(LifeSiteNews) — In a foreword to The Trojan Horse in the Catholic Church, a new book by Father Enoch on the Synod on Synodality in Rome, Cardinal Gerhard Müller issues a strong critique of this process that has been taking place now for several years. Having participated in both the 2023 and 2024 synods, he concludes that they were “used as a means to undermine the hierarchical-sacramental structure of the Church and replace it with an ‘inverted pyramid’ of governance.” But this process has also been used to further the LGBT agenda within the Church.

“I saw how the very nature of the synod of bishops had now been fundamentally altered,” the German prelate wrote. “No longer was this an authentic episcopal event, a gathering of successors to the Apostles to meet and discuss topics chosen by the pope … no longer were individual bishops given the opportunity to address their brothers in the episcopacy and express their thoughts and offer their comments in any meaningful way.”

Cardinal Müller praised the publication of this new book as a helpful tool for all in the Church to recognize the dangers the synodal process – which is similar to the one in Germany – hoping “that all those (including bishops and priests) who have not yet read the Final Document from the Synod on Synodality (which Pope Francis declared be received as part of his ordinary magisterium), or who perhaps have not read it critically, will read The Trojan Horse in order to better grasp the dangers that the “synodal process” poses not only for the Catholic Church’s hierarchical-sacramental structure as founded and willed by Christ but also for the entire Christian moral order and for the well-being of the family and society at large, which depends on this order.”

The Trojan Horse, written under a pseudonym by a priest, explains how the Synods on Synodality is aiming at undermining the teaching and governing hierarchy in the Church by increasing the influence and power of lay people. With the help of this method, some of the Church’s moral and doctrinal stances, such as on homosexuality, female ordination, and other topics, are being attacked.

John Yep, president of Catholics for Catholics, the publisher of the book, told LifeSiteNews in an email:

“After seeing Christ cleanse the Temple, the disciples recalled the words of Psalm 69: “Zeal for thy house consumes me.” Those same words are what we felt when this courageous priest, “Fr. Enoch,” presented to us this important manuscript for publication. Catholics for Catholics stands ready to back the brave and zealous who are ready to defend Holy Mother Church. The Trojan Horse in the Catholic Church seeks to humbly follow Christ in his zeal to protect the House of His Father from evil infiltration. It’s a must-read for laity and especially clergy who find themselves confronted with the lethal trojan horse of synodality.”

He also pointed out that the day of publication, October 9, is the Feast of Our Lady of Champion, “the only approved apparition in the United States” in Wisconsin in 1859. Our Lady then stated: “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.” Yet went on to write: “It is in that spirit that we seek to be good children of Mary, by proclaiming with boldness the Catholic Faith. We ask that she guide all who read this book encouraged by her words: ‘Go and fear nothing, I will help you.’”

While this synodal process was started by Pope Francis, Father Enoch also showed that Pope Leo seems to intend to continue this reform. “By the mandate of Pope Francis, and now with the support of Pope Leo XIV, we are entering a three-year process in which first dioceses, and then larger Church bodies (national, international, and continental) will work to implement directives contained in Final Document,” he wrote. At the end of this period, there will then be a “post-synodal ‘Ecclesial Assembly’ in Rome in 2028, which will work to further implement the work of the Synod and its theme, ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission,’” the priest added.

It is in light of this continuation of the process under Pope Leo that Father Enoch says we must pray to Our Lady and to St. Joseph that Pope Leo XIV “be thoroughly orthodox,” “fearlessly promote and defend the Deposit of the Faith in matters both of doctrine and morality” as well as “reject all plans to undermine the hierarchical structure” of the Catholic Church. In addition, this priests asked the faithful to “petition” the Pope to “repeal the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality with its heretical call to overturn the hierarchical structure” of the Church.

This year, Bishop Marian Eleganti of Switzerland had issued a strong critique of this synodal process, saying that the faithful need to hear the preachings of the Gospel instead of statements from committees and synods. “Proclaim the Gospel for the sake of Christ’s love! Proclaim Christ to a Europe that has turned away from Him! Proclaim Christ to a world that is apocalyptic and constantly waging new wars! Talk about Jesus Christ instead of synodality!” Eleganti wrote.

Argentine Archbishop Hector Aguer insisted in 2023 that this Vatican synodal process is “leading to the implicit approval of sin, and to the vicious tolerance that sympathizes with it.”

Cardinal Müller himself, in an interview with Edward Pentin, said, “They are introducing a new hermeneutic with which they want to reconcile the Word of God with these ideologies — anti-Christian ideologies. But we cannot reconcile Christ and the Antichrist. This homosexual, ‘LGBT’ ideology is, at its center, an anti-Christian ideology. It’s the spirit of the Antichrist speaking through them.”

