Young Catholics Embrace a Deus Vult Attitude for 2025
There is no doubt: the Christian West is under siege. Culture wars are raging across the nation, abortion rates rise despite the downfall of Roe v. Wade, and blasphemies against Our Lord and His Blessed Mother are flaunted on the world stage, as seen at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Bedrock values such as marriage, family, and tradition are contested by politicians, leftist media, and woke academia. In the face of this, the 2024 New Year’s TFP Student Action Conference, held in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, inspired young Catholic men to boldly proclaim their fidelity to God and His law.
For more than fifty years, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) has been analyzing and fighting America’s moral crisis. This experience and expertise drew college students from across the country—from California to New York—who left the conference ready to denounce the lies of liberalism and make a difference on their campuses.
The West Under Siege
The three-day program had an overarching theme: “The West Under Siege: The Counter-Revolution’s Fight for the Church and Christian Civilization is More Urgent than Ever.” The intellectual foundation of the lectures and presentations was built upon the principles outlined in Revolution and Counter-Revolution by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira.
How can a college student stop an immoral drag show on campus? What is the difference between true leaders and false elites? How can one develop a spiritual life amid the turmoil of campus life? The TFP Student Action Conference gave students substantial answers to these and many other vital questions.
We Want God
Mr. John Horvat II, vice-president of the American TFP and author of Return to Order, called the participants to action in his talk, We Want God! How a Godless Crusade of the Right Will Not Work. He explained how, too often, the good fight on a field set by the enemy, using terms and rules of engagement that cripple the voice of truth.
Pro-lifers, for example, often discuss abortion only as a women’s health issue—the turf liberals prefer—when the focus should be on the immorality of abortion: the murder of an innocent child created by God.
Along with a series of talks, students put the principles they learned into action. What better way to bring in the New Year than with a massive 62-man campaign in the public square, proclaiming the right to life and the sanctity of marriage?
With TFP standards unfurled, the spiritual army of young Catholics prayed the Rosary and later took turns proclaiming slogans such as, “If you love America, defend innocent life!” This sense of unity and purpose was palpable.
Bagpipes, fifes, and drums echoed through the crisp winter air.
“It was magnificent,” said one student. “I’ve never felt so happy to stand for the truth!”
A few abortion advocates yelled insults, but their harangues were no contest for such a strong pro-life presence and the joyful sound of Christmas carols, which rendered the cursing inaudible.
The campaign for moral values was a resounding success!
Echoes of Deus Vult
This year’s student conference welcomed Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza, Head of the Imperial House of Brazil, as a special guest. He conversed and interacted with the participants throughout the conference but most notably delivered the keynote address at the closing banquet.
“With the crisis facing our world today,” Prince Bertrand said, “we must choose one of two things: we can either be heroes or cowards.” He recalled the heroic deeds of the crusaders of old, highlighting the Reconquista of Spain, including the miracle at Covadonga. The inspiring speech concluded with a reference to the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as Our Lady of Fatima predicted.
The banquet hall responded to the Prince’s words with a standing ovation and cries of “Deus vult”—God wills it.
Starting the New Year as Faithful Catholics
The New Year was ushered in with the solemn chanting of the Creed and the Confiteor, placing the Catholic Faith at the center of life. It was far more meaningful than watching the ball drop in New York City; many students remarked on the contrast.
Every New Year is a time for reflection and new undertakings. For faithful Catholics, it is a time to renew the crusader spirit to bring our country back to God.
One could sum up the conference in three words: We want God.
We want a country built on holy traditions, strong families, and moral values -- a nation that thrives under the blessings of the Creator, mindful that life is a valley of tears that requires His grace to persevere.
The culture war is a noble fight worth waging. Students who attended the 2024 TFP Student Action Conference returned home better prepared to stand up for the truth and fight the good fight.
May we all follow Prince Bertrand’s call to despise cowardice and embrace heroism.
Transcript of Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza’s Speech
My dear brothers in arms, we are united here. It does not matter that some of you are here for the first time or the second. Some of you have been in this fight for ten years and others for twenty. I have been engaged in this battle since the fifties.
It is undoubtedly the most glorious battle in the history of the Church. Never has the Church been so threatened. Never has Christendom been so threatened, not only by an external threat but even worse by an internal threat.
The Downfall of Christendom
In his signal work Revolution and Counter-Revolution, Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira shows us how a revolutionary process began at the end of the Middle Ages when there was a God-centered civilization, which was medieval Christendom. It was certainly the apex of Christianity.
However, because of the sins of men, there was an internal revolution that started even before the Protestant Revolution: humanism. Man at this time ceased to have God as a point of reference and forgot that we were made to know, love, and serve God and thus save their souls. Instead, man placed himself at the center of everything.
