8.161. Pope Francis said, “Tradition is not a museum piece. It grows and evolves with time.” Is that true? Should the Church adapt over time to stay relevant in the modern world?
This question arises from a statement made by Antipope Francis in April 2018, echoing the modernist ideology of “living tradition” promoted by Vatican II. His exact words were:
“Tradition is not a museum piece. It grows and evolves with time.”
At first glance, this may sound reasonable—even inspiring. Doesn’t everything grow? Isn’t tradition meant to be “alive”? But this phrase is not Catholic. It reflects the modernist heresy condemned by Pope St. Pius X, which replaces the fixed deposit of faith with an evolving, man-centered process, subject to reinterpretation according to cultural trends.
Sacred Tradition is not folklore, fashion, or custom. It is the infallible transmission of divine revelation—truths handed down from Christ through the Apostles, safeguarded by the Magisterium, and not subject to change. Yes, our understanding of these truths may grow (e.g., through precise theological language or definitions by councils), but always in the same meaning and judgment (eodem sensu eademque sententia, cf. Vatican I, Dei Filius).
When Francis and others say that tradition “evolves,” they mean that it can be reinterpreted or reversed. Under this idea, Church teaching on marriage, sexual morality, the priesthood, the Mass, and religious liberty can all be discarded in the name of “growth.” This is not development. This is betrayal.
| Category | Traditional Catholic Teaching | Francis / Vatican II View | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Definition of Tradition | Divine revelation handed down unchanged from the Apostles | Historical process that adapts to human experience and culture | This confuses tradition with sociological trends and opinion |
| Nature of Growth | Organic, deepened understanding without contradiction | Flexible reinterpretation, even reversing previous teaching | Violates the principle of non-contradiction in dogma |
| Examples | Dogmas clarified by Councils (e.g. Trinity, Transubstantiation) | Vatican II reversal on religious liberty, ecumenism, liturgy | So-called “growth” is actually rupture and apostasy |
| Authority | Grounded in Apostolic teaching, protected by infallibility | Subject to consensus, pastoral discernment, synodality | Replaces divine authority with human sentiment |
| Fruits | Clarity, unity, martyrdom, fidelity to the Faith | Doctrinal confusion, dissent, sacrilege, collapse of vocations | “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matt. 7:16) |
Summary:
Francis’s statement that “Tradition is not a museum piece; it grows and evolves with time” may sound humble and open-minded, but it is in fact a rejection of the Catholic Faith. It expresses the modernist view that Tradition is malleable, progressive, and shaped by human culture, rather than a divinely revealed deposit that must be preserved without error.
True Catholic tradition does not evolve in substance. It is handed down, not reinvented. It is defended, not “reimagined.” When Church leaders use phrases like this, they are justifying revolution, not development.
As St. Vincent of Lerins taught:
“We hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.”
And as Pope St. Pius X declared:
“Progress of dogma is not the alteration of its meaning, but its clearer understanding.”
The Catholic Faith is not a museum piece—but neither is it clay in the hands of modernists. It is the unchanging truth of Christ, yesterday, today, and forever.
Further reading:
Pascendi Dominici Gregis (On the Doctrine of the Modernists) by Pope Pius X (1907)