Great-grandson of Archduke Franz Ferdinand warns about ‘total erosion’ of traditional values

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Great-grandson of Archduke Franz Ferdinand warns about ‘total erosion’ of traditional values
In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews, Prince Leo von Hohenberg warned of a ‘warmongering’ today like the time before World War I but stressed that we face ‘a much deeper war, a spiritual war’ for ‘the public and political minds.’



Archduke Franz Ferdinand
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Nov 19, 2024
ARTSTETTEN-PÖBRING, Austria (LifeSiteNews) — Prince Leo von Hohenberg, the great-grandson of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, warned about “warmongering” in today’s politics that shows similarities to the time before the outbreak of World War I.

In a speech given on November 16 in his family’s estate, Castle Artstetten in Austria, von Hohenberg lamented the problems of “mass migration” and “the total erosion of the traditional values of the West” and warned about the continuous “warmongering” of our day.

In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews after his address, the prince said that he sees parallels between the “warmongering” of today and the time of his ancestor Archduke Franz Ferdinand shortly before the First World War. He furthermore observed a similarity between today and the early 20th century in terms of both times being shaped by “restlessness, moral confusion, and a deception of the minds.”

Prince Leo von Hohenberg’s great-grandfather, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, was the presumptive heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before he and his wife were assassinated in 1914 by a Serbian nationalist during a visit to Sarajevo. Franz Ferdinand’s assassination is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Von Hohenberg said he decided to give the speech because he felt a duty as “a father, a husband, an officer of the Austrian Army Reserve, and a Christian” to do whatever he can “in the service of peace.”

He stressed that besides the physical wars, we are experiencing “a much deeper war, a spiritual war” for “the public and political minds.”

“And it is fought with all the might and financial power of international institutions,” the prince stated. “Globally centralized uniformity is the aim. And only those who conform are allowed to join in and dip into the taxpayer’s money pot.”

He said this war is fought “by redefining concepts and selecting wording, by changing norms through universal repetition of mantras in media, film, and television, through changing school and university curriculum, through changing culture, through selectively manipulating data, now with the help of AI, and other subtle techniques.”

Those who do not comply will have their bank account frozen and “work and travel permits taken away,” as was already seen in “so-called Western democracies.”


The Christian answer to the trials of our times

The deep Catholic roots of the Habsburg dynasty were evident throughout the event on November 16. Before the prince’s speech, a traditional Requiem Mass was held at Artstetten castle for the souls of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg.

Graves of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

During his address, the prince continuously stressed the importance of tradition and the Christian faith.

“A traditionalist has such respect for the cost of the lessons learned by his ancestors that he guards against amnesia with all his faculties,” he stated.

According to von Hohenberg, the most essential lessons of the past are that “the cost of war” is very high and “coercive forms of government” have resulted in “misery and annihilation.”

“Take the current trend of global organizations calling their uncontrolled power ‘governance,’ for example.”

“These organizations are heavily influenced by global conglomerates and their financiers, by undemocratically imposing their interests and globalist utopias.”

He named the “recently ratified emergency laws” by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “an example of this kind of dictatorial legislation.”

The prince urged his listeners to turn to God in these confusing times.

“God has given each of us the ability and freedom to think, to train our mind to focus on all that is righteous, true, and God-given.”

“The divine freedom of thought is designed to protect us from the tyrannical imposition of ideology,” he added.

The focus on God should strengthen us against distortions that “we are being subjected to,” especially in language. He named terms like “gender-affirming-care” as a euphemism for “castration and mutilation,” “reproductive health care” instead of the accurate term “infanticide,” and “safeguarding from misinformation” instead of “censorship” as examples.

Prince Leo von Hohenberg giving a speech about peace on November 16, 2024 at Castle Arstetten. 
Credit: Andreas Wailzer, LifeSiteNews

The prince ended his speech by giving advice on how to live properly in order to change the world for the better: “Limit your screen and audio time. Rediscover the classics [and] ancient philosophers. Actively seek the knowledge of your forefathers. Talk to your elders. Teach your children and grandchildren.”

“Look up from your phone and try to initiate casual conversations with the cashier, the taxi driver, your fellow passenger on a train or an airplane, for example. Every encounter, no matter how trivial, is a divine opportunity. You never know what effects a word might have on another person.”

Von Hohenberg told LifeSiteNews about the importance of “seeing Christ in our neighbor,” even if they disagree with you.

“Pray that in your own insignificant way, the Holy Spirit can work through you,” he stated in his speech.

“It may seem impossible as an individual to fight against the corruption of the collective mind,” the prince said. “However, we can take back the power from anonymous institutions. Change happens when you refuse to be conditioned by the status quo. Change happens when you refuse to quietly accept the omnipresent narrative.”

“As Saint Teresa of Avila taught us:

‘Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which He looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands. Yours are the feet. Yours are the eyes. You are His body.’”

Long applause and standing ovations followed as Prince Leo von Hohenberg ended his speech in the red salon at Castle Artstetten.

Castle Artstetten in Austria