The Sidemen manager denounces Vatican II on the BBC, identifies as 'traditional Catholic'
The hugely successful Jordan Schwarzenberger, 28, has described himself as a 'traditional Catholic' and denounced Vatican II, along with modernism, liberalism, and the ideals of the French Revolution.
The hugely successful Jordan Schwarzenberger, 28, has described himself as a 'traditional Catholic' and denounced Vatican II, along with modernism, liberalism, and the ideals of the French Revolution.
(WM Reports) – A hugely successful and influential social media entrepreneur has denounced Vatican II and its legacy of modernism in a lengthy BBC interview.
Jordan Schwarzenberger, 28, co-founded Arcade Media and manages The Sidemen, Europe’s biggest YouTube group. A Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, he also sits on 10 Downing Street’s SME Council and previously worked at Vice, LadBible, and YMU.
In Part II of an interview with Amol Rajan on Radical, the BBC’s showcase for “radicals, pioneers of and innovators,” Schwarzenberger delivered a sweeping critique of modernity and its roots.
“We’re in a post-French Revolution society – that’s what we’re really in,” he said, stating that “the roots of liberalism really were in the French Revolution.”
“I think decadence in culture and society is a fruit of liberalism, a fruit of French Revolution principles that basically bled their way through Europe in the 19th century and then through into the 20th century after the World Wars, etc.”
Describing himself as a “traditional Catholic,” Schwarzenberger tied social collapse directly to Vatican II – an alleged ecumenical council of thr Catholic Church, convoked by John XXIII in 1962, and concluded on 8 December 1965 by Paul VI.
Schwarzenberger argued that it had “revolutionised” the Church, and “destroyed” and “upended” traditional culture, values and stability.
This exchange followed:
Rajan: So I think the 1960s are held up to be kind of an era in which radicalism and the cult of the self and the pursuit of hedonism – it’s like, the 1960s get blamed for an awful lot of stuff.
Schwarzenberger: It wasn’t to blame.
Rajan: Sorry?
Schwarzenberger: It was the Second Vatican Council.
When asked what he meant, Schwarzenberger explained how the Protestant Reformation had led to a decline of the Church’s standing in society, which had culminated in Vatican II itself. Explaining the Council's effects, he denounced liberalism, modernism and “immanence” by name.
Paul VI himself presented Vatican II as inaugurating a new, “Conciliar Church,” and as enshrining a “Cult of Man.” Towards the end of his life, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre described it as enshrining “wholesale perversion of the mind, a whole new philosophy based on modern philosophy, on subjectivism.”1
You can read about its significance and implications here:
Schwarzenberger rejected the legitimacy of the term “enlightenment” for the post-reformation period, blaming philosophers such as Descartes and Kant for the state of society. “This idea that there’s no such thing as objective truth,” he said, “is the fundamental point of our society today, why everything’s a mess.”
The talent manager was also uncompromising in his rejection of all aspects of the liberal and “enlightenment” narrative. When pressed on the matter of scientific advances depending on the decline of the Church, he replied, “No, it’s nonsense” – pointing instead to the way in which the Church has advanced knowledge, and critiquing the unspoken materialist assumptions in the question.
He flatly denied that agnostics or atheists could have “spiritual fulfilment without God,” explaining the necessity of God and an awareness of the spiritual/immaterial world for such fulfilment.
The rest of the conversation ranged over topics including Schwarzenberger’s conversion in 2020, original sin and concupiscence, and “young earth creationism.” It ended with his explanation of the purpose of life:
“Look, the ultimate goal, the ultimate purpose of life, in any catechism, is to know, love and serve God in this life, to be eternally happy with him in the next. That’s it, there’s nothing else.
“So ultimately it’s to not get caught up in the world too much, to not fall into grave sin; to stay in a state of grace; to live a truly Catholic life and to enjoy materially and spiritually the fruits of that – which are enduring peace, happiness and kindness to others, a charitable existence that gives and doesn’t take, and a sense of restraint on my inclination to sin and my concupiscence.”
Part I of the BBC interview dealt with the more expected reflections on digital culture. Schwarzenberger’s articulate profession of Catholic truth – his first on public record – thus stands out in a program normally dedicated to innovators in business, and politics.
It marks a rare national broadcast of a traditional Catholic denunciation of Vatican II, modernism and liberalism on the BBC.
May there be many more.
The interview is available on BBC Sounds, with video set for release next week. Jordan Schwarzenberger’s regular newsletter is very helpful for those operating online businesses – or even more conventional businesses. You can see more here.
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Archbishop Lefebvre, ‘Two years after the Consecrations.’ This interview is difficult to find today, but is available here: https://web.archive.org/web/20240228183416/https://sspx.org/en/two-years-after-consecrations
"Describing himself as a 'traditional Catholic,' Schwarzenberger tied social collapse directly to Vatican II." Imagine somebody saying the obvious! Yes, the emperor has no clothes.
The 28-year old, Schwarzenberger, off the cuff in an interview and in three sentences, beautifully expressed what the purpose of life is for a Catholic. Pray for our bishops, that they become articulate and truly believe it.