Catholic Candle note: Catholic Candle normally examines particular issues thoroughly, at length, using the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and the other Doctors of the Church. By contrast, our feature CC in Brief, usually gives an extremely short answer to a reader’s question. We invite every reader to submit his own questions.

CC in Brief

Should we EVER go into St. Peter’s Basilica?

Below is a reader’s question in light of an article in the April 2025 Catholic Candle concerning conciliar (and other compromise) churches being unfitting places to pray¹:

Q. Are you saying that a Catholic should not go into St. Peter’s Basilica?  Did not the Lord go into the Temple, that den of thieves where blasphemies were regularly committed?

A. You are correct to follow Our Lord’s example in all things. But we must be careful to make sure that we are in the same situation before doing the same physical act that Our Lord did. So, e.g., we should not attempt to walk on water, as He did.

The Temple was Our Lord’s own house. Consider the possible difference between a well-armed man who walked into his own house which has been taken over by a drug gang, when he seeks to clean out the riffraff (like Our Lord going into the Temple to clean it out). Compare this to someone else deciding to walk into the same drug house with lesser good reasons, or even just for gawking and photo opportunities, etc.

Further, there seems to be a difference between Catholic practice near the time of Our Lord and after that. There was a certain transition period during which Catholics like Saints Peter and John went into the Temple [Acts of the Apostles, 3:1-6], but after this transition period, Catholics did not enter. In fact, the three reasons given in the Catholic Candle article² are an ample basis for explaining why faithful and informed Catholics ceased entering synagogues, just as they should not enter conciliar or compromise churches as explained in the Catholic Candle article. So, for the reasons set forth in the Catholic Candle article, we think people should not go into conciliar or other compromise churches to pray.

But what about entering a conciliar building for tourism purposes? Is there scandal³ then?

Yes, there is still scandal, but for different reasons. There would not be the same type of scandal when one enters a church building – like St. Peter’s in Rome – if it is a daily tourist trap full of large crowds who are obviously not there to pray. In such a case, if a man were to walk into the building snapping pictures, dressed like a tourist, and not praying or genuflecting, it reduces or eliminates the scandal of being seen entering there as a place of prayer.

But there would still be a different problem than the scandal of a man going into that church to pray. This is because it seems unfitting to simply treat St. Peter’s as a secular tourist site because this ignores the fact that the basilica was formerly a place of holiness, although it is now desecrated. Profane treatment of a once-holy building would seem to be wrong, like treating a previously-consecrated chalice like a secular drinking vessel because it has already been desecrated. So, we should not go into conciliar or compromise churches either to pray or to simply gawk around and look at the beauty of the art.⁴

Besides the scandal of praying in conciliar churches, there are other concerns and occasions for compromise when entering these places. One temptation would be to genuflect (out of a misguided reverence) in front of the “tabernacles.” (There is a serious doubt that Our Lord is really present in the novus ordo and various “Latin Mass” venues, based not only regarding the problems with the novus ordo “mass” itself, but also doubtful ordinations/consecrations, and invalid form, matter, or intention.)

One might see some otherwise well-meaning “Traditionalists” dipping their fingers into the “holy” water fonts, or even showing respect for the masonic “altar” tables. All of this constitutes compromising / mixing with the Revolution. We must never do this.

In contrast, every year the “new” SSPX leads hundreds of “Traditionalists” through these conciliar buildings on European pilgrimages. These pilgrimages are led by SSPX priests, and one sees in the advertisement pictures that “Traditionalists” are kneeling reverently in prayer.

Pilgrimages are good and wholesome in regular times, but now is not the time for such activities to the locations desecrated by the ongoing Conciliar Revolution. We are in full-scale war with this Revolution!

For all the above reasons, we must avoid entering conciliar or other compromise churches to pray or “just to look around” – including the famous churches in Europe. This is a sacrifice for faithful and informed Catholics but is an act of integrity and prudence to offer to Our Lord the King, as well as to avoid scandal.

We would do well to remember the famous quote from St. Athanasius when the Arian heretics of his day took possession of the churches: “They have the churches, but we have the faith.”⁵ It is clear that St. Athanasius, knowing the horror of heresy, would have been saddened had he heard that some Catholics were entering such Arian churches (or, in our times, entering into conciliar or compromise churches) because of their art, their beauty, their history, etc.

Let us stay out of such churches! We should be completely content and extremely grateful to God that we have the True Faith! Let us not seek those buildings until God delivers them back once again, to be used for holy purposes!