Please see here Cardinal Müller’s full foreword, printed here with the kind permission of His Eminence, as well as the publisher, Catholics for Catholics.

Foreword

I gladly accepted the invitation to write a foreword to The Trojan Horse in the Catholic Church: Synod on Synodality: The Attempt to Invert the Bride of Christ’s Hierarchy and Moral Order (hereafter referred to as The Trojan Horse), a work which I found to be a valuable overview and critique of the Final Document from the Synod on Synodality.

I attended the meetings of both the 2023 and 2024 assemblies of the Synod on Synodality in Rome, and was able to experience firsthand the inner workings of both assemblies and the agendas that were being proposed.

I saw how the very nature of the synod of bishops had now been fundamentally altered. No longer was this an authentic episcopal event, a gathering of successors to the Apostles to meet and discuss topics chosen by the pope, and then to offer the Holy Father advice on such matters. No longer were individual bishops given the opportunity to address their brothers in the episcopacy and express their thoughts and offer their comments in any meaningful way. Bishops were now relegated to a position of being participants on par with other lay attendees, in the manner of the German Synodal Way and more according to the Anglican than to the Catholic understanding of the mission and nature of the Church, authentically explained in the third chapter of Lumen Gentium: the hierarchical and sacramental constitution of the Holy Church.

At the Synod this new format—the “synodal process,” as it is called—was used as a means to undermine the hierarchical-sacramental structure of the Church and replace it with an “inverted pyramid” of governance—one of the main themes of The Trojan Horse. The plan for the implementation of synodal process called for by the Synod’s Final Document is an attempt to transform the Church of Christ into a secular, worldly institution guided not by the teaching of Our Lord as revealed in Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition; but rather, a call to embrace, in the fashion of the Modernist heresy, “democratic” principles as a guide for the Church’s doctrinal and moral teachings, while at the same time boldly (and shamelessly) claiming the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and guidance in everything proposed. Thus, the Church is no more the People of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, but more like an NGO with a religious-emotional and moralistic agenda. The very concept of a so-called “synodal Church” at least partially, if not completely, contradicts the Catholic understanding of the Church.

What constitutes this “synodal process” in this newly-conceived “synodal Church”? Here I can share what I observed at both assemblies of the Synod on Synodality, which likely are a blueprint for the synodal process now being implemented (per the directives of the Final Document, and as critically discussed at length in The Trojan Horse) in dioceses and parishes throughout the world, in preparation for the Ecclesial Assembly to be held in Rome in October of 2028. The agenda at the Synod on Synodality was extremely controlled, with only certain chosen speakers allowed to address the assembly at any length. The entire process was quite manipulated in order to achieve the outcomes desired by those in charge of the workings of the Synod.

One of the main goals was to further the normalization of homosexuality—another central theme of The Trojan Horse, which discusses various Church figures, including many prelates, who support this evil agenda. As I told columnist Edward Pentin, “In the end, all of these so-called synodal reflections are aimed at preparing us to accept homosexuality.” Those at the Synod claimed, “We have new insights, revealed by the Holy Spirit,” to enable them to assert that homosexual actions are an authentic way to express love and that such acts should be blessed—in a complete contradiction to the revealed word of God.

But in truth, those promoting the homosexual agenda in this manner are blaspheming the Holy Spirit in their attempt to introduce doctrines that are contrary to Scripture and Tradition, as well as the Natural Law. Again, as I told Edward Pentin, “They are introducing a new hermeneutic with which they want to reconcile the Word of God with these ideologies—anti-Christian ideologies. But we cannot reconcile Christ and the Antichrist. This homosexual, ‘LGBT’ ideology is, at its center, an anti-Christian ideology. It’s the spirit of the Antichrist speaking through them.”

I sincerely hope that all those (including bishops and priests) who have not yet read the Final Document from the Synod on Synodality (which Pope Francis declared be received as part of his ordinary magisterium), or who perhaps have not read it critically, will read The Trojan Horse in order to better grasp the dangers that the “synodal process” poses not only for the Catholic Church’s hierarchical-sacramental structure as founded and willed by Christ; but also for the entire Christian moral order, and for the well-being of the family and society at large, which depends on this order.

We all should remember the Catholic hermeneutics: “This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed” (Dei Verbum 10).

His Eminence Gerhard Cardinal Müller, former Prefect, Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith October 9th, 2025 Feast of Our Lady of Champion

Only Approved Marian Apparition in the United States