Persecution and Censorship of Conservative Priest and Professor in Austrian Catholic College

Father teaches the doctrine of the Church until VII changed it radically. The responsible Ordinary is Josef Grünwidl, who once belonged to a group which supported disobedience against Pope Benedict XVI. He eventually left the group because he did not support disobedience against Pope Francis, instead preferring critical obedience.

From Rorate Cæli

By Kathpress

Heiligenkreuz: Theologians Welcome the Exclusion of Father Waldstein 

September 4, 2026

[Note: Kathpress is the official news agency of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, dominated by extreme liberals, so their characterization of Father Waldstein should be read accordingly.]

Austrian theologians have expressed relief at the suspension of Father Edmund Waldstein from his teaching position at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Benedikt XVI in Heiligenkreuz. 

"Integralist positions clearly contradict Catholic teaching and the legal framework of a democratic constitutional state," said Innsbruck theologian Professor Michaela Quast-Neulinger, welcoming Waldstein's exclusion in remarks to Kathpress. On Friday, the portal Kirche und Leben had reported that the Rector of Heiligenkreuz, Wolfgang Klausnitzer, has ruled out Waldstein's return for at least the duration of his own tenure. Waldstein had most recently been teaching moral theology at Heiligenkreuz.

The growing American-European networks of integralists — of which Waldstein is a central figure — represent "a danger to democracy and the Church," Quast-Neulinger stated. She noted that Pope Leo XIV had recently rejected the integralist understanding of politics and the common good in Magnifica Humanitas. It was "very much to be welcomed that Rector Klausnitzer has acted clearly and drawn boundaries at Heiligenkreuz."

Emphatic Distancing by the Theological Faculties

The Rector's action has also been welcomed by the Dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty in Salzburg, Professor Dietmar Winkler. Speaking to Kathpress, Winkler recalled the recent statement issued by the Catholic Theological Faculties and Church Pedagogical Colleges in Austria, in which those institutions took a public stand against right-wing tendencies in society and the Church. That statement sharply condemned "Christian-nationalist currents" such as the neo-integralism represented by Waldstein, and warned against their growing influence.

Such currents, the statement said, politically exploit "religious language, Christian symbolism, and the Christian image of God in order to legitimize anti-democratic, anti-feminist, and exclusionary ideologies." The faculties and colleges expressed their firm opposition to "every form of discrimination, anti-feminism, antisemitism, and hostility toward Islam."

No Retraction from Waldstein

The immediate cause of Waldstein's exclusion was a series of statements on his blog Sancrucensis in which he called for the death penalty for heretics. In the ensuing debate, Rector Klausnitzer had demanded a scholarly clarification from Waldstein. Waldstein, however, did not retract what Klausnitzer described as his "unspeakable statements about the killing of heretics," but instead attempted to justify them through the history of theology. "The theological methodology he employed in doing so I would not accept from a first-semester student," the Rector told Kirche und Leben.

The Abbey of Heiligenkreuz granted Waldstein leave for doctoral studies in philosophy in Rome. The Rector stated that he does not have the authority to strip Waldstein of his teaching title; that would require a resolution of the academic Senate, which reconvenes in the winter semester.

Waldstein is regarded by many observers as a central figure in the emergence of Catholic neo-integralism. According to experts, he is said to be part of a right-wing conservative and reactionary network with close ties to the uppermost circles of American politics. Integralism is a political ideology that aims to subject the totality of public and private life to the moral and dogmatic directives of the Catholic Church.

[Source, in German]