Since 2014, there have been 5 meetings of Popular Movements sponsored by the Vatican in various locations.  The first was held in the Vatican.  The second in Bolivia.  The third was again held in the Vatican.  The fourth was a virtual meeting held online.  And in October of 2025, the Vatican again hosted the World Meeting of Popular Movements, and for the first time without Pope Francis.

The Lepanto Institute has just finished an in-depth analysis of the nature of the World Meeting of Popular Movements, the organizations involved, the venue in which it was held, and the final declaration the meeting participants delivered to Pope Leo.  The terrible reality about this meeting is that the organizers, participants, and venue are all Marxists subscribing to what Pope Leo XIII called the “fatal fruit” of Socialism.  And given the consistent and unwavering condemnations of all forms of communist/socialist/Marxist ideologies – “under various and almost barbarous names” as Pope Leo XIII said of them – this is a meeting that should never have happened, and can never be licit.  In Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII explicitly stated that regardless of what name these socialist entities call themselves, their central tenet – the holding of goods in common – is to be “utterly rejected.”  Pope Pius XII took it a step further, declaring that those “who profess and particularly those who defend and spread, the materialistic and anti-Christian doctrine of the Communists” are ispo facto excommunicated as apostates from the faith.

This report on the World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM) is deadly serious because of the grave danger it poses to the Faithful and to civilization itself.  The most pernicious element of the 5th WMPM, separating it from the others, is that each of the participating organizations was to have a mandated delegate accompany them for the purpose of “building bridges” between these groups and the Church.  In fact, the WMPM Coordinator, Don Matteo Ferrari, specifically linked this meeting with the Church’s new direction of Synodality.

The fully-documented 144 page report proves beyond all doubt that the participants in the WMPM are committed Marxists who praise Karl Marx, read his Communist Manifesto aloud, praise Communist revolutionists like Lenin and Castro, and who call for revolution, have ties to guerrilla violence, and who declare their desire to seek a Socialist society.  In addition to this, many of the participants are also vocally pro-abortion and promote homosexual and transgender ideologies.

To give a brief look at the report, skimming some of the details while getting to the very heart of the problem, we’ve produced this 15 minute video:

You can download the full report in pdf format by clicking here or on the cover of the report itself.  What follows is the fully-detailed report on the 5th World Meeting of Popular Movements.  Due to the limits of visual space on a single post, we are providing the first 4 chapters and the final four chapters.  To see the documented evidence regarding the organizations mentioned, please download the full report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary
Introduction
The Venue
The Participants

• Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST)
• Mediterranea Saving Humans
• Union de Trabajadores de la Economia Popular (UTEP)
• La Via Campesina
• PICO California
• Asociación de Víctimas de Accidentes y Enfermedades Laborales de Andalucía (AVAELA)
• Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM)
• Comite de Unidad Campesina (CUC)
• Coordinador Nacional Agrario CNA
• FRENADESO
• CENARAB
• Coordinadora Social Shishigang (CSS)

The Final Declaration
Papal Condemnations of both Communism and Socialism
Conclusion

Executive Summary

The Lepanto Institute’s report examines the fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM), held October 21–24, 2025, at Spin Time Labs in Rome under the auspices of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. It argues that the WMPM, which began in 2014 under Pope Francis, has consistently served as a platform for uniting self-identified Marxist, Communist, and Socialist organizations under the moral authority of the Catholic Church. The 2025 gathering marked a significant escalation: for the first time, delegations of “popular movements” were officially accompanied by mandated representatives from local churches, diocesan Justice and Peace commissions, and episcopal conferences. This integration risks spreading Marxist ideologies, abortion advocacy, and LGBT activism directly into Catholic communities through synodal structures.

Pope Leo XIV, elected only five months earlier, addressed the WMPM in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall and referenced his first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te on the Love for the Poor. In paragraphs 80–81 of the exhortation, he acknowledged that popular movements have often been “viewed with suspicion and even persecuted,” yet he urged their inclusion in building a “common destiny” alongside local, national, and international governing structures. During his address to participants, he echoed Francis’s slogan of “land, housing, and work” as “sacred rights,” declared “I am here. I am with you!” and praised the movements as “social poets,” “champions of humanity,” and “poets of solidarity.” He called their struggles “legitimate and necessary” and stated that the Church should “accompany” them, just as it once accompanied union leaders. The report views these statements as deeply troubling given the documented ideologies of the attendees.

The venue itself—Spin Time Labs—is emblematic of the event’s character. A squatter-occupied building whose eviction Pope Francis had previously blocked, Spin Time is an openly Marxist, “transfeminist” space that has hosted Communist Party events, pro-abortion marches with “Non Una di Meno,” transgender fundraising events, and vulgar nude performances such as “La Merda.” Photographic evidence shows WMPM coordinator Don Matteo Ferrari at one such performance, and images from the 2025 meeting itself depict Cardinal Czerny and Cardinal Baldassare Reina inside Spin Time amid Marxist and ANTIFA symbols and an obscene painting.

