A German Cardinal covered many topics in a recent media interview – blasphemy, the pope, LGBT and the German bishops featured in Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s comments.
One comment was that Pope Francis should correct and, if necessary, punish some German bishops.
Müller was referring to those who have approved “heretical texts” and “proposals directly against the Catholic faith”. These proposals include offering church blessings to homosexual couples.
“I think there should be a canonical process” [against them], he claimed.
“Collegiality exists, but there is also the primacy [of the pope], and canonically the pope has the responsibility to ask for an explanation, to correct and — in extreme cases — to dismiss bishops for doctrinal questions.
“They say the understanding of doctrine can develop, but we cannot develop revelation.”
God can’t bless two persons of the same sex who love each other with fidelity, he said.
“To bless homosexual couples is blasphemy.”
James Martin SJ, whose pastoral ministry to LGBT persons also copped Müller’s disapproval.
Müller thinks Francis – well known for supporting LGBT people – should tell Martin not to “instrumentalise” him.
Another topic was the Petrine ministry.
Müller agrees with Francis on this matter – that the Petrine ministry is “for life”.
He remarked that earlier in his pontificate Francis agreed with Benedict XVI and said he had “opened the door” to popes resigning.
The war in Russia and the role religion is playing was another hot topic.
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is a good theologian, Müller said.
“But it is not possible to justify this war [against Ukraine] with the words of Jesus, as Putin has done. Furthermore, the idea of the Great Russia is absurd.”
Kirill should criticise Russian president Vladimir Putin, the cardinal said – “but that would be his end”.
Orthodox bishops in Russia have been subject to the state since Peter the Great, Müller noted. But we must not justify evil, he added.
He said Francis “is right to maintain contacts” with Russia “in this difficult moment,” but “the position of the church is not to justify what the emperors do”.
Asked why in the past he had criticised Francis for sometimes causing doctrinal “confusion” Müller said, “Francis … cannot change, revealed doctrine, but the task of the Supreme Pontiff is not only to avoid causing confusion but also to deny such [things]”.
As to whether he thinks some popes who are saints today may have given up on holiness to some degree when it came to governing the church, Müller said:
“I cannot judge those who have been already canonised because that is an act of infallibility, but the fame of sanctity comes from the people not from ecclesiastical authority.”
Despite saying he wouldn’t criticise the pope, Müller seems to disagree with Francis’s decision to dispense with the need for a miracle for John XXIII’s canonisation, saying that decision was “too political”.
He concluded by denouncing the recent criticism of St John Paul II for allegedly covering up the abuse of minors by priests.
The political intent was to damage Catholicism in Poland “by decapitating the most important figure,” he said.
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