Americans watch out for this HERESY!

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]We actually have a term for thinking that things like the president's moral authority goes beyond the pope's moral authority. And it's called the heresy of Americanism, which manifests in treating America's government and values as if they were more foundational than what we've received in the deposit of faith.

[00:00:14]Pope Leo the 13th condemned Americanism in Test Benevalentia Nostra, especially the idea that active virtues like courage were better than passive virtues like obedience. In other words, it's better to courageously act for what you think are America's interests than be obedient to what the church teaches, which leads to contempt for holy vocations like religious life. Holio the 13th said, "Would to God that more nowadays practice these virtues in the degree of the saints of past times who in humility, obedience, and self-restraint were powerful in word and in deed to the great advantage not only of religion but of the state and the public welfare. In fact, it seems providential that Pope Leo I 13th rebuked the Americanist heresy. And now Pope Leo I 14th is showing American Catholics that they cannot give the president an unquestioning allegiance to everything he says that they're not even called to give to the pope.