Müller Blames his Ouster on Anti-Roman, Argentine Clique Close to Pope

La Croix ^ | 12/30/17 | Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

[marshmallow]

The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said this Argentine circle close to the pope is “prejudiced against Rome”.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller has blamed a group of anti-Roman clerics from Argentina for convincing Pope Francis to dismiss him last June as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

“From the very beginning, certain forces in the background suggested that I stood in the pope’s way and in the way of their notions of pope and Church, and they publicized their opinions,” the former CDF chief said on December 5.

Speaking to “Report München” on German Television’s flagship station, the cardinal said this Argentine clique was convinced that it would be better for the Church if someone “with a different focus” were CDF prefect. He said it was the “one and only” reason the pope dismissed him from that post.

Muller said this Argentine circle close to the pope is “prejudiced against Rome” and convinced that the Roman Curia needs cleaning up. But he said others believe this force in the background has done the Church a disservice.

“You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. And we haven’t always had positive experiences in this field,” he recalled.

The cardinal said Archbishop Luis Ladaria, the Spanish Jesuit who had been his secretary at the CDF, “is on the same wavelength as I am and so it (the former prefect’s dismissal) is difficult to understand”.

Müller, who has generally defended Pope Francis’ post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia up to now, criticized the document at length in the December 5th interview.

He said the famous footnote that opens the way for remarried divorcees to receive the sacraments under certain circumstances and in individual cases, was “theologically weak”.

While it deals with a legitimate concern, the......

[irishjuggler]

God bless this guy, but he’s been all over the map on his firing as well as Amoris Laetitia. He’s offered various explanations as to why Bergoglio cashiered him, and he’s taken conflicting positions about AL. I’ve given up expecting much in the way of accurate information from him, but one thing that seems clear is that he really wanted to keep his job. He waffled and held back on speaking the truth about AL in order to stay on the pope’s good side, but it didn’t work. There’s a bit of Neville Chamberlain in him. In the choice between war dishonor, he chose dishonor but got both.

[RitaOK]

Yes he has been all over the map. He is conspicuous about his charity toward the Seat of Peter and he carefully proclaims his loyalty to the pope, and then grumbles on a regular basis, changing his story as he wrestles through how and why he was torpedoed by the pope.

I think Mueller is in shock. He was unable to redeem himself with Jorge, after all that flowery effort. He is waking up to what is going on, and realizes he is officially on his own after all that diplomatic, saintly blather he was selling earlier.

I would not want to be a fence sitter strattling barbed wire either. Imagine how uncomfortable he has been. All for nought.

[ebb tide]

Cardinal Gerhard Müller has blamed a group of anti-Roman clerics from Argentina for convincing Pope Francis to dismiss him last June as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Has Muller considered why a group of anti-Roman clerics from Argentina would happen to have any influence on an anti-clerical pope, who also happens to be from Argentina?

[blackpacific]

Being 70 years old, it is probably hard for him to:

“If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools”

He can get a pass on this one...