Ok, I’m finally going to go there. I might be the last traditional Catholic to weigh-in on the state of Israel and modern Judaism. But there was a method to my madness in waiting. I lived in the Old City of Jerusalem this summer, so I have much more than “internet information” enlightening today’s article. Most pictures in this article come from my phone (except the Vatican ones.)
Frequently, other traditional Catholics write me, asking why I don’t write more about the Jews. Today, Section A of my article is going to explain why I personally don’t see them as my enemies. But Section B is going to affirm traditional Catholic teaching that Judaism became just another false-religion of the world. Section A is mostly personal; Section B is more theological. Section C (the final part) tries to bring both parts together in some practical advice after living in Israel for part of this year.
Section A will probably get traditional Catholics mad at me; Section B will get normy Catholics mad at me. So just try to make it to the end before categorizing me. This is a very long one, so it will be my only article on Christmas week, but consider going to my channel, Padre Peregrino, to hear my Christmas sermon.
Section A: Four Reasons Why I’m More Mild Than Most Trads on the Issue of Jewish Individuals:
1) Jews are only 0.2% of the world’s population. Obviously, I believe Israel has one of the most evil governments on the planet, especially in light of the current genocide in Gaza. I also admit Jews have had an enormous overlap the last few hundred years with Marxism, Communism, the porn industry and the abortion-industry. Still, I’m very hesitant to scapegoat such a small percentage of the world’s population. From a theological point of view, I always try to consider that the devil is working tirelessly to get all men, women and children on seven continents of every skin color, race and even creed to hell. And I want to get them all to heaven by the grace of Jesus Christ and His sacraments. So, 0.2% is not enough for me to lose sleep as I want everyone to come to Jesus Christ and traditional Catholicism.
Oh, and Muslims kill a lot more Christians than Jews all across the globe every day. Also, Muslims are a quarter of the world’s population. I want to convert them too. That’s why they take up more of my cerebral bandwidth than the Jews.
2) The Jews are behind the infiltration of the Catholic Church? 50,000,000 Catholics left the Catholic Church in the Western Hemisphere after Vatican II, and the bleed continues to this day. Through seminary, I believed Vatican II was simply misinterpreted. Now, I realize there are actual theological errors in the documents of Vatican II. It is very hard to deny that the language of “the Council” (as well as most post-Conciliar Popes) utilizes the same language of the French Revolution, namely, “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.” Of course, liberty and equality and fraternity are also freemasonic terms employed by the most powerful Jews in the period of the enlightenment.
Thus, many trads write me, claiming the Jews were behind Vatican II. They’re probably correct. But here’s why I don’t blame the Jews for the infiltration of the Catholic Church: The highest levels of anointing, namely, the Pope and bishops, had the grace to resist the freemasonic Jewish influence of modernism at Vatican II. Yet most Conciliar Popes either wore the kippah at the Western Wall or prayed in a synagogue. So, if the Jews are your enemies, then you need to make these Popes your enemies, too.
So, please stop with this 20 year old basement dwelling Groyper LARP of claiming “the Pope is going to call a Crusade against the Jews.” Such people are totally detached from reality. The reality is that a pro-Jewish liberalism completely infiltrated the Vatican by the 1980s at the very latest. And the Vatican still loves it.
Or, maybe there are anti-Jewish traditional Catholics who are telling me the Pope and Conciliar bishops who established the Novus Ordo and new-rite sacraments (replete with Jewish language as found in Work of Human Hands) did not have the gifts of the Holy Ghost needed to resist Jewish infiltration. If so, then you’re saying they’re not a valid hierarchy, in which case you’re a 58-sede. No problem. I have no problem with sedes. But here’s the logical pitfall: If you’re not a sede and you support the Vatican and you despise the Jews, then you really need to ask yourself: Who is to blame for this current infiltration?
Imagine a real scenario. Imagine you are the father of a family and a fake vacuum salesman talks his way into your home and he kidnaps your children. Who is more to blame—you or the fake salesman? Personally, I’m going to blame the father—not the kidnapper—if the father allows a smiley kidnapper to take away his children. So also, I blame the overwhelming liberalization of the Catholic hierarchy on the Catholic hierarchy themselves (who obviously had the grace from God to resist the Jews) much more than the Jews themselves. Robbers do what robbers do.
