently righteous, appealing to a self-defined conception of the good, in order to legitimize whatever actions it chooses. That constitutes arrogance. When a nation proceeds further, denying that other nations may claim the same moral license, such reasoning also becomes hypocrisy. What one power claims for itself today, others will claim tomorrow. 

From a Christian perspective, the use of force beyond one’s borders, including the seizure of persons or the exercise of coercive authority over another nation, must be judged not by slogans, political alignment, or claimed outcomes, but by objective moral principles. The Gospel grants no nation a messianic role. No state, however powerful, is the Kingdom of God. When governments presume moral exemption for themselves while condemning identical actions by rivals, they fall into hypocrisy, which Our Lord condemned with particular severity.

The Church’s tradition of just governance and just war is exacting, not permissive. It requires legitimate authority exercised within moral and legal bounds; a just cause involving actual and grave injustice; right intention ordered to justice rather than dominance; true necessity, exercised as a last resort; proportionality in means and consequences; and respect for the innocent and for sovereignty rightly understood. These criteria are not rhetorical ideals but binding moral conditions. They are cumulative, not optional.

Claims of a generalized, speculative, or remote “threat” do not meet the Christian standard for just cause. Likewise, criminal activity in and of itself does not rise to the level of a cause for military action. Furthermore, fear, strategic advantage, or anticipated future risk, however sincerely asserted, do not justify coercive force in Orthodox and Catholic moral theology. While preemptive action can be legitimate under just war doctrine, preemptive action based simply on conjecture belongs to modern security doctrine, not to the Christian tradition. Likewise, merely preventative action is never doctrinally permissible. Where necessity is absent, force becomes expedience; where expedience governs, justice under God is already compromised.

Equally grave is the corruption of moral judgment that arises from double standards. When a state excuses for itself what it condemns in others, it implicitly declares that law binds only the weak, while practical legitimacy devolves into a question of "who can" rather than "who may." Such reasoning does not merely weaken credibility; it dissolves the very concept of justice. In Christian moral reasoning, hypocrisy is not a secondary flaw but a decisive one, because it replaces principled judgment with tribal loyalty and power with permission.

The Church, therefore, must speak clearly even when her voice is unwelcome. She is aligned with no empire, bloc, political party, or ideology. She stands with law over lawlessness, with restraint over domination, and with repentance over self-congratulation. The faithful must resist the temptation to excuse immoral actions simply because they are committed by those we favor or fear to criticize. Before God, there is no double standard.

Finally, we must remember that nations, like individuals, will be judged not only by the evils they oppose, but by the means they employ. History is unkind to those who imagine themselves exempt from the rules they impose on others. The Church prays for the conversion of rulers, that humility, justice, and the fear of God may not only dwell in their hearts reflected in their policies. For when law is trampled and power is unchecked, it is always the poor, the voiceless, and the innocent who suffer first.

May we have the courage to name injustice wherever it appears, the wisdom to distinguish authority from domination, and the faith to believe that obedience to God’s law is never weakness, but the only path to true peace.

2025: A Year of Visible Growth and Quiet Service

 

Throughout 2025, the clergy and faithful of the United Roman-Ruthenian Church served communities across cultures, languages, and nations — often quietly, and often far from public view. What follows is a brief selection of developments and programs from the past year, a snapshot of just some of the key events of the Church’s life and work.

2025 at a Glance

• Strengthened global presence across six continents

• Advanced historic institutions into a new phase of public life and service

• Continued the Church’s mission of faith, charity, and cultural stewardship worldwide

Highlights from the Life and Work of the Church in 2025: 

1. We welcomed new church jurisdictions in both historic heartlands and emerging regions, strengthening the Church’s presence and pastoral service across six continents.

2. Broadened the celebration and use of the Church’s distinctive Gallo-Russo-Byzantine liturgy, deepening a shared spiritual language that unites East and West.

3. Expanded the Church’s diplomatic and institutional relationships, strengthening dialogue with religious, cultural, and civic partners worldwide.

4. Witnessed the Roman-Ruthenian Papacy come fully into visible and public life, marking a mature stage in the Church’s long-standing historic development.

5. Took part in international initiatives and events dedicated to history, charity, and humanitarian service, representing the Church’s values in diverse global settings.

6. Through the work of its clergy and faithful, the Church provided practical care, offering shelter, food, healthcare, education, and spiritual guidance to people in need.

7. Established a new curial office dedicated to the spiritual guidance and pastoral care of pilgrims to the Holy Land.

8. Pontifical Georgian College, founded by St. Edwin Caudill as St. George's School of Theology, entered the final phase of its transition to a modern competency-based seminary model, strengthening clergy formation for the future.

9. Established a historic concordat between the Russian and Yugoslavian branches of the Order of St. John, uniting them under a shared Royal Protector and reaffirming the Order’s mission of service to the poor and the sick.