The report profiles seven organizations on the WMPM Organizing Committee in detail:

• Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST, Brazil): A founding and leading member, MST openly celebrates Karl Marx, reads the Communist Manifesto at family events, sings an anthem calling for rebellion against oppressors, and celebrates the anniversary of Marx’s death. It aggressively promotes “legal and safe abortion” as a feminist and anti-capitalist demand and has held national meetings for transvestites and transsexuals, declaring the fight for land inseparable from the fight against “LGBTphobia.”
• Mediterranea Saving Humans (Italy): Led by longtime Marxist activist Luca Casarini (formerly of the White Overalls/autonomist Marxist movement), the group was founded with Communist party support. Casarini has praised Marx, marched with Communist organizations, participated in LGBT Pride events, and supported abortion. Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV both expressed personal support for Casarini.
• Unión de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (UTEP, Argentina): Deeply tied to Peronist/Kirchnerist revolutionary politics and Movimento Evita, UTEP celebrates Hugo Chávez, the Bolivarian Revolution, and Communist leaders. It has joined anti-fascist “pride marches” alongside LGBT and feminist groups.
• La Via Campesina (international, with heavy MST influence): Explicitly calls for “socialist society,” declares “Without Feminism There Is No Socialism,” and demands legalization of abortion and full LGBTQI+ rights.
• PICO California (United States): Celebrates socialist historical figures, hosts events for “reproductive rights,” and promotes Harvey Milk, transgender “awareness,” and the idea that “Trans people are divine” while tying its justice work to “Black Trans liberation.”

Additional participants—such as AVAELA (represented by a Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party official), Abahlali baseMjondolo (which conducts collective readings of the Communist Manifesto and advocates “living communism”), CUC, CNA, FRENADESO, and CENARAB—display similar patterns of Marxist theory, revolutionary rhetoric, admiration for Fidel Castro and other Communist figures, and explicit support for abortion and “gender diversity.”

What sets this particular event apart from previous World Meetings of Popular Movements is that for the first time the participating organizations were accompanied by mandated representatives from local churches.  The basic idea, reflected in the press conference remarks of the WMPM’s coordinator Don Matteo Ferrari, is that the accompanying church representatives with the participating organizations “is a sign of the synodal Church that builds bridges.”  This is further corroborated by the Event’s schedule for “the Jubilee Pilgrimage of Popular Movements … which will culminate in the Jubilee Mass of the Synod teams and participation bodies.”  The grave danger of aligning mandated representatives of local churches with these openly Marxist organizations cannot be understated – these Marxist organizations will use the opportunity to recruit faithful Catholics to join their ranks and to spread their messages throughout the Church.  This is why this report contains a chapter citing the Church’s immutable condemnations of both Communism and Socialism, reiterating the still active prohibitions of Catholics holding, spreading, or supporting these ideologies.

This report also addresses and analyzes the WMPM’s Final Declaration, which calls for various “structural, economic, and political actions” including universal basic income, reduced working hours, “popular democracy,” “gender equality” (explicitly referencing “gender diversities”), and unrestricted migrant rights. It demands universal public healthcare (in a context where many signatories champion abortion) and proposes bringing the Rome platform and Pope Leo’s message back to local dioceses and churches. The Declaration explicitly links the work of popular movements to Pope Francis’s and Pope Leo’s calls for a “synodal Church” that walks with the peripheries, and envisions a global alliance of movements, civil society, and the Catholic Church to build “fraternity, equality, and justice.”

All evidence contained in the report came from primary sources: official video of the event, Vatican documents, organizational websites and social media posts, and news outlets.  Nothing contained in this report is speculative but rather presents the facts as they are, providing indisputable evidence of the political, economic, social, and moral dispositions of each organization and individual mentioned.

To conclude, the report illustrates how the WMPM’s history and 2025 iteration demonstrate an irreconcilable conflict with Catholic social teaching, particularly the condemnations of socialism and communism in Rerum Novarum and subsequent encyclicals. It acknowledges the remote possibility that Pope Leo himself was unaware of the full ideological character of the groups and venue but insists that Vatican coordinators such as Cardinal Czerny and Don Mattia Ferrari cannot claim ignorance. The report calls on Pope Leo XIV to formally disband the WMPM, condemn the participating organizations, and discipline the clerics responsible for facilitating the event and its integration with local churches. It warns that continued collaboration risks giving ecclesiastical approval to ideologies that are fundamentally opposed to the Church’s moral, social, and theological doctrine.

In the end, the 2025 WMPM is not an isolated aberration but the logical culmination of a decade-long project that now seeks to embed Marxist-inspired activism within the synodal life of the Church at every level.

Introduction

The world remembers the moment Pope Francis received a hammer and sickle crucifix from Bolivian president Evo Morales on 8 July 2015.

What the media failed to report, however, was the reason for Pope Francis’ visit to Bolivia in the first place.  He was there to participate in the Second World Meeting of Popular Movements.  In his address on 9 July 2015 to participants in the event, Pope Francis thanked Morales for his “efforts to make this meeting possible.”  During the second meeting, Morales sat next to Pope Francis in the center of the assembly.

This was the second meeting attended by Morales: he first attended in October 2014.

Since the first meeting in 2014, the WMPM has met five times, most recently in October of 2025 under the headship of Pope Leo XIV.  From its very inception, the WMPM has been a gathering of Marxist organizations (including self-identified Communists) claiming that the WMPM:

promotes a culture of encounter so that popular movements can fight, without arrogance but with courage, without violence but with tenacity, for human dignity, for nature, and for social justice. In this sense, our meeting responds to the need to promote the organization of the excluded in order to build from the ground up a human alternative to this exclusionary globalization that deprives us of even the sacred rights to shelter, work, and land.

In short – the purpose of the meeting is to unite these Marxist organizations in common cause under the moral authority of the Catholic Church.

