Latrocinium

Latrocinium is a Latin word meaning "robber council." The term has been applied to gatherings of Catholic bishops that were later questioned by ecclesiastical authorities and subsequently condemned for their errors, failures, and excesses.

One example was the false Council of Ephesus (449 AD), which supported the heresy of Eutyches and the Monophysites and trampled on Papal discipline and jurisdiction. Its failings were subsequently condemned and corrected by the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (451 AD).

At the false council three delegates from Rome bore the Epistola Dogmatica, or dogmatic letter, of Pope Leo I, which explained the mystery of the Incarnation with special reference to the questions raised by the heretic Eutyches. The presiding patriarch allowed only the friends and partisans of Eutyches to have a voice at the council, however; the Pope's men were completely silenced. The outcome was that heresy was formally endorsed, and innocent and pious men were falsely condemned, deposed from their bishoprics, and exiled; one bishop even died in his exiled state. The Pope vigorously protested these crimes; emperors became involved; and a new council was convened that condemned the errors of the latrocinium.

In our own time we're living with the fruits of another corrupting event: the Second Vatican Council. Referencing the "spirit" of this modern council, the dogmatic decrees of 20 centuries of popes, councils, doctors, theologians, and saints have been summarily dismissed as being "not relevant to our times." A new religion -- the modern Catholic Church of the New Advent -- has been forcibly enacted from above by imperious "modern" Churchmen. The result has been widespread public apostasy and scandal; numerous sacrilegious Masses; abandonment of the religious state by priests, brothers, and sisters; closings of seminaries and parochial schools; a precipitous decline in Mass attendance by the faithful; and neglect of the obligations of the Catholic religion by the laity who divorce and remarry, practice contraception, and deny fundamental dogmas such as the True Presence and the Resurrection.

One prelate stood up to all this: the French Abp. Marcel Lefebvre. For his trouble His Excellency was falsely declared to be excommunicated because he clung to the same Catholic faith that produced 20 centuries of holy saints. One day the corrections of the modern abusive and soul-killing activities and declarations will come; some day the misdeeds of the modern tyrants will be reversed and their atrocious decrees will be corrected; eventually the rights of God will be vindicated and the hireling Churchmen who tried to put Man himself on God's throne will get their comeuppance for their crimes. The Resurrection always follows the Crucifixion; the last word is always Joy; God always wins.