Cardinal Müller Challenges Pope Francis: No Authority To Change Teaching of Church

His Eminence states the plain Truth of the Catholic Faith, but it will make no difference. Francis believes he is above the Magisterium. 

From the Catholic Herald

In an interview with Infovaticana, German prelate, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has warned that Pope Francis has no authority to change the teaching of the Church. This is not the first time Müller has taken a stand against Pope Francis, having recently warned about the Vatican’s silence on China’s abuses and Cardinal Zen’s “unfair” trial in Hong Kong. 

At that time, Müller said to Il Messengero that – during a recent consistory – no senior Vatican official or even the Pope had mentioned Zen, with “no solidarity document, no prayer initiative for him”. Müller believes the Vatican’s deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has undermined the possibility of support for the cleric, warning the deal “does not serve the interests of the Holy See and the Vatican State to the ecclesial dimension and the truth”. 

In the recent interview, Müller was asked again about the consistory, where he said “the topic was limited to the discussion of the already published document Praedicate Evangelium on the reform of the curia and on the Holy Year 2025.” He added: “There was no opportunity to discuss the burning issues, for example, about the frontal attack on the Christian image of man by the ideologies of posthumanism and gender madness or about the crisis of the Church in Europe”. Müller said “the view that everything popes have said or done in the course of church history is either dogma or law” in fact “contradicts the entire Catholic tradition, and especially Vatican II”. 

Asked why there is more talk in the Church about topics such as ecology rather than Christ,Müller said: “In a world in which the meaning and goal of the human being are materially limited to temporary and transitory contents (such as the acquisition of power, prestige, money, luxury, pleasurable satisfaction), it is easier to become interesting as an agent of this program of a New World Order without God”. Turning to the Synodal Path in his own country, the cardinal remarked “one would not know exactly whether to speak of tragedy or comedy with respect to this event.” He argued that “the texts, very abundant but not very deep, do not deal with the renewal of Catholics in Christ, but with a surrender to a world without God.” The ongoing theme of sexuality “is not understood as the gift of God granted to human beings as created persons”, and instead “as a kind of drug to numb the basic nihilistic feeling with the maximum satisfaction of pleasure.”

As for Cardinal Marx and Bishop Bätzing supporting texts which ask the Pontiff to change teachings on sexual morality and the ordination of women, he said:“There are two errors in this that only theologically ignorant can commit: 1) the Pope has no authority to change the teaching of the Church, which is based on God’s revelation. By doing so, he would exalt himself as a man above God. 2) the apostles can only teach and order what Jesus commanded them to teach (Mt 28:19).” Müller cited the sexual revolution as a source of tension for some, and “the contradiction with the will of God in their personal behaviour and the derisive comments of their contemporaries about the Catholic world of faith and morals left behind in the Middle Ages.” 

As for potential schism, Müller argued: “In their blind arrogance, they do not think of division, but of taking over the universal Church. Germany is too small for them to exercise their governing ideology.” A “goal is the transformation of the Church of the Triune God into a worldly welfare organization (NGO),” arriving “at the “religion of universal brotherhood”, that is, at a religion without the God of revelation in Christ”. Looking to the future, the prelate touched again on China – “the megalomania of our politicians and ideologues from Beijing to Moscow and from Brussels to Washington”. He said: “Only when we do not worship “the beast” from the bottomless pit (godlessness), his statue, and his false prophet, do we attain life and dominion with Christ, which encompasses our temporal and eternal future.”

Müller has appeared again to challenge the Pontiff’s approach, while discussing liberal trends, especially in his own country. Of course, one should ask that if liberals in the Synodal Path and elsewhere are so concerned about personal liberty why they are not making more of a noise about the renewal of the China deal, or the ongoing persecution of Christians, such as in Nicaragua. Moreover, all Catholics should ask why clergy in China deserve to be locked up when many abusive priests remain free. Müller is becoming a voice of reason within the Church and one many may start to rally around.