The Lepanto Institute first covered the Marxist organizations involved in the WMPM in 2021, after the 4^th meeting.

The meeting in October of 2025, however, raised the stakes.  At this meeting, representatives from local churches accompanied the Marxist organizations involved in the process.  According to the press packet created for the WMPM:

Representatives of popular movements from all latitudes, religions, and cultures will once again gather at this fifth meeting: delegates from the Americas (North, Central, and South), Europe, Africa, and Asia. The delegations are accompanied by representatives of local Churches, coordinators of diocesan or episcopal conference Justice and Peace commissions.

During his press conference just six days before the beginning of the 2025 WMPM, Don Mattia Ferrari, Coordinator of the World Meeting of Popular Movements, said, “For the first time, popular movements will come to meet the Holy Father, accompanied by the local churches.”  In his prepared remarks for the press conference, he wrote:

The delegations of representatives of popular movements from around the world who will come to the new meeting will be accompanied by delegations from local Churches, with official mandates. Thus, together, they will also present themselves at the Audience with Pope Leo XIV. This is a sign of the synodal Church that builds bridges, and of the missionary Church that reaches out to the peripheries. (emphasis in the original)

As will be shown, the integration of the local churches with these groups is not only deeply scandalous for those in attendance, but the practice of integrating local churches with these Marxist organizations serve to spread Marxist ideologies through the communities by way of the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIV, elected as the new pope only five months prior to the meetings, published his first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te on the Love for the Poor.  In paragraphs 80 and 81, he specifically addressed “popular movements.”  Upon his very first mention of “popular movements,” he spoke of the grave concerns people have about them.  He wrote:

There have been, and still are, various popular movements made up of lay people and led by popular leaders, who have often been viewed with suspicion and even persecuted.”(emphasis added)

In the next paragraph, Pope Leo called for the inclusion of popular movements, working with local, national, and international governing structures to build a common destiny.  He wrote:

These popular leaders know that solidarity “also means fighting against the structural causes of poverty and inequality; of the lack of work, land and housing; and of the denial of social and labor rights. It means confronting the destructive effects of the empire of money… Solidarity, understood in its deepest sense, is a way of making history, and this is what the popular movements are doing.” For this reason, when different institutions think about the needs of the poor, it is necessary to “include popular movements and invigorate local, national and international governing structures with that torrent of moral energy that springs from including the excluded in the building of a common destiny.”  Popular movements, in fact, invite us to overcome “the idea of social policies being a policy for the poor, but never with the poor and never of the poor, much less part of a project which can bring people back together.”  If politicians and professionals do not listen to them, “democracy atrophies, turns into a slogan, a formality; it loses its representative character and becomes disembodied, since it leaves out the people in their daily struggle for dignity, in the building of their future.”  The same must be said of the institutions of the Church. (emphasis added)

The last line strongly indicates an intention to do precisely what the 5^th WMPM actually did – link local churches with the organizations present at this event.  But the mention of “work, land, and housing” at the beginning of the paragraph is what ties the exhortation directly to the World Meeting of Popular Movements.

On 23 October, attending organizations processed from the meeting venue, Spin Time Labs, to the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican for a private audience with the pope.  In his address to the WMPM, Pope Leo said to those in attendance:

More than ten years ago, here in the Vatican, Pope Francis said that you were here to plant a flag. What was written on it? “Land, housing and work.”  This was a “new thing” for the Church, and it was a good thing! Echoing Francis’ words, I say today: land, housing and work are sacred rights. It is worthwhile to fight for them, and I would like you to hear me say, “I am here,” “I am with you!” (emphasis added)

This report will provide indisputable proof that the organizations in attendance are self-identified communists, openly professed socialists, and activists promoting abortion, homosexuality, and even transgenderism.  For this reason, Pope Leo’s words to the attendees, “I am here.  I am with you!” are deeply chilling!  But he didn’t end his adulations for these organizations with this.  At various points throughout his speech, he heaped praise upon praise of the attending organizations saying:

From the peripheries, however, things appear differently. The banner that you unfurl is so relevant that it merits an entire chapter in Christian social thought on the excluded in today’s world.

This is the viewpoint that I want to convey: the new things seen from the periphery, and the fact that in your efforts you do not limit yourselves to protesting but also look for solutions. The peripheries often call for justice, and you cry out, not out of desperation but out of desire. Yours is a cry to find solutions in a society dominated by unjust systems. And you do this, not with microprocessors or biotechnologies but, at a more elementary level, with the beauty of artistry. This is poetry: you are “social poets.”
…
It is beautiful to see that the popular movements, even before the requirement of justice, are moved by the desire of love, against any individualism and prejudice.
…
Your effort is ever more necessary in a world that, as we know, is ever more globalized; as Benedict XVI affirmed “the processes of globalization, suitably understood and directed, open up the unprecedented possibility of large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale; if badly directed, however, they can lead to an increase in poverty and inequality, and could even trigger a global crisis.”  This means that the dynamisms of progress should always be managed through an ethic of responsibility, overcoming the risk of idolizing profit and always putting the human person and one’s integral development at the center.
…
At the same time, I am encouraged to see how popular movements, organizations of civil society and the Church are addressing these new forms of dehumanization, constantly testifying that whoever is in need is our neighbor, our brother and our sister. This makes you champions of humanity, witnesses to justice, poets of solidarity.

