Cardinal Müller and Cardinal Burke Rebuke German Bishops over Same-Sex Marriage Vote

When is Francis going to rebuke them and inform them that unless they reverse course they will be excommunicated for heresy and schism?

From the Catholic Herald

By Thomas Colsy

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Cardinal Raymond Burke have rebuked bishops who voted in favour of Church blessings for same-sex unions at a meeting of the German ‘Synodal Way’ on Friday.  

In an interview with Raymond Arroyo of EWTN, German Cardinal Müller, who served as the Prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for half a decade under both Benedict XVI and Francis I, called for disciplinary action to be taken against them.

“They are acting absolutely directly against the Catholic doctrines– against the definition of the dogmas. There must be a trial. They must be sentenced. And they must be removed from their office– unless they convert,” said the cardinal.

The most recent convocation of the Synodal Way in Germany concluded in Frankfurt on the 11 March. The day before proceedings came to a close, on Friday 10 March, the German bishops and delegates voted in favour of providing formal ecclesiastical blessings to same-sex relationships.

Only nine of 58 bishops opposed the motion, 11 abstained, while the remaining 38 voted in its favour.

The measure is in direct contradiction to a 2021 confirmation by the Vatican that the Church is neither permitted nor able to, under any circumstances, give liturgical blessings to same-sex unions. 

Amidst growing fears of schism, in June 2022 Pope Francis issued a message to German Catholics, reminding them that their bishops do not possess the authority to introduce new theologies or modify church governance.

“Germany has a… Protestant church, but I don’t want another one,” cautioned the Pontiff.

Cardinal Müller expressed his sadness that such a large number of the bishops had explicitly decided to vote against the teachings of the revealed faith including 2,000 years of Christian thinking, the Bible and the Apostolic Tradition. 

He described the laymen and women involved in the synodal process and responsible for the resolution as being influenced by LGBT and woke ideology, which he denounced as materialistic and nihilistic.

Müller, who defended Pope Francis after criticisms of heterodoxy after his encyclical Amoris Lætitia, has frequently defended the doctrinal immutability of the Church. He maintains and confirms that the Church is unable to change teaching on sexual ethics. He has been a consistent critic of the German synod.

“The baptismal creed has been replaced by the idol of pagan LGBT ideology. Instead of looking up to the cross of Christ and carrying the flag of victory of the risen Christ before humanity, the protagonists of the German Synod raise the rainbow flag, which represents a public rejection of the Christian image of man. They have replaced the creed with the confession to the idols of a neo-pagan religion,” the cardinal told an Austrian Catholic publication last November.

Müller insisted that if the people involved at the “propaganda machine” of the synod “knew even a little about the hermeneutics of Catholic theology” then they would be thankful for the corrective measures.

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke concurred.

“We are the ones who love the pope and are trying to help him carry out his mission,” he stated.

Cardinal Burke, who is American, also advocated for the Vatican to act. He confirmed “these are sins against Christ Himself and… of the most serious nature. The Code of Canon Law provides the appropriate sanctions.”

“What [the German Synod’s decision] does is it renders the Church then into some kind of a human agency,” he protested.

Müller already expressed his hope that Pope Francis will no longer pursue a lenient response.

“One can only hope that Pope Francis will exercise his authority and not fall for the staged consternation ritual of hard-core ideologues or think that he can appease them with diplomacy and pious unity talk.”