It was to be expected that the conservative church would respond to Pope Francis’ decision to appoint Víctor Manuel Fernández, heir to the ancient Inquisition and responsible for the purity of the Argentine and progressive Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop of La Plata.
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who was appointed by the late Benedict XVI, the conservative German theologian Joseph Ratzinger, has just given an interview to Life Site News’ Michael Hayenes, in which he slammed the reappointment of Argentinian Fernández.
The former head of the Holy Office, von Ratzinger, was harsh, albeit at times using the polite language of the clergy, on Pope Francis, who he accused of opening the Church to progressive doctrines. “Only a madman could speak of a new spring for the Church,” said the German cardinal.
In the interview, the theologian subtly criticizes the revolutionary ideas of Pope Francis, whom he subtly accuses of vanity. “The Church of God,” affirms the German theologian, “needs no refounding or modernization, as if it lay in ruins and as if lean men could replace the divine builder.” Cardinal Müller, referring to Francis, recalls that “the pope has no claim can demand obedience for his individual opinions”. And even less, he insists, “to confuse faith with power plays that are a consequence of self-esteem or the quest for fame.”
According to Müller, “the teaching of the Church is an expression of the Word of God and we humans cannot complete it, correct it or modernize it”. However, the cardinal wanted to remind that he was “not an enemy of the Pope”, although he emphasized that “a spirit reigns over the Holy Palaces: divisions”.
The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who was removed from office by Pope Francis, speaks of the possibility that there could be a split within Germany’s important church due to Pope Francis’ openness to gay marriage, which Muller says “is against the Word of God.”
As early as last January, Cardinal Müller accused Pope Francis of “forgetting the conservatives” and even went so far as to affirm that “blessing homosexuals is against God”. The German cardinal insists that Pope Francis’ theological openings can lead to power games, “a consequence of self-esteem or the quest for glory,” a subtle way of accusing him of vanity.
According to the cardinal, the Argentine Fernández has from the outset warned of the dangers of what he calls “modernizing the faith,” adding, “We humans cannot complete, correct, or modernize the Word of God.” A hidden and grave accusation against it Pope Francis.
One of the disagreements between the German cardinal and the pope is the possibility of the church allowing divorced people who love each other to remarry in the church. According to Müller, the sacrament of marriage is “indissoluble by the divine will”. Nobody can change it. And it has to be between a man and a woman. And he explains that the only option for the divorced is to “return to the legal spouse or give up invalid relationships.” In traditional language, if they are divorced, they can get back together or endure it.
The strange thing is that Cardinal Müller should not forget that the only sacrament in which the priests are the spouses is the sacrament of matrimony, in which the priest is merely the witness.
In the early Christian communities, those who wished to marry simply told the rest of the community that they would start a family from then on. What consecrated her was the desire to live a life of love.
This is what Pope Francis means when he refers to early Christianity, which gradually became dogmatized and reduced to theological discussions in which Jesus criticized the Pharisees and jurists who loved the letter more than the spirit of the law.
Cardinal Müller does not seem to forgive Pope Francis, whom he does not consider a theologian, for removing him from office. And even less that he put his Argentine friend Fernández at the head of the Church’s dogmatic court, who shares with him his ideas on the subject of the Church and sexuality.
Francis is also criticized for reviving the importance of women in early and early Christianity. In fact, everything that Francisco describes as a new springtime for the Church. “Crazy,” emphasizes the cardinal, who was inspired by the disappeared and his friend Pope Ratzinger.
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