Toward the end of his statement to the WMPM attendees, Pope Leo made a direct reference to Dilexi Te, particularly highlighting the portion regarding “suspicion” that declares the need for the Church to “encourage” and “accompany” these popular movements.  He calls the efforts of those attending “legitimate and necessary,” and suggests that through their work, their initiatives may “become new policies and social rights.”

In the Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, I recall that “various popular movements made up of lay people and led by popular leaders, … have often been viewed with suspicion and even persecuted.”  Still, your struggles under the banner of land, housing and efforts for a better world deserve encouragement. And as the Church accompanied the formation of union leaders in the past, today we ought to accompany the popular movements. This means accompanying humanity, walking together in shared respect for human dignity and in the common desire for justice, love and peace.

The Church supports your just struggles for land, housing and work. Like my predecessor Francis, I believe that just ways begin from the ground up, from the periphery toward the center. Your many and creative initiatives can become new public policies and social rights. Yours is a legitimate and necessary effort. May the seeds of love, which you sow, tiny as mustard seeds, grow into a world that is more human for everyone and help to manage the “new things” better. (emphasis added)

All of this is a backdrop for what we have discovered about the 5th World Meeting of Popular Movements.

Let it be perfectly clear that we are in no way accusing Pope Leo XIV of being a communist, socialist, Marxist or a fellow traveler, nor are we suggesting that he was fully knowledgeable of the organizations involved.  But the publication of this report removes all plausible deniability that the WMPM is composed of Marxist organizations who intend to use the Catholic Church to spread Marxism.  Given the gravity of our findings, there is now a moral imperative for Pope Leo to take swift and permanent action against the meeting, and all involved in that event.

The Venue

The 5^th WMPM was held at the headquarters of an organization called Spin Time Labs.  In Don Ferrari’s press statement prior to the event, he said:

The meeting will take place from the afternoon of October 21st to October 24th at Spin Time, which is a point of reference for many popular movements

What Don Ferrari failed to mention is that Spin Time Labs is a “squatter-occupied” building on whose behalf Pope Francis intervened to prevent eviction and to restore electrical power.  Worse still, however, Spin Time is an openly-Marxist, pro-abortion, pro-trans organization that has even platformed performances featuring women delivering speeches while completely nude.

Even Pope Leo recognized that the WMPM was being held at Spin Time in his speech.  He said:

Today you bring the banner of land, housing and work once again, walking together from a social center — Spin Time — to the Vatican. Walking together testifies to the vitality of the popular movements as builders of solidarity in diversity. The Church must be with you.

Spin Time’s Communist Affiliations

The direct collaboration between Spin Time and various Communist organizations is extensive, but a few examples should suffice to make the point that Spin Time Labs is fully integrated with the Communist movement.

On 1 December 2018, Spin Time Labs hosted the Communist Party of Italy (PCI) for an event commemorating the life of Marxist philosopher and theorist, Domenico Losurdo.

The event, held in Spin Time Labs’ auditorium, prominently featured the red Communist flag with the yellow hammer and sickle.

On 3 December 2021, Spin Time hosted an event titled, “La bella e la belva – Incontro con Franco Berardi Bifo,” which is, “Beauty and the Beast – A meeting with Franco Berardi Bifo.”  Bifo is an openly Marxist philosopher, theorist, and activist who was kicked out of Italian Communist Youth Federation for “factionalism.”  It is important to note here that Cardinal Zuppi was also a participant in this event.

On 3 November 2017, Spin Time hosted prominent Communist musician, Pierpaolo Capovilla in celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the October Revolution.  Capovilla was there to perform writings of the “Poet of the Revolution,” Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.

Here is a video of Capovilla before the Communist Party of Italy wherein he advocates for “Communist Constituent Assembly.”

On 15 January 2023, Spin Times hosted the Communist Party of Refoundation.

There are many  other examples that could be given, but this suffices to make the point – Spin Time Labs is a Marxist organization.  And worse, Spin Time actively promotes grave sexual immorality, and even abortion.

On its own website, Spin Time identifies itself – among other things – as a “comunità educante e transfemminista,” which is “an educational and transfeminist community.”

On 8 March 2026, Spin Time participated in and promoted the “International Women’s Rights Day” march, promoting the organization “Non Una di Meno,” which is a transgender advocacy organization.  On the right, the Italian says, “We are preparing signs and materials for the Non Una di Meno protest.”

The following day, Spin Time posted pictures from the event, including of the creation of the signs they prepared at the Spin Time building.  One of the signs in the photograph says “Abortion Free and [Secure]”.  The “Secure” portion of the sign can be seen in the second photograph.

On 28 November 2020, Spin Time posted video of a Non Una di mano protest, emphasizing a “right to abortion.”

On 7 February 2026, Spin Times hosted a vulgarly titled fundraising effort “to support the medical expenses of trans boys and girls.”

On 2 April 2017, Spin Time hosted “Our Bodies, Our Cities: Notes for a Queer Festival,” billed as a “Queer culture and fundraising festival for the next Rome Pride 2017.”

In April of 2023, Spin Time co-sponsored a performance titled, “The Massacre,” featuring either nude or semi-nude performers.  The announcement for the performance came with a warning that says:

“WARNING: SHOW NOT SUITABLE FOR MINORS UNDER 14 YEARS OF AGE.”

Worst of all, Spin Time has hosted several productions of an extremely vulgar performance called “La Merda.”  This production is a visceral, one-woman monologue written by Italian playwright Cristian Ceresoli and performed by Silvia Gallerano.  Premiering in 2012, Spin Tims has hosted numerous performances between 2018 and 2023.  The entire show is done, from start to finish, with Gallerano completely naked.

