During an interview published Saturday after the 2026 Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage, Bishop Athanasius Schneider reiterated that the mass migration of Muslims into Europe is an “invasion” and called out the Vatican’s support for the “Dechristianization” of the continent.
During the interview with the Remnant’s Michael Matt that aired October 24, Bishop Schneider discussed the ongoing riots in France, Italy, and across Europe that are the result of an Islamist “invasion” of the continent and are meant to frighten and intimidate the Christian population.
The bishop emphasized that not only are the European “elites” complicit in allowing this “invasion” and ultimately the “Dechristianization” of Europe but so is the Vatican, which gives spiritual credibility to the invasion.
Riots serve as ‘intimidation’ of Christians, Europeans
“But (the riots are) ultimately partly a complicit act … of this government in France or … in other European countries to simply scare us: the Europeans, the Christians to be silent. You are scared, ‘if you open your mouth, we will burn your house, we will burn the churches,’ as now they are doing in France,” he told Matt.
“They are doing an exercise for us; I think it’s a very cunning method also partly tolerated … by some responsible politicians in Europe to simply threaten us and scare us … a massive intimidation of Catholics or Christians in Europe,’” he added. “And this we may recognize, and even people of goodwill even who are not Catholics, who still have some sense of ‘I am a European, I am French or a German, (or) Italian to unite all these good forces to peacefully resist this intimidation and to issue stricter laws to protect the European population and to restrict really the so-called ‘immigration,’ which is not immigration; it is an invasion.”
In recent weeks, riots, attributed to a third-world “invasion” have occurred across France and other European countries.
Images posted across social media from Toulouse last week showed an unidentified masked man, who appears to be African, standing on the bronze statue located on Place Jeanne d’Arc after placing a yellow vest on the saint’s head in the shape of a hijab and the Palestinian flag on the statue’s side.
Separate video from Paris shows another unidentified reportedly foreign rioter being cheered on by a mob after climbing on and placing political stickers on the statue of the country’s patron saint in the Place des Pyramides.
Vatican complicit in migrant ‘dechristianization’ of Europe
Asked by Matt if the Vatican restoring its “Catholic sense” could help Europe return to the faith and destroy the ancient foe of Islam, His Excellency stressed that he suspects the Vatican is collaborating with the “European political elites” in aiding this invasion.
“I am suspecting … that unfortunately (those) responsible in the Vatican are simply collaborating with the … European political elites (whose) … first priority (is) ‘immigration’ so-called and asking the Vatican to in some way ‘bless’ it because the Vatican is a spiritual power and therefore they need … spiritual support and now they have it,” Schneider said.
The bishop added that European powers have unfortunately been able to approach the Holy See and twist Sacred Scripture, as the devil does, and say, “‘Oh, we … remind you of love for the neighbor, the love for the poor. This is the Gospel.’”
“And, unfortunately, many responsible people in the Vatican are allowing themselves to be deceived or (are) partly agreeing with the process of Dechristianizing Europe,” he said. “Maybe there are several factors, but ultimately, unfortunately, the Holy See is supporting this process, which will be a huge damage to the Christian presence.”
Pope Leo XIV’s praise of migrants
Indeed, Pope Leo XIV, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Pope Francis, has repeatedly focused on migrants’ rights while largely ignoring the dangers of mass migration to Europe and around the world.
In June remarks during his visit to Spain, the 267th pontiff praised migration into Europe and stressed that the Church must not treat the reception of migrants as a secondary moral issue.
“The Church must also allow itself to be questioned. The reception of migrants cannot be anything secondary, nor can it be delegated only to a few volunteers. We kneel before the altar to worship Christ present in the Eucharist, from whom we receive the strength and motivation to live charity: for this reason we cannot then ‘pass over’ before cayucas and pateras, since from prayer every service flows and to it all commitment returns,” he said at the time.
While Catholic social teaching indeed affirms that immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, it also notes that a country has a right to secure its borders. In the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB’s) “Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration and the Movement of Peoples,” the conference clearly states that countries have no obligation to accept everyone who wishes to enter.
In another egregious statement last fall, Leo falsely equated the “mistreatment of migrants” with abortion, the murder of unborn children. The Holy Father made these remarks last fall while appearing to defend heterodox Cardinal Blase Cupich’s decision to honor radically pro-abortion U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin with a lifetime achievement award.
“Someone who says I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” the pontiff said at the time.
Other prelate’s statements against mass migration to Europe
Other prelates have echoed Schneider’s critiques of mass migration into Europe over the years. In 2017, Cardinal Robert Sarah, in remarks at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Poland, called out the “outside forces” who try to impose on Poland and other European nations without assimilating.
“In what manner is it possible to remove the rights of the nation to distinguish between a political or religious refugee, who must flee from his homeland, and the economic migrant, who wants to change his address without adapting himself, identifying with, and accepting the culture of the country in which he will live?” Cardinal Sarah asked.
The Guinean cardinal also underscored the importance of rebuilding nations that have suffered from war and other injustices without uprooting the people of other countries and called out those who “exploit the word of God” to justify the promotion of multiculturalism.
“I say again that we must work together to rebuild the nations that have fallen victim to war, corruption and injustice, but this does not mean encouraging the uprooting of peoples and the destruction of nations,” he said. “Some people exploit the Word of God to justify the promotion of multiculturalism and gaily take advantage of the excuse of hospitality to justify the admission of immigrants.”
