The tribunal decision was issued April 20 but only revealed today. The archdiocese simultaneously prohibited all Catholics from attending Masses or activities at the Mission of Divine Mercy (MDM) in Canyon Lake and urged an end to financial support.
In the notice dated August 14, García-Siller emphasized that Foster “has publicly referred to Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV as ‘usurpers’” and that, “in publishing messages allegedly received from God, Jesus, and the Blessed Mother by a member of the Mission of Divine Mercy, for which John Mary Foster serves as the de facto leader, he has repeatedly and consistently claimed that Pope Leo XIV ‘is also a usurper and not a true pope.’”
The archbishop added that the priest continues to celebrate
Mass while deliberately omitting the Pope’s name from the Eucharistic
Prayer, and he declared attendance at MDM events “a formal act of
disobedience.”
In a response issued on the MDM website, Fr. Foster noted that while they would have canonical grounds to appeal the decision, they are not doing so because “the practical realities of the current Vatican and hierarchy, so deeply infiltrated by the enemy, weigh heavily against a successful appeal.
For example, we would be appealing to Victor Manuel Fernandez at the Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith, who bears significant responsibility for many of the most troubling actions of the current Vatican, including authoring Fiducia Supplicans. And any ultimate decision would rest with Robert Prevost (Leo), who the Lord has said is a usurper working to undermine His Church.”
Central to the case — and prominently highlighted by both the archdiocese and MDM — is the series of alleged private revelations received by a member of Foster’s community (Sister Amapola). These messages, which MDM began publishing publicly in February 2024 after years of silence at the archbishop’s request, explicitly warn that Jorge Bergoglio (Francis) was an illegitimate occupant of the Chair of Peter.
One early message, addressed to bishops, stated, “You have not only let the smoke of Satan infiltrate into My Sanctuary, but you have allowed a whole army of demons to take your places. And you have allowed the usurper to sit on the chair of My Peter – he who is carrying out the Great Treason that will leave My Church desolate.” Subsequent messages extended the same judgment to Robert Prevost (Leo XIV), with God the Father declaring on September 2, 2025: “The one who is seated on the throne of Peter is not Mine.”
LifeSite interviewed Fr. Foster at the time of the first public revelations asking him about concerns of punishment from Rome for making the alleged messages public. The leader of the MDM told LifeSite that the community felt heaven was asking them to make the sacrifice in order to warn the Church about the crisis of the papacy.
The community offered a similar sentiment in its release today responding to the excommunication: “Mission of Divine Mercy (MDM) are Catholics and affirm everything in the Catholic faith, including the role that Jesus gave to Saint Peter and his legitimate successors. We have no intention of ever leaving the Catholic Church. Far from rejecting the Church, we are doing everything in our power to defend her, even to putting our entire ministry at risk.”
MDM’s response, also published today under the title “Listening to God – Regarding the Sentence of ‘Excommunication’ and ‘Laicization,’” underscored that the messages identify both men as “usurpers, or false popes” and that “some Catholic scholars have gone further.
Considering all the heresy, doctrinal problems and profound damage done to the Church by Francis and Leo, some argue it’s easier to reconcile the Catholic teachings on infallibility and indefectibility with these men being usurpers and anti-popes rather than true popes.”
The confusion in the Church since Francis’ 2013 election continues unabated with Leo XIV both endorsing positions at odds with the constant teaching of the Church on issues such as homosexuality (Fiducia Supplicans), divorce and remarriage (Amoris Laetitia), the primacy of abortion in political considerations (Gaudete et Exsultate), the death penalty (revision to the Catechism) and the Traditional Latin Mass (Traditionis Custodes).
Catholics in San Antonio are additionally faced with a conundrum as the MDM community presents a highly reverent Novus Ordo in a diocese surrounded by liturgical abuses.
Moreover, Archbishop Garcia-Siller, who issued the decree, has been the subject of numerous controversies against the faith including:
• Giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion President Joe Biden at a Mass for the families of the Uvalde school shooting victims while notably bypassing pro-life Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
• And blocking the faithful access to religious exemption letters for parishioners who had conscientious objection to taking the abortion-tainted jabs.
In the end, San Antonio Catholics — and the wider Church — are left to confront a stark choice between obedience to a hierarchy many believe has abandoned the faith and fidelity to what one community insists are urgent warnings from heaven itself.