This post from 8 May 2023 provides enough detail to show how morally repugnant this performance truly is. The pornographic and voyeuristic nature of the show cannot be overstated, and any connection to the show (producer, sponsor, host, or attendee) would constitute an objective mortal sin.  We’ve censored parts of the image with red blocks.

On 15 May 2023, Spin Time posted pictures from inside its own lobby that show crowds preparing to watch the performance of “La Merda”.  The collage of photos included posters, billets, and signs for “La Merda.”

Shockingly, one of the pictures include Don Mattei Ferrari the Coordinator for the World Meeting of Popular Movements.

And to be absolutely certain, that is indeed Don Mattei Ferrari.

As stated earlier, Spin Time Labs – a clearly Marxist, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT organization – was the hosting venue for the World Meeting of Popular Movements.  As we saw, Pope Leo XIV referenced them in his address to the WMPM.  Pictures taken during the WMPM show high-ranking prelates in attendance at Spin Time.  For instance, this 21 October 2025 photo shows Cardinal Czerny, the Prefect for the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, participating in the WMPM at Spin Time.  In this photo, he is standing with another unnamed priest.

This photo (purchased from Getty Images) shows Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar of the Diocese of Rome, participating in the plenary assembly of the World Meeting of Popular Movements at Spin Time.  Behind him is an obscene painting of a children’s cartoon character called Pikachu with large, nude women’s breasts added.  On the door to the side are several stickers expressing Marxist ideologies and ANTIFA logos.

The inclusion of Spin Time Labs in a Vatican-sponsored event is completely unconscionable.  But given the distinctly Marxist character of the event itself, and the Marxist, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT nature of the organizations participating, it is clear that the venue at Spin Time Labs is a message in and of itself.  There can be no escaping the fact that the World Meeting of Popular Movements – especially given its mandate to link these Marxists with local churches – is designed specifically for the spread of Marxist ideologies within local Catholic communities.

The Participants

The press packet provided by the Vatican for the World Meeting of Popular Movements identifies seven organizations forming the “Organizing Committee” for the event.  According to the press kit:

The committee contributes to the organization and coordination of the meeting and maintains dialogue with the Holy See through the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. (emphasis original)

The organizations represented on the organizing committee are:

• Unión de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (UTEP), Argentina;
• Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST), Brazil
• La Vía Campesina, Brazil;
• Slum Dwellers International (SDI), Africa;
• Hermandad Obrera de Acción Católica (HOAC), Spain
• World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW), Spain;
• PICO Network, United States;
• Mediterranea Saving Humans, Italy;

In our previous report on the WMPM, we identified MST, SDI, PICO, and Mediterranea Saving Humans as distinctly Marxist organizations.  Upon further review, we have also discovered that some of them are pro-abortion and pro-lgbt.

FOR THE INDIVIDUAL REPORTS ON PARTICIPANTS, CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT.

The Final Declaration

At 2:46 in this video of the WMPM in 2025 is a shot of some official literature belonging to the event itself.

The flyer on the left titled, “Organize the World Alliance” says:

“From the ruins of capitalism arises our ark: popular, rebellious, in solidarity.  A call to struggle for land, work, roof, freedom to migrate and stay.  Toward the Jubilee of Popular Movements, toward Rome, toward another history.”

This one flyer speaks volumes about the Marxist and revolutionist disposition of the meeting itself; a disposition firmly revealed by the Marxist and revolutionist nature of the participating organizations we just profiled.  The very first line, “From the ruins of capitalism rises our ark,” makes it plain for all that the entire purpose of the meeting is to see the end of the free market and the rise of Marxism.  The word “popular” refers to a multitude, a majority, or a broad base of support.  The word “rebellious” speaks for itself.  Revolutionism and rebellion are the hallmarks of every Marxist uprising.  And “solidarity” refers to the collectivist unity of Marxist revolution.  None must be allowed to break ranks.  No dissent can be tolerated within the movement.  All must come together to march toward their ultimate goal of overthrowing the current political and economic structure, taking wealth from those who have, and giving it to those who have not.

But this flyer is a mere hint at the Marxist revolutionism designed by the participants in the WMPM.  The image of the ark in that flyer also appears at the top of the Final Declaration of the 5^th WMPM, which was then presented to Pope Leo.

The 4-page final declaration of the 5^th World Meeting of Popular Movements fits right in line with the Marxist ideologies of all the organizations attending the meeting and is completely counter to Catholic social teachings.  Bearing in mind that local church representatives with an official mandate participated in this meeting alongside these Marxist organizations, the Final Declaration of the 5^th WMPM becomes far more chilling.

The document opens with all-too-familiar assessments of a world in crisis and a call for a “humanity must transform so that every person can live in full dignity.”  It mentions concerns about armed conflicts around the world, the “richest 1%” shaping global politics, and a general and undefined concern for “exclusion” when it comes to “the right to decent work.”

From this, the document decries national immigration policies that insist upon documented entry through formal procedures, characterizing them as “hatred of the poor.”  The false conflation of issues only intensifies as mineral extraction is related to violations of “the lands of indigenous peoples” and the perpetuation of “gender-based violence,” as if one somehow leads to the other.

And remembering that most of these groups have formally and publicly supported abortion and transgenderism, the document makes the following demand:

“We also demand the universal right to health and medical care as an indispensable condition for a dignified life.”