3) It’s now super-trendy to rip on the Jews. Not only has Nick Fuentes’ army of Groypers taken on the Jews, but even the ever-cautious Catholic Answers has finally grown a backbone on the state of Israel. If even lukewarm Catholics are tired of the genocide in Gaza (as well they should be!) then I have bigger fish to fry as far as finding hidden enemies, not obvious ones. If every conservative to the right of Lindsey Graham (and that’s pretty much everyone) is ripping on the Jews, then you don’t need a boutique-theology site like this one to join in the dog-pile upon 0.2% of the world’s population.
My channel and site are dedicated to blowing alarms on the enemies of souls that most people miss, not the obvious enemies at the gates who are a clear and present danger to everyone concerned about salvation. So, yes, I obviously oppose the genocide in Gaza, but so does everyone I know, including most American leftists waving Palestine flags for reasons they still don’t understand.
Yet popularity-hungry Catholic influencers now get immediate attention on Twitter for ripping on the State of Israel. Boring. Such people are hardly to be considered courageous Christians for echoing mainstream opinions in the 11th hour of Catholic Church history. Rather, they should try taking on the current heretics squatting in the Vatican if they want to flex in real spiritual fortitude.
4) Jews will convert at the end of the world. From Romans chapters 9 and 10 and 11, we know some Jews will convert to Christianity towards the end of the world. If we want to convert them, we must show them Christian charity, not scapegoating or hatred. Yes, some orthodox Jews spit on us religious in Jerusalem this summer. But some religious Jews sat down with me and wanted to hear about Christ and traditional Catholicism. If I acted like a Groyper to them, none of them would convert. And conversion is the goal of a priest, not likes on Twitter.
Section B: Five Reasons Why I’m More Severe Than Most Trads on the Issue of the Jewish Religion:
1) Dispensationalism is a heresy. Dispensationalism is a ridiculous 19th century heresy stating that Jews have more rights to the kingdom of God than Christians, even to this day. It is promoted by millions of Americans evangelicals in various flavors. The modern state of Israel—which ironically despises those same Christians—has made billions of shekels on Zionist Christians’ trips to the Holy Land and other donations.
Even before it was “trendy” to rip on Zionism, I made videos against it. Here is a video in April 2024 that I did with Jesse Romero against dispensationalism. (By the way, just a year prior to that video, Jesse and I landed 60 pilgrims in Tel Aviv on 7 Oct 2023—the very day the war started in Israel! We were the last flight from the USA arriving there and we were ultimately evacuated through Jordan.) Also, here’s a video from 2024 where I explain by myself (before boarding a Greek ship) how Christians ought to see Jews from New Testament eyes.
If you’re just starting to understand traditional Catholicism in light of Judaism (ie Judaism 101) I would watch those videos before—or even instead of—reading this long article. But if you’re not tempted by Zionism and you’re ready for Judaism 201, keep reading. You’ll still learn a lot.
2) The moderate neo-con view of the Jews is above. In seminary, I believed the above graph. Basically, it goes like this: Before the birth of Christ, there was only one true world-religion and it was Judaism. (That part to the left of the vertical line is actually still true.) However, after the death of Christ (and here’s where my error as a conservative but non-traditional seminarian came in) I believed that Catholicism became only the supra-true religion and Judaism became the infra-true religion. I would use smarty-pants phrases like: “Jews are just unfulfilled Christians” or “I believe 100% of what the Jews do… just more!” Those phrases aren’t entirely wrong. But they also don’t capture the full breadth of what the Catholic Church taught in her infallible Councils.
But the above graphic is the true representation of what happened at the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. The Church Fathers teach that when that temple veil was rent in 33 AD, Judaism simply became just another false-religion on planet-earth. At that same moment, the only true religion on earth became Catholicism, claiming not only all the truths of the New Testament, but even every truth of the Old Testament. This is because both Testaments point to the same Messiah. To reject Isaiah’s Suffering Servant (found in hundreds of other prophesies of the Old Testament) is to reject the Hebrew Scriptures.