At the end of the Middle Ages, we see a processive decadence that began with humanism and continued with the Protestant Revolution, the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution, and the Fourth Revolution [that exploded in the 60s].
We are all Affected
This revolutionary process affects us all and leads to the complete destruction of good customs, reaching the most terrible stage of barbarism.
We see in the United States, in Brazil, in Russia, in China, and in every country this satanic revolution that introduces the worship of Satan. This is where the world finds itself today.
Unfortunately, even within the One Holy Roman Catholic Church, we see that after the Second Vatican Council, everything is permitted except traditional Catholic customs.
A Call to Combat
Now the most Holy Virgin calls us to an unbloody combat in the realm of ideas; to serve her and to battle for the restoration of Christendom so that there will be a new Middle Ages in which Our Lord Jesus Christ will be in truth glorified and the Blessed Virgin Mary will be our true Queen.
We should participate in this ideological combat with more effort and enthusiasm than if you had heard that the Chinese communists were invading the United State. You understand that you would have the obligation to take up arms to defend territorial integrity.
I remember one of my earlier visits to the United States shortly after 9/11; three or four days afterward, I saw a reawakening of enthusiasm in this country. Instead of becoming cowardly, Americans took up arms to defend their country. American flags flew everywhere. On the antennas of cars, on balconies of homes, everywhere. It was a psychological reawakening. And even more so, today we should stand up to defend Christendom and the Holy Catholic Church.
For those of you who came here for the first time, or maybe for the second time, or have been coming here for several years, this calling to you is renewed, which is a calling to combat. Our Lady is calling each of us; inviting us to this great battle.
Certainty of Victory
It is a battle in which, with certainty, the victory will come. That is because not only did Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he founded the Holy Catholic Church, promise that the gates of hell would not prevail, but also the Blessed Virgin appeared at Fatima and promised that in the end, her Immaculate Heart would triumph.
Therefore, the battle we are engaged in is one with marked cards.
Heroes or Cowards?
This battle demands of us a choice: We can either be heroes or cowards. We can either participate in this battle to defend Christendom, or we can have a comfortable but shameful life, ignoring all the insults and attacks that are hurled against Our Lord and Our Lady and indifferent to everything that is being done to destroy the Holy Catholic Church.
To this battle, you are being invited.
The Battle of Covadonga
I remember a beautiful historic fact, a place where some of you have been recently: Covadonga, Spain.
Spain was in decadence and had been invaded by the Moors. The Muslims completely dominated the country. Bad bishops and priests told the Catholics they should not fight but get used to Muslim rule. They said that fighting meant that much blood would be spilled.
The King of Asturias, Don Pelayo, with a few faithful men was cornered by the invaders. But he and his men wanted to face the odds no matter what. They wanted to resist the threat to their country at all costs.
At a certain point, they were cornered in the mountains. The odds were ten to one. The king went to pray to the Blessed Virgin in the depths of a cave. Our Lady appeared to him, assuring him of victory.
He returned transfigured and made a solemn proclamation: “Heroic Spaniards, sons of invincible forefathers, will you live in idleness in the midst of this storm. Can't you see that Heaven has declared vengeance and it is through your hands that it has decided so? What are you waiting for? Hurl yourselves like lions over these infidels.” And the battle began. And that was the first victory of the Reconquista.
A New Covadonga
Here we are in a new Covadonga. Members of the TFP are here united from all over the world certain that Our Lord wishes to use us to restore Christendom.
We have to choose: Do we want to be heroes or cowards? Let us know how to choose the better part. Let us be heroes to defend Christian Civilization and the Church.
“Go to Combat!”
There is something I can guarantee. In my 83 years of age and almost 70 years of combat, nothing has been more interesting than the defense of Christendom. There is nothing more interesting than to fight against the Revolution.
Already in this life, we have a consolation. We can say with St. Paul, I fought the good fight. Now, Lord, grant me the reward of Thy glory. This is the battle that you, who are here for the first time, are invited to.
Let us know how to follow the example of St. Michael, when the infernal Lucifer launched his cry, “Non serviam,” and St. Michael responded, “Quis ut Deus!” That was the first battle of creation.
Now, we are in a similar battle.
Let us know how to say “Praesto sum!” I am ready for battle.
Let us all go to combat!
[Standing ovation: dinner guests cry “Deus vult!”]
HIRH Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza delivered these remarks at the closing dinner of TFP Student Action’s New Year conference in Spring Grove, Penn., January 1, 2025.
Prince Bertrand is a descendant of King Saint Louis IX—twenty-two generations in the direct paternal line—and head of the Brazilian Imperial family. In 1888, his great-grandmother, Princess Isabel, then Regent, signed Brazil’s Golden Law, freeing the country’s slaves. He is an outspoken writer, speaker, defender of the Catholic Faith, and a distinguished member of the Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, where he resides.