It is impossible to separate this demand from the pro-abortion and pro-trans ideologies attached to the participants at the meeting.

Furthermore, the Final Declaration says:

“The Popular Movements have martyrs: brothers and sisters who gave their lives out of militant coherence and commitment to justice, land, housing, and work, as well as many who are persecuted or imprisoned for defending the dignity of the excluded.”

The majority of the organizations participating in the WMPM are communist, socialist, Marxists revolutionists, some of whom are directly connected to violent rebellions and guerrilla warfare.  When they speak of “militant coherence and commitment to justice, land, housing, and work,” they are talking about violent, Marxist insurgents who took up arms against established authority.

When these statements of the Final Declaration are considered in light of the context of the Marxist nature of the participants in the meeting, it is absolutely chilling for it to say:

“Pope Francis accompanied us with his prophetic testimony, whose call for a Church that goes forth—Samaritan and merciful—has encouraged our journey. Now, Pope Leo XIV has assured us that he stands with us, urging us to persevere in the mission of bringing hope to the peripheries.” (emphasis added)

In fact, the very next section of the Declaration proposes a series of “next steps” while invoking Pope Leo’s words to them, “your effort that does not stop at protest but also seeks solutions.”

The first proposal is a commitment “to Structural, Economic, and Political Actions that Unite Us.”  Under this heading, the WMPM Declaration calls for:

“a universal basic income as recognition of unpaid work and as a guarantee of subsistence; advance the reduction of working hours to redistribute labor and improve life. Defend universal access to quality education and public healthcare.”

In its essence, this is a demand for full socialism that takes from those according to their means and gives to those according to their needs.  And again, given the pro-abortion nature of these organizations, the call for “universal access to … public healthcare” cannot be separated from the pro-abortion demands these organizations are already making.

In this same section, the Declaration calls for a rejection of “wars and genocides” and the promotion of “peaceful resolution of conflicts,” which is ironic considering the “militant,” revolutionary, and guerrilla uprisings engaged in by many of these groups that have led to death already acknowledged in this very same document.

This section also calls for “gender equality,” which obliquely touches on transgenderism.  The Declaration said (emphasis added):

“Gender equality: actively combat male violence and all forms of oppression against women and gender diversities, promoting their leadership in our organizations and society.”

Recognizing that these organizations are involved in the promotion of transgender ideologies, it is impossible to separate the call for an ending of “oppression against … gender diversities” from their open promotion of transgenderism.

The Declaration’s demand for “popular democracy” is an echo of the “Democratic Socialism” professed by many of the organizations present at the meeting.  It cannot be read as anything but the generation of a socialist society.

And finally, this section’s call for the defense of “the full citizenship and rights of migrants and refugees” is nothing less than the demand that all who cross the border of any country be designated as a citizen of that country.  It runs completely counter to the Church’s consistent teaching that all nations have a right to regulate migration and defend their borders.

The second section of the Declaration proposes a more formal alliance and integrated function between these communist groups and the Catholic Church.  The section is titled, “Strengthen Our Platforms as Popular Movements and Church.”  In it, the Declaration makes the following suggestion:

“We also propose bringing to our local communities, cities, and regions the platform developed here in Rome, together with the message of Pope Leo XIV, to dioceses and local churches. We want to promote new forms of presence and witness that awaken the consciences of broad sectors of our societies and inspire many others.

We affirm the need to renew our global alliance, woven from every territory and local experience, among organized movements, civil society, the Catholic Church, and all religious traditions that share the dream of a world centered on the human person and dignity rather than profit—an alliance capable of uniting women and men of goodwill to build a humanity grounded in fraternity, equality, and justice, where peace and justice embrace.”

After examining the nature of the organizations participating in the WMPM, it is shocking for Catholics to consider the inclusion and participation of local Church representatives attending with a mandate.  But this proposal completes the shocking nature of the new “synodal church” Pope Francis consistently called for during his reign.

In 2024, Pope Francis wrote a 10-year retrospective on the World Meeting of popular Movements, and in the introduction, he wrote:

“I am grateful for the publication of this book, which compiles my messages to the Popular Movements. Each one was the fruit of a dialogue, a back-and-forth that was very beneficial to me. The popular movements shared their conclusions with me, and I shared my reflections with them. In this way, together we created the slogan “Land, Housing, and Work.” In this way, together we enriched the Social Doctrine of the Church. It is a novel example of synodality, of walking together.”

In a Zenit article on the World Meeting of Popular Movements published in October 2025, the author called the meetings:

“a kind of popular synod that operates from the peripheries of the world. In an era when globalization too often deepens division, the World Meeting of Popular Movements insists that fraternity itself can be revolutionary.”

These sentiments clearly reflect Pope Francis’s core teaching that a synodal Church must be a “Church of the poor” and a “missionary Church that goes out to the peripheries.”  The inclusion of parallel delegations from local Churches, accompanying each delegation of popular movements was designed to visibly embody synodality in practice.

For the first time, each delegation of popular movements was officially accompanied by a parallel delegation from their local Church (bishops, priests, religious, and laypeople with a formal mandate). This was designed to visibly embody synodality in practice, as Don Mattei Ferrari suggested in his press conference leading up to the 5^th WMPM.