3) Then Who Can Be Saved? First of all, I am not an adherent to Feeneyism. I’m not saying in the last above graphic with the single vertical arrow pointing downwards that every single non-baptized person in history went to hell. However, I do maintain the following of traditional Catholic theology: The fact is that no one can be saved without grace. No one can be saved without Jesus Christ. No one can be saved in a false religion like Judaism or Hinduism.
So, here’s where the modernists (even the polite ones like Barron) will not go into the infallible Councils of the Church. The truth of the Catholic faith is that if a Jew or Hindu were ever to be saved without water baptism, such a person would have to receive the gift of perfect contrition on one’s deathbed (essentially transmitting to them the grace of Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ Himself) or fulfill the extremely narrow requirements of “implicit desire for baptism” as outlined by St. Thomas Aquinas in my article here.
In other words, you have only a tiny chance of ever being saved without baptism and the traditional Faith. And this obviously includes the Jews. They get no “pass” around baptism just because of the Holocaust, as horrible as it was.
This is why we pray for every Jew to enter the Catholic Church. St. Paul is clear that they actually are more fitting converts to Catholicism than even the Gentiles: For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.—Romans 11:24. That means that Jews become better traditional Catholics than converted Gentiles when they come to Christ!
4) Abrahamic Religions? The above is the “Abrahamic Family House” in Abu Dhabi, established in part by the Vatican. It is three linked centers for worship: One for Christians, one for Jews and one for Muslims. It’s on the same campus and they are equal in size and majesty. The message is clear: All religions are good and the three religions of the Book are all equally true Abrahamic religions.
I have about two hundred podcasts and about two hundred articles disproving the first blasphemy, namely, that all religions are equal. So, we don’t need to repeat that here. But I will say that you can’t be against the above blasphemous “Abrahamic Family House” and still support Vatican II. Why not? Because Vatican II implies that Jews are saved without evangelization or baptism. So do all the post-Conciliar Popes. You can find dozens of articles on my site on this topic.
Let’s now tackle another error I even believed as a conservative (but non-traditional) seminarian, namely, that Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all “Abrahamic Religions.” Amazingly, it is Jesus Christ Himself who disproves this when He is talking to the Jews who reject Him as the Messiah:
They answered Him, “Abraham is our father…” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here… You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.”—John 8:39a, 42a, 44a.
Notice right there that Christ makes it clear that there is only one Abrahamic religion and it is Christianity. All other religions that reject Christ as Messiah are sons of the devil. Not my words. Go read again what Christ above labels those who erroneously believe Abraham is their father: “You are of your father—the devil.” Thus, there is no Abrahamic religion except for Christianity. This obviously means the Abrahamic Family House in the above picture partly built by the Vatican is a misnomer, at best. It is a blasphemous offense to God, at worst.
The above is a picture I snapped this summer at the birthplace of St. John the Baptist.
5) Only One Vineyard. In Mark 12, Christ describes the Kingdom of God as a vineyard to whom He sends the prophets of the Old Testament. That vineyard called “Israel” unfortunately kills her prophets. Then, the owner of the vineyard sends His own Son. They kill Him too. From this point onwards, the owner of the vineyard takes the vineyard from the Jews and gives it to others:
He had still one other, a Beloved Son. Finally He sent Him to them, saying, ‘They will respect My Son.’ But those tenants said to one another, This is the Heir. Come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took Him and killed Him and threw Him out of the vineyard. What will the Owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.—Mk 12:6-9.
The world’s one true religion in the Old Testament was Judaism. But when the veil tore in the Jerusalem temple at Christ’s death, the one true world religion immediately became Catholicism. How do we know this? Because Christ just explained above in the parable that God the Father took His vineyard from the Jews and gave it to others. This parable disproves not only the most extreme Zionist Dispensationalism, but even Vatican II’s Nostra Ætate claiming there is a great “spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews.”
Sadly, Jews have not only rejected the New Testament, but they even reject the Old Testament. Why? Because Christ—the only Messiah to the world—is on every page of both the New Testament and the Old Testament. Christ said to the Jewish hierarchy that they never even knew the God of Abraham: It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, “He is our God.” But you have not known Him. I know Him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and I keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.—Jn 8:54-56.
