On July 2, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Bishop Gerhard Müller the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, arguably the most influential and prestigious of all the Vatican’s departments. The 64-year-old native of Mainz in central Germany was subsequently elevated to archbishop and made ex officio president of the Pontifical Read more
In May of 2005, Archbishop William Levada—who had headed the Archdioceses of Portland (Oregon) and San Francisco—was appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In July of 2011, having reached the age of 75, Cardinal Levada duly submitted his resignation from that important curial post. Almost a year later, on July Read more
The new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has re-stated that the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council is a prerequisite for the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X to rejoin the Church. “One can only be Catholic if one fully recognizes the faith of the Church. This includes the Second Read more
Today’s startling, and sickening, news of the appointment of Archbishop Gerhard Müller as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith is just one more nail in the coffin of the hoped for inauguration of a new era of understanding between the Roman authorities of the novus ordo establishment and Catholic traditionalists. This marks a Read more
The new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bishop Gerhard Mueller, mixes a reputation as a scholarly defender of orthodoxy with close ties to liberation theology and experience in ecumenism. Pope Benedict chose the fellow German and personal friend to succeed American Cardinal William Levada as prefect of the powerful congregation. Read more
Bishop Leonard Blair is one of the three bishops (the other two being Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Archbishop J. Peter Sartain), that made up the committee formed by the Holy See to undertake the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR. Bishop Blair says that since the assessment has been completed he “can only marvel at what is Read more
Sister Margaret Farley’s book, ‘Just Love: a Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics’, published 6 years ago, has been condemned by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This has had the effect of elevating the book to Amazon.com’s list of 100 bestsellers and it is presently out of stock. In an opinion piece, Maureen Read more
The action of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in taking the US LCWR to task has resulted in vast public support for women religious, while the US Catholic bishops look foolish. This is the opinion of Phyllis Zagano, writing in National Catholic Reporter. She says that according to the CDF, the “women religious Read more
In one sense it is correct to say that the crackdown on the LCWR would seem to be “Rome vs. America”, in that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has declared that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious needs renewing. But, says John L Allen Jr in his National Catholic Reporter column, “At Read more
ROME — When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to the papacy in April 2005, the popular forecast called for stormy weather ahead. This was, after all, the Vatican enforcer who had been leading a “smack-down on heresy since 1981”, in the words of T-shirts and coffee mugs marketed by a Ratzinger fan club. His rise elicited Read more