The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has warned against trying to adapt Christ’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles.
Speaking to Die Tagespost on June 6, Cardinal Gerhard Müller rejected placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as Scripture and tradition.
This is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology”, he said.
The cardinal’s comments have been seen as a criticism of a “shadow council” held recently in Rome involving some bishops, theologians and priests.
This event, held at the Pontifical Gregorian University on May 25, discussed how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics.
German Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, who was at the event, reportedly said that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths.
But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan.
The cardinal said the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle.
Speaking of the Gregorian meeting, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue.
But he added that one cannot organise the truth.
If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations”, he said.
The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught.
“She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.”
He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, according to a National Catholic Register report.
But this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance”, the cardinal said.
Sources