Further confirmation of the link between the WMPM and the Synod on Synodality was indicated by the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, which stated that the coincidence of the “pilgrimage of popular movements” attending Mass with “the synodal teams” affirmed “the common commitment towards a synodal Church”:

“The event will culminate with the jubilee pilgrimage of the popular movements in the Vatican, which has scheduled the crossing of the Holy Door on Saturday 25 October and mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday the 26th, along with the Synodal teams and participatory bodies, to reaffirm the common commitment towards a synodal Church at the service of social justice and the common good.”

Pope Leo XIV’s address and the meeting’s Final Declaration repeatedly used synodal language: “walking together – universal and local Church.”

In its essence, the question posed by the Synod on Synodality is: “How do we walk together internally?”  And in response, the WMPM answers: “We walk together with those on the margins of society, turning synodality outward into concrete encounter, mutual listening, and joint action for justice.”

The final section of the Declaration calls for the globalization and strengthening of communication for the “struggle of popular movements.”  Looking to shift the narrative toward “affirming who we are, whom we represent, and why we struggle,” it is again impossible to consider these words outside the context of the Marxist, pro-abortion and pro-LGBT agendas and ideologies of the organizations who created the document.  And with that in mind, consider the result of their intention to spread their messages while strengthening “organization, mobilization, and participation within our social base, linking online action with territorial struggle.”  They wrote:

“We must also orient technological development so that it promotes human and integral development, not the interests of financial and speculative capital. We will actively occupy digital spaces, using technology, data, and virtual tools not only to spread our message but, above all, to strengthen organization, mobilization, and participation within our social base, linking online action with territorial struggle.”

The Catholic Church’s Condemnations of Communism and Socialism

Communism and Socialism have been consistently condemned by the Catholic Church from their very beginnings, without reservation, without compromise, and without fail.  The Church teaches that these ideologies – and all those like them under different names – are completely incompatible with Christian anthropology, natural law, the rights to private property, the inviolability of the family, and the dignity of the human person.  As Pope John XXIII succinctly stated, “No Catholic could subscribe even to moderate socialism.”

Pius IX issued some of the earliest explicit papal rebukes as socialist and communist ideas spread in Europe. The year following the publication of the Communist Manifesto – so celebrated by many active participants in the World Meeting of Popular Movements – he wrote in his encyclical, Qui Pluribus:

“To this goal also tends the unspeakable doctrine of Communism, as it is called, a doctrine most opposed to the very natural law. For if this doctrine were accepted, the complete destruction of everyone’s laws, government, property, and even of human society itself would follow.”

Leo XIII intensified the critique, especially in response to the rise of organized socialism.  In Quod Apostolici Muneris (1878), he described communism as:

“the deadly plague that is creeping into the very fibers of human society and leading it on to the verge of destruction.”

Going further, he wrote:

“We speak of that sect of men who, under various and almost barbarous names, are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy, no longer seek the shelter of secret meetings, but, openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day, strive to bring to a head what they have long been planning – the overthrow of all civil society whatsoever.”

In Rerum Novarum he declared that socialism’s core tenet – the “community of goods” – “must be utterly rejected”:

“The socialists, working on the poor man’s envy of the rich, are striving to do away with private property… Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal.”

Pius XI delivered the most detailed and forceful condemnations as communism took power in Russia and threatened Europe.  In Quadragesimo Anno he reiterated that all forms of communism and socialism are incompatible with the Gospel, saying:

“We have also summoned Communism and Socialism again to judgment and have found all their forms, even the most modified, to wander far from the precepts of the Gospel.”

He condemned Communism fully for its “Unrelenting class warfare and absolute extermination of private ownership,” both as an end, and for the often violent means employed to attain them.  And yet, with a clearly painful sorrow, he recognized the failure on the part of those who dismissively ignore the dangers of these ideologies:

“Although We, therefore, deem it superfluous to warn upright and faithful children of the Church regarding the impious and iniquitous character of Communism, yet We cannot without deep sorrow contemplate the heedlessness of those who apparently make light of these impending dangers, and with sluggish inertia allow the widespread propagation of doctrine which seeks by violence and slaughter to destroy society altogether.”

After reviewing the split in attitude of those calling themselves Communist and those calling themselves Socialist, he noted that the Socialists appeared to be altering their methodology and messaging so as to withdraw from the violence employed by Communists.  And despite this, he remained steadfast in his condemnation of both ideologies:

“But what if Socialism has really been so tempered and modified as to the class struggle and private ownership that there is in it no longer anything to be censured on these points? Has it thereby renounced its contradictory nature to the Christian religion? This is the question that holds many minds in suspense. And numerous are the Catholics who, although they clearly understand that Christian principles can never be abandoned or diminished seem to turn their eyes to the Holy See and earnestly beseech Us to decide whether this form of Socialism has so far recovered from false doctrines that it can be accepted without the sacrifice of any Christian principle and in a certain sense be baptized. That We, in keeping with Our fatherly solicitude, may answer their petitions, We make this pronouncement: Whether considered as a doctrine, or an historical fact, or a movement, Socialism, if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth.”

Going further, he established that no matter what truth may be contained in the errors of Socialism, it is irreconcilable with the Faith, and no Christian can be a socialist:

“If Socialism, like all errors, contains some truth (which, moreover, the Supreme Pontiffs have never denied), it is based nevertheless on a theory of human society peculiar to itself and irreconcilable with true Christianity. Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.”

