August 28, 2026
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Panama City
Most Reverend José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta
E. S. D.
Dear Metropolitan Archdiocese of Panama City,
The holy and glorious Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven constitutes one of the central mysteries of the Catholic faith; in Panama, we are especially proud to have her as patroness of the capital, since it was on that very day that the city was founded. This religious feast is the starting point for the celebrations of August 15 each year, which should prompt the ecclesiastical hierarchy to an apostolic zeal to catechize the faithful about this truth of faith in the days preceding the solemn feast. Reality falls markedly short of what ought to occur on an occasion that should evoke profound sentiments of joy and gladness. Once again this year we see the emphasis, the call, the initiative, and the enthusiasm on the part of Your Excellency for the event called “Week of Open Churches.” We have already witnessed in previous years how this event continues to be promoted by the ecclesiastical hierarchy and how Catholics are invited to take part in a spectacle that not only confuses the people but also draws souls away from the path of conversion. With last year’s letter to Your Excellency and to the Episcopal Conference, this group of Catholic faithful from various sectors of the population held the pious hope of an amendment, a reconsideration, or a correction so that the hierarchy might fulfill its duty to confirm the flock in the faith; it is a cause of sadness and indignation to observe that the constant and well-founded truth of the Deposit of Faith has not been heeded at all.
During the solemn rite of the proclamation of the dogma mentioned in this letter, His Holiness Pope Pius XII said the following: “By an inscrutable divine plan, a luminous corner of heaven opens over the men of this generation, so troubled and suffering, lost and disappointed, yet also healthily restless in the search for a great lost good, a radiant sincerity, hope, and a blessed life, where Mary is felt as Queen and Mother, beside the Sun of Justice.” Here the Assumption is presented as the act that leads to the recognition of Our Most Blessed Mother Mary as Queen and Lady of all creation; that is the level given by the bimillennial tradition to this sublime solemnity, clothed with all possible pomp by the Mystical Body of Christ; therefore, nothing less is expected for the Mother of God on one of the days celebrating her prerogatives.
When we repeatedly see the deliberate non-fulfillment of what was taught by Pope Pius XII cited above—not only unfulfilled but replaced by a contradictory event—it can only provoke a strong questioning of the principles guarded by the prelates, promoting this concrete manifestation of religious indifferentism. In the face of this direct affront to the preeminent rights of God, the social kingship of Christ and His Most Blessed Mother, we directly question, by means of the following question, your conduct: How does the event convened and promoted by the Archdiocese of Panama ensure or procure the principal mission of the Holy Mother Church, which is the salus animarum (the salvation of souls)? As we have pointed out in previous letters, from the Old Testament we see that God directly sets forth His teaching on the prohibition of such events that are not in conformity with immutable truth. Citing a couple of examples, the biblical passages of Exodus 20:3-5, Deuteronomy 12:30-31, 1 Corinthians 10:20-21, and 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 may be highlighted. Going further, in the New Testament we have the undeniable affirmation of the Savior stating: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” In view of this infallible assertion from the mouth of God Himself, the Church has rejoiced in proclaiming the dogma of faith Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (outside the Church there is no salvation). Is this truth of faith preached within the event sponsored by the Archdiocese of Panama?
Taking a look at the Apostolic Tradition on the matter, we find ourselves confronted with the strong rebuke of the Fathers of the Church regarding this type of event, situation, or approach that fosters confusion among the faithful. To cite just a couple of Patristic authors, we have Saint Ignatius of Antioch in his Letter to the Trallians, who, among other things, expresses the following: “I exhort you, then—not I, but the love of Jesus Christ—to take only Christian food and to abstain from strange fodder, which is heresy; for these men even mix poison with Jesus Christ, imposing themselves on others under the pretense of honesty and sincerity, like people who administer a lethal portion with wine and honey, so that one does not recognize it, does not fear, and drinks death with fatal delight.” In the same line of obedience and fidelity to the words of Christ Jesus, we contemplate Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Saint Augustine, and Saint John Chrysostom, who repeat in similar terms an identical teaching.
In keeping with Sacred Scripture and the Patristic writings, the Papal Magisterium has been constant and infallible in the strict prohibition of attending, participating in, or having interaction in those events where the baneful error of religious indifferentism can spread. Mentioning some of the most relevant pontifical documents that set forth the teaching on the subject, we may point to Ubi Primum of Pope Leo XII, Mirari Vos of Pope Gregory XVI, Qui Pluribus, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore, and the Syllabus of Errors, these written by Blessed Pope Pius IX. There are other pieces by the Roman Pontiffs worthy of citation, but if one had to refer to one, it would be Mortalium Animos of Pope Pius XI. The precision of the successor of Saint Peter is plain and requires no explanation when he states the following: “Such attempts cannot in any way obtain the approval of Catholics,” and later says: “Those who hold this opinion not only err and deceive themselves, but also reject the true religion, adulterating its essential concept, and little by little come to fall into naturalism and atheism; from which it clearly follows that those who adhere to such opinions and attempts depart totally from the religion revealed by God.” We can perfectly understand that this class of initiatives, which leave empty the need to convert, nullifies the value of divine Revelation together with all the work accomplished by Our Lord Jesus Christ through His Holy Church. Not only have the obedient successors of the Petrine See made this resound, but also other sources of the Deposit of Faith, such as the Catechism of the Council of Trent in its section on the Creed, Chapter 9, as well as the First Vatican Council in its Constitution Dei Filius. All that has been indicated in the present paragraph is the official, immovable, constant, obligatory, and perpetual doctrine of the Holy Mother Church. It cannot be changed or concealed. A future time, under the pretext of novelties or the passage of the times or human progress, cannot come to contradict something that has been the teaching faithfully transmitted and protected by the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries.