This means if you believe Christ historically rose from the dead (as I do) then you must admit that modern day Jews have absolutely no rights to the Holy Land in the Middle East. Only we Christians have rights to the Holy Sites of Palestine. As politically incorrect as it might sound, it’s the only logical conclusion if you believe in real objective truth on this topic of religion. In fact, this is why Pope St. Pius X said directly to the Jews over 100 years ago: “And so, if you come to Palestine and settle your people there, we shall have Churches and priests ready to baptize all of you.”
Sadly, nearly every Catholic priest I met in Israel this summer believed the Jews are already saved, even without baptism. But every single one of them would point to Vatican II as their justification for their heretical beliefs. This is why I spend so much time on Vatican II after all my travels. It happens everywhere I go.
Section C: Putting It All Together.
Even though we want Jews to convert, we Christians cannot revel in being born to a Catholic family instead of a Jewish family, especially amidst this current Church crisis where the current apparent hierarchy has denied Christ just as much as the Jews. I don’t say that lightly. Even before this astonishing Church crisis, St. Paul (obviously born a Jew) was very careful to warn Gentile converts to Christianity (like himself) to avoid being overly snooty towards the Jews who did not yet know Christ as the Messiah:
They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.—Rom 11:20-22.
In other words, it was spiritual arrogance that made the Jews lose Christ. So also, we Catholics may lose Christ through spiritual arrogance just as rapidly. For example, look at how many traditional Catholics are defending the most serious heretic in the world, located right now in Rome. Many trads are clearly walking into a spiritual blindness tantamount to that of the Jews today. Both groups carry an arrogance based on clinging to man’s traditions instead of Divine Revelation on Mt 16.
The above picture is one I snapped in Bethlehem at Christ’s birthplace. As you can see, you must bend down very low to enter into the cave where Christ was born. This means only the humble can approach Christ. And the true Apostolic Faith.
As I wrote earlier in this article, the belief from the Church Fathers and St. Thomas Aquinas and many others that some Jews will convert towards the end of the world comes from that exact same chapter written by Saint Paul:
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.—Romans 11:28-32.
That’s not to say that having Jewish blood is enough to receive mercy. Clearly, the traditional Catholic faith teaches that the Jews—like all bloodlines on planet earth—must come to know and accept Jesus Christ as the only Messiah and be baptized in order to be saved. Not only is the Catholic Church “the New Israel.” The fact is that the Catholic Church is now the only Israel, as the Apostle Paul wrote:
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.—Gal 6:14-16.
As I wrote above, I lived in Jerusalem this summer of 2025. Orthodox Jews (not the individual whose picture I snapped above) spit on us monks, priests and even religious sisters. The “settlers” (the most vicious Jews—often from Brooklyn) were the very worst when it came to violence against Christians and Muslims. So, I am clearly ready to name Israel as one of the most evil governments on the planet, as demonstrated by their genocide in Gaza, as well as many other horrible atrocities against humanity, not least of all which is their abortion rate.
But I want them to be saved. And telling them how evil they are is probably not going to draw them into the Catholic Church. As I mentioned at the beginning of this long article, we know a good number of Jews must be baptized before Christ’s second glorious return. That means that this Christmas, as we long for both comings of Christ, we should pray especially hard for the conversion of the Jewish people. And when we are done praying, we should go evangelize them (as I tried to do this summer) with the fullness of truth and charity.
This gentleman serving my TLM in Jerusalem this summer is an Israeli Jew who converted to traditional Catholicism. He truly knows more about the Catholic faith than 99% of the priests I know.
So, let us pray to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the first daughter of Zion, for all to be ready this year for Christ’s first and second coming. Let us pray the veil be lifted from the Hebrew people to see their own Suffering Servant and Risen Messiah already born to them this year.
Although this is my only article this week, due to its length, I invite you to go to my channel, Padre Peregrino, on any medium of your choice, to hear my Christmas sermon. It will drop late on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to you! Thank you if you can Donate during our final approach to the Nativity and Epiphany Octaves.