In his encyclical Divini Redemptoris, Pope Pius XI exhorted his bishops to inform the Faithful of the intrinsically evil nature of Communism, and declared that none of them could collaborate with Communists in ant matter:

“See to it, Venerable Brethren, that the Faithful do not allow themselves to be deceived! Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Those who permit themselves to be deceived into lending their aid towards the triumph of Communism in their own country, will be the first to fall victims of their error. And the greater the antiquity and grandeur of the Christian civilization in the regions where Communism successfully penetrates, so much more devastating will be the hatred displayed by the godless.”

Pope Pius XII upheld and enforced all of the teachings of his predecessors on the matters of Socialism and Communism.  And in 1949, he issued a decree, which has never been abrogated and remains in full force, declaring that it is unlawful for the Faithful to enlist in or even to show favor to the Communist Party, that it is unlawful for the Faithful to publish, read, or disseminate materials supporting Communist doctrines, and that all who do so are to be denied admission to the Sacraments.  Furthermore, this decree established the automatic excommunication of all Catholics “who profess and particularly those who defend and spread, the materialistic and anti-Christian doctrine of the Communists.”

This Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office has been asked:

1) Whether it is lawful to enlist or show favor to the Communist Party?
2) Whether it is lawful to publish, read or disseminate books, newspapers, periodicals, or leaflets in support of Communist doctrine and practice or write in them any articles?
3) Whether Catholics who knowingly and freely place actions as specified in No. 1 and 2 above may be admitted to the Sacraments?
4) Whether Catholics, who profess and particularly those who defend and spread, the materialistic and anti-Christian doctrine of the Communists, ipso facto, as apostates from the Catholic faith, incur excommunication reserved specifically to the Holy See?

The most eminent and reverend Fathers, charged with the defense of matters pertaining to faith and morals, after having previously heard the opinion of the consultors, at a plenary session held on Tuesday, the 28th day of June, 1949, decreed that the above-mentioned questions must be answered as follows:

To no. 1—In the negative, for Communism is materialism and anti-Christian. Besides Communist leaders, although they sometimes verbally assert that they are not opposed to religion show themselves nevertheless, both by doctrine and by action, to be in reality enemies of God, of the true religion, and of the Church of Christ.

To no. 2 —In the negative, inasmuch as this is prohibited by law itself—see Canon 1399.

To no. 3—In the negative, in accordance with common principles governing refusal of Sacraments to those not having proper dispositions.

To no. 4—In the affirmative.

And on the following Thursday, the 30th of the same month and year, His Holiness Pope Pius XII, when informed of the decision in the usual audience granted to His Excellency, the most Reverend Assessor, approved and ordered to be published the above answers in the ‘Acta Apostolicae Sedis.’

The perennial judgment and teaching of the Church regarding Communism and Socialism is clear, complete, and final:  No Catholic can be a Socialist or a Communist and remain a Catholic in good standing with the Church.  And while the Faithful have an obligation to guard against ideological leanings toward these gravely dangerous ideologies, far more so is the obligation of priests and bishops to stand as true shepherds to protect their spiritual children from the “plague” and “poisonous fruits” of these movements.

Conclusion

The entire history of the World Meeting of Popular Movements, first convened in 2014, is dominated by the presence of Marxist/Communist/Socialist organizations actively supportive of abortion and LGBT ideologies.  The consistent elevation, adulation, and integration of these organizations into the life of the Catholic Church runs counter to the Church’s consistent condemnations of Communism and Socialism.  The vocal and active support of such organizations from Pope Francis – and now Pope Leo – is wildly incongruent with the Church’s mission for the salvation of souls.  Nothing good can possibly come from these meetings, and in fact, the integration of local churches with these organizations through the WMPM can only give the moral approval of the Church for a movement of ideologies diametrically opposed to the Church’s moral, social, and theological teachings.

We acknowledge the small possibility that Pope Leo was ignorant of the nature of the organizations he acknowledged “have often been viewed with suspicion,” and yet called “social poets,” and “champions of humanity, witnesses to justice, and poets of solidarity,” and whose effort “is legitimate and necessary.”  To whom he declared, “I am here.  I am with you!”  It is entirely plausible that Pope Leo had no idea what Spin Time Labs was or the performances it has held, or the admiration of Karl Marx expressed by MST, AbM, CUC, CNA, FRENADESO, the Revolutionism espoused by UTEP, the Socialism of Esperanza Ocana and AVAELA and Luca Casarini of Mediterranea Saving Humans, or the abortion advocacy from them and La Via Campesina, PICO California, CENARAB, and others.  Pope Leo may have been completely unaware of all of these things.  But Cardinal Michael Czerny, Don Mattei Ferrari, and the multitude of other members of the Vatican who helped coordinate, plan, and produce this meeting cannot claim such ignorance.

Furthermore, with the publication of this report, Pope Leo’s ignorance of the true nature of these organizations and their agendas disappears.  As if speaking with foreknowledge of the true nature of these organizations, St. James tells us:

“You covet, and have not: you kill, and envy, and cannot obtain. You contend and war, and you have not, because you ask not.  You ask and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences.  Adulterers, know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God.”

The Popular Movements are agents of the world: rebellious, envious, covetous, and worldly.  In direct relation to this, Our Blessed Lord said:

“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you.  If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

Pope Leo’s own namesake declared the incompatibility of socialism with the natural law and that it is to be “utterly rejected” in his encyclical Rerum Novarum.  We call upon Pope Leo to formally disband the World Meeting of Popular Movements, to condemn the organizations participating in it, to punish the Vatican clerics responsible for its coordination and production.