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A former cardinal sacked from a senior Vatican post by Pope Francis has written his own Manifesto of Faith.
The Manifesto is the work of 71-year old German Gerhard Mueller who is a leading member of the Church’s conservative wing.
It repeats basic Catholic teaching that Catholics must be free from sin before receiving Communion.
It also mentions divorced and remarried faithful, in a clear reference to Francis’s offer to let these Catholics receive Communion on a case-by-case basis after a process of accompaniment and discernment with their pastors.
In addition, it repeats that women cannot be ordained priests and that priests must be celibate.
Mueller issued the four-page manifesto on Friday via conservative Catholic media outlets.
He says he wrote the Manifesto “in the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the faith”.
He claims some Church leaders “have abandoned the people entrusted to them, unsettling them and severely damaging their faith”, and warns against “the fraud of (the) anti-Christ”.
While Mueller did not mention the pope in the context of the anti-Christ, he has in the past joined with other conservative Catholics in openly accusing Francis of sowing confusion among the faithful.
Mueller says “many bishops, priests, religious and lay people” requested the Manifesto, although he has not provided data to back this claim.
The Manifesto’s release coincided with the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian peninsula, where Francis and an Islamic leader signed a “Document on Human Fraternity”.
It’s release also marked the sixth anniversary of the end of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’s Pontificate.
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