This year it seems they opted for a more cultural appearance for the event being discussed in this letter. Despite this attempt at disguise, the event is at its core purely religious. On the website of the Archdiocese of Panama, in the official announcement of the Week of Open Churches, it literally says “rituals.” This causes immeasurable indignation for any individual with sound formation who makes a simple comparison between what took place at the event and what has been faithfully professed by all the sources of our faith.
The Catholic Church was built by Christ Jesus to be His only institution of divine character here on earth. This class of events places everything that Our Lord generously left us on the plane of being something optional, merely cultural, even on the same level as any other belief that can radically contradict the content of the Gospel. Added to the immeasurable harm created by the event under discussion, one must add the grave scandal to the faith that it provokes in pious souls. Scandal occurs when an action, word, or omission gives occasion for others to commit sins (cf. Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X, nn. 416-418). This type of event is an easy occasion for a person to commit the terrible misfortune of straying from the Church by adopting other ideas. No matter how much they claim it is a cultural event, with a brief look at the planned itinerary one can perceive a context with a religious background permeating the entire theme of the event, leading people to participate in these practices that foster the religious indifferentism so condemned, as has been demonstrated, by the entire Deposit of Faith. Another baneful effect it causes among the faithful is the confusion and diabolical disorientation of the very concept we have of God. It further entangles a faithful who for years have been deprived of the most essential knowledge of their faith, who do not know which God we adore, what His nature is, what He has ordained in the way of loving Him, among all the other guidelines preached by the Most High. It makes it seem that God did not in fact reveal Himself infallibly, in a precise manner, and that His Only-Begotten Son does not constitute the way to eternal life; it is into this class of confusions with the smell of sulfur that the faithful have been immersed for a notable number of years, without obtaining the necessary assistance from the ecclesiastical hierarchy in reaffirming the perennial Christian doctrine.
As laypeople from different sectors of the Panamanian population, acting in a personal capacity, we are exceedingly ashamed to have to witness the doctrinal collapse fostered by those who hold the teaching ministry within the Church. The examples of the lives of the saints show everything opposite to the deceitful conduct evidenced in recent years on multiple notorious occasions. We do not see Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis Solano, Saint Dominic of Guzmán, Saint Peter Canisius, Saint Brigid of Ireland, Saint Clotilde, or Saint Clare of Assisi committing acts even remotely close to those that occurred last week in this isthmian land. All these saints—among countless others—gave the example, even their lives, to proclaim the Gospel without yielding the truth in any point, with unbreakable apostolic zeal and with incomparable splendor of virtues adorning their work. We ask with the clamor of fervent children of the Catholic faith that you echo the testimony of the blood shed by the saints in faithful profession of this holy faith, instead of submitting and fully selling yourselves to the agendas of the revolutionary world that has made a direct affront to the cause of God. We, as the faithful, cannot and will not remain in the ranks of complicit, comfortable, and tentative silence of those who prefer false peace to the detriment of the truth confirmed in blood by an incalculable number of saints.
In sum, what we request for the love of God, Three and One, is a return to the course of sound doctrine that fosters love for our Creator so that we may know, love, and serve Him faithfully without confusion, hesitation, or human respects. It is precisely the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of all Graces, who is our intercessor to attain this most exalted end of surrender to God. She was rewarded by the Most Blessed Trinity for being taken body and soul directly into heaven to enjoy eternal beatitude together with her Most Holy Son. We will not tire of evoking the greatness of this illustrious lady of heaven to make her known to the whole world because she deserves to have singular honor. We keep the hope that you will have the courage to amend the direction taken, of which we must warn that that course provokes the wrath of God in different ways with tragic consequences. The Most Blessed Virgin Mary does not admit nor follow the ecumenical objectives set forth for decades by the Episcopal Conference; She will never allow the Church founded by her Son to be placed at the mercy of ideas contradictory to revealed truth. To put it openly, in Mary Most Holy you will never find an ally to any ecumenical, syncretic, pantheistic, novel, or antagonistic plan against the Gospel. The example of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who took upon herself the task of personally evangelizing the indigenous people of Mexico, is ample and sufficient proof of the tireless work of the Mother of God to convert all to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. An act of public reparation is what we have requested these last three years; now we respectfully request it again. We pray that Mary Most Holy, Queen of the Assumption, may touch the heart of the entire Episcopal Conference, especially the Archbishop of Panama, so that they may return to professing the incorrupt tradition left to their care and duty.
(Legal basis: Canon 212§3: They have the right, and sometimes even the duty, by reason of their own knowledge, competence, and prestige, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their opinion on matters that pertain to the good of the Church and to manifest to the other faithful, always safeguarding the integrity of faith and morals, reverence toward the Pastors, and taking into account the common good and the dignity of persons).
Sincerely,
Yousef Altaji Narbón
Azael A. Sanjur I.
Luis Varela
José Céspedes
Enrique Morgan