Posted on 03/25/2024 5:26:58 PM PDT by ebb tide
Former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Gerhard Müller has stated that leaders of Germany’s Synodal Way and Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality are “not interested in the mission of the Church,” but are promoting an “agenda” to change the Church.
In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with LifeSiteNews in Rome, Cardinal Müller issued a critique of the Synodal Way in his native Germany, as well as the Synod on Synodality currently underway for the entire Church. (Editor’s note: The entire interview is to be published in three separate articles, with the full transcript of each part of the discussion presented at the end of each article. Parts II and III will be published in the coming days).
The German Synodal Way, begun in 2019, has been a source of controversy ever since its inception, with German prelates and laity pushing for heterodox issues in the process – such as same-sex blessings, female deacons, transsexuals admitted to the priesthood, and lay governance of the Church. Müller has been a regular and prominent critic of the process, with his statements assuming a considerable prominence given his German nationality but also his status in the Vatican.
At their recent spring assembly, the German bishops finally bowed to the orders of the Vatican and did not vote on establishing a permanent “Synodal Council,” which would have seen a mix of lay and clerical governance over the Church in Germany. The Vatican has consistently expressed notable concern about the Synodal Council, and the recent submission by the German bishops is of particular significance.
Speaking to this reporter, Müller highlighted the Vatican’s concern over the Synodal Council: “the Synodal Committee contradicts absolutely the sacramental constitution of the Catholic Church, [with a] form of Protestant ideas or more Anglican ideas where the Church is governed by the king or directly by a committee of bishops, priests and lay people.”
The cardinal stated that governing the Church “has nothing to do with the political governance, but is a representation of the pastoral work of Jesus Christ.”
Jesus the pastor is the Good Shepherd, who is leading people not to a goal defined by us or a worldly paradise, but to come to God, to the knowledge of God in this life, in this short time. We have our existence on earth, but we have the vocation for the eternal life and therefore the good pastors have to give their life for leading all people to God and to eternal life.
Müller argued that “behind the Synodal Committee is the wrong idea of what is a Church and what is the mission of the Church.” This, he stated, was due to the fact that the Synodal Way leaders view “the Church as a more political, ideological reality for the progress of humanity in a more socialistic or liberal paradise on earth, which never will come.”
The former CDF prefect praised the Vatican for preventing the Synodal Council from coming into existence, but said that “it would have been better to understand what is happening, not to overcome the evil in the last moment, but from the beginning.”
Synodal Way’s relationship with the Vatican
The German bishops have been holding a series of meetings with leaders of the Roman Curia since July 2023, particularly as discord has grown between the two parties over certain issues relating to the Synodal Way. More discussions between both parties are set to take place March 22, according to the CDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, however the German bishops have largely been able to forge ahead with the country’s Synodal Way, remaining largely unimpeded by the Vatican.
Commenting on the meetings, Müller called on officials in the Vatican to be firm with the German episcopate:
The Curia, Roman Curia, are the responsible for the universal Church with, and under, the Holy Father. They shouldn’t make compromises, [practice] diplomacy, like in politics, but to understand the principles of these questions and to go back to the roots of this splitting, of the danger, of the schism or heresy.
He urged the Curia not just to “manage the symptoms” of the Synodal Way’s heterodox priorities, but to “go back to the real wounds of this illness, because this is a theological illness, misunderstanding of what is a Church and we cannot make a compromise between the truth and error. It is not possible.”
Synodal Way and Synodality: Two sides of the same coin?
Germany’s Synodal Way officially began in 2019, with the Synod on Synodality commencing in October 2021. However, as revealed to this reporter last fall by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Synod on Synodality had been in preparation since 2018.
Following their recent spring plenary, the German bishops stated February 22 that their Synodal Way and the Synod on Synodality “are going in the same direction – the development of the Church,” just with “different styles, tempos & emphases.” Both events, stated the German bishops, “serve to bring the developments of the Church into a binding consultation with the faithful that is transparent and at the same time open and accountable, so that we can make better decisions.”
Asked by LifeSite about this statement, and if the Synodal Way had laid the foundations for the Synod on Synodality, Müller suggested that the German bishops’ statement was “playing with words.”
Synods, he noted, “must also be understood in the context of the Catholic ecclesiology. Also the Synod of Synods cannot change either the doctrine, nor the sacramental constitution of the Church.”
The German prelate stated that “what is behind this [synodal] ideology [is that] they are thinking ‘the Church is old-fashioned, is medieval, and we, this is our Church, we are the subject of the Church. We have to change this Church as an instrument for the implementation of our ideologies, not for preaching the Word of God, but implementing of our ideologies.’”
Synod’s ‘agenda’ is not aligned with the Church’s mission
Speaking as a bishop, Müller said that “we are only the representatives of Jesus Christ, but we are not the masters and the owners of the Church.” Thus he declared that “if they are speaking and taking over this vocabulary of reform and modernization, they must know that we need to be reformed in our thinking and our behavior according to Jesus Christ.”
He additionally warned that there is a move to have “a reduction of the Church not to be the instrument and the sign, the sacrament for the deep communion of us with God in love, and to be the instrument for the unity of the mankind in Jesus Christ: they want to change the Church to another worldly health organization like an NGO.”
“That is absolutely wrong,” Müller stated, “and therefore neither the Synod of Synodality nor this Synodal Path, can [be permitted to] have this agenda, this program for changing the essence of the Church in an inner-worldly helped organization.”
Expanding on this “agenda,” and on where it might be coming from, Müller told LifeSite that promoters of this “agenda” are “not interested in the substance of the mission of the Church.”
Instead, he attributed the push for female deacons as being a way to make “a concession to feminist ideas.”
The full transcript of Part I of LifeSite’s interview with Cardinal Müller is found below
Michael Haynes: Your Eminence, I’d like to start with the Synodal Way, if I may. We saw recently that the Synodal Way was going to move to vote on the controversial permanent synodal committee. Then at the last minute they did not move forward with the vote. The Vatican asked that they did not move forward with that. So could you expand a little bit on what makes that committee so controversial and why the Vatican was so concerned to ensure it did not take place?
Cardinal Gerhard Müller: The reason is very easy, because the Synodal Committee contradicts absolutely the sacramental constitution of the Catholic Church, [with form of Protestant ideas or more Anglican ideas where the Church is governed by the king or directly by a committee of bishops, priests and lay people. According to the apostolic constitution of the Church, they [the bishops] are the successors of the apostles, the bishops, in community with their priests. They have all this spiritual authority in the sacraments and all in governing the Church, but surely to govern the Church has nothing to do with the political governance, but is a representation of the pastoral work of Jesus Christ.
Jesus the pastor is the Good Shepherd, who is leading people not to a goal defined by us or a worldly paradise, but to come to God, to the knowledge of God in this life, in this short time. We have our existence on earth, but we have the vocation for the eternal life and therefore the good pastors have to give their life for leading all people to God and to eternal life.
And there behind the Synodal Committee is the wrong idea of what is a Church and what is the mission of the Church, because they are understanding the Church as a more political, ideological reality for the progress of humanity in a more socialistic or liberal paradise on earth, which never will come.
We have seen in history in our last century until now that all these attempts to establish a ‘kingdom of God,’ but more a paradise according to the ideologists, had ended in a big disaster in Gulags and Auschwitz and also in these liberal states in the West that are becoming totalitarian democracy where a small elite is controlling everybody and all our thinking, speaking, sleeping, eating, all the private life, also our minds, our heads are absolutely controlled by them and shaped with their ideological misunderstanding of the world of human beings and of God.
And therefore the ultimate opportunity to stop this wrong way is not a Synodal Way, which is a Synodal way into the error. That’s why it is very important, that they [the Vatican] stopped it [the permanent Synodal Committee] in the last moment, but it would have been better to understand what is happening, not to overcome the evil in the last moment, but from the beginning.
You must go the right way, and we know and accept only one way, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who said “I am the way.” We have to go with Him and behind Him to live according to His words, to His commandments, to His great example in the cross and the resurrection. And therefore the Church is in Greek to say “Synodos” is Christ is the way, and the Church is a congregation of the faithful, the Greek word “Synodos,” in Latin “congregation,” also in English. That is a way of the Church with and behind Jesus Christ, of Jesus Christ, [who is] the head going to His Father.
Haynes: There’s now a lot of focus on the Synodal way. The German bishops are to be in Rome for their next series of discussions with the Vatican Curia around March 22nd. It seems often that the Synodal way will take maybe two steps forward and then the Vatican pulls them one step back, but it seems that the Synodal Way has still continued somewhat of its impetus. How do you think the Vatican can exert its rightful authority there?
Cdl. Müller: The Curia, Roman Curia, are the responsible for the universal Church with, and under, the Holy Father. They shouldn’t make compromises, [practice] diplomacy, like in politics, but to understand the principles of these questions and to go back to the roots of this splitting, of the danger, of the schism or heresy.
[Curia must] not only manage the symptoms but go back to the real wounds of this illness, because this is a theological illness, misunderstanding of what is a Church and we cannot make a compromise between the truth and error. It is not possible.
One can express the same ideas in a different way, that is a real plurality, but you cannot make discussions about the revealed truth. You can also think of Saint Augustine or St. Iraeneus of Lyon, or one of the Touros, Aquinas, or Rahner or Balthazar, but you cannot discuss [differing views of] the basis [of truth].
Haynes: Something that was quite striking in recent weeks was that after the German Bishops Spring Assembly, they issued quite a long summary of their discussions. Amongst the summary there, they mentioned that the Synod on Synodality and the Synodal Way were very similar. I have a quote that they mentioned here: they stated that the two “are going in the same direction, the development of the Church, just with different styles and different temperates and emphases.” Do you think the Synodal Way has laid some foundations for the Synod on Synodality, or not?
Cdl. Müller: This is playing with the words, and also the Synodal, Synod of Synods is not an absolute term, but must also be understood in the context of the Catholic ecclesiology. Also the Synod of Synods cannot change either the doctrine, nor the sacramental constitution of the Church.
We can discuss about all these things, but what is behind this [synodal] ideology [is that] they are thinking “the Church is old-fashioned, is medieval, and we, this is our Church, we are the subject of the Church. We have to change this Church as an instrument for the implementation of our ideologies, not for preaching the Word of God, but implementing of our ideologies.”
These are the ideologies of the Green movement, a little bit mixed with socialism, and [working] on the basis is an absolutely wrong anthropology, a wrong understanding of what is the human being in relation to God and His responsibility for the world, and that salvation comes only from God – not by us – only through the redemption of Jesus Christ, and His cross and resurrection. Jesus is the head of the Church, and God is the sovereign of His Church. Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church, not your church.”
As bishops, we are only the representatives of Jesus Christ, but we are not the masters and the owners of the Church. Therefore, if they are speaking and taking over this vocabulary of reform and modernization, they must know that we need to be reformed in our thinking and our behavior according to Jesus Christ. And [they must] not [think that] “we are the best ones, we have to do nothing, we have the best ideology, we have the truth, and we are framing the Christian language, and we are shaping the Church, as if the Church was a material and we are bringing in the form, the new form of the Church.”
This is all going back to the Enlightenment, where there was this idea of antiquity and a medieval time that is over, and “now we are creating a new human being in new society according to the ideas of our reason, and if the Church wants to survive, the Church must accept this imminent thinking, and the Church must become only a human organization for social life, for education, and for helping the poor people, or the migrants.”
This is a reduction of the Church not to be the instrument and the sign, the sacrament for the deep communion of us with God in love, and to be the instrument for the unity of the mankind in Jesus Christ: they want to change the Church to another worldly health organization like an NGO.
That is absolutely wrong, and therefore neither the Synod of Synodality nor this Synodal Path, can [be permitted to] have this agenda, this program for changing the essence of the Church in an inner-worldly helped organization.
Haynes: I wanted to pick up on the “agenda” that you mentioned. It is interesting now to see in the Synod of Synodality, some of the most controversial issues from the Synodal Way are also emerging. It was March 2023 when the Synodal Way voted to move forward with some form of female diaconate, and then also some form of same-sex blessings. Of course we are now seeing with the Synod of Synodality some certain voices very prominently calling for the female diaconate. We now have Fiducia Supplicans dealing with some blessing of same-sex couples. You mentioned the “agenda,” do you think there is an agenda coming from certain forces in Germany or from certain forces perhaps in Rome, or is it less defined than that?
Cdl. Müller: This is a proof of our analysis because they are not interested in the substance of the mission of the Church. Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God, the closeness of the grace, conversion and eternal life, witness for the Gospel and so it brings hope to everybody.
But they have these themes – diaconate for the women – not because it is necessary or has anything to do with the Sacrament of Orders, but only with this motive behind: to give a concession to feminist ideas, the promotion of women and the emancipation, and they are playing with the Church doctrine only for promoting their own non-theological ideas.
Parts II and III of LifeSite’s exclusive interview with Cardinal Müller will be published in the coming days, and will be found in full on LifeSiteNews.com
Ping
The logical conclusion to centuries of “innovation” within
the Roman Catholic Church is the train wreck of heresy that
we see today. May God help us!
Maybe for Bergoglio’s “synodal church”; but the gates