The IVE is circulating a recent video of Father Santiago Martín, founder of the Franciscans of Mary, entitled Who Governs the Church?, published on September 11, 2026.
The video does not talk about the Institute of the Incarnate Word. But it is difficult not to notice to what extent its argument fits with an old culture of IVE.
The Pope does; those who govern in his name, do not
Santiago Martín begins by praising Pope Leo XIV. The problem, according to him, would be another: an important sector – perhaps the majority, he says – of the hierarchy would be following a different path from that of the pope.
Later he goes on to speak of “another Church”: while Leo XIV would speak of Christ, prayer, tradition and evangelization, that other Church would speak of bureaucracy, meetings and new structures.
The formula is extraordinarily familiar.
For those of us who knew this culture decades ago, the scheme could be summarized as follows:
The pope is obeyed. The problem is the dicasteries, the bishops, the officials and those around the pope.
It is a very convenient formula, because it allows an identity of absolute fidelity to Rome to be kept intact and, at the same time, to delegitimize Roman decisions when they are uncomfortable.
An old logic that is still useful
If Rome praises the Institute, the Church speaks.
If Rome intervenes in the Institute, then another possible explanation immediately appears: ill-informed officials, hostile bishops, ideologized dicasteries, people who deceive the pope, or an ecclesiastical bureaucracy that follows its own agenda.
Thus, it can be stated simultaneously:
“We are absolutely faithful to the Holy Father”
and to resist, discredit or relativize the decisions made by those who concretely exercise the authority of the Holy See.
We do not affirm that Santiago Martín produced this video with the IVE in mind. There is no element that allows us to sustain it.
What is significant is that the IVE considers it appropriate to circulate it now.
Because the Institute is precisely under pontifical intervention. The decisions that affect its governance, formation and future today do not come through a personal appearance by the Pope. They arrive, as the Church normally functions, through dicasteries, pontifical delegates, bishops and structures of government.
That is why perhaps the most interesting question is not the one that gives the video its title — “Who governs the Church?” — but another:
When an institution proclaims obedience to the pope but systematically discredits those who exercise its authority when it does not like their decisions, what exactly does it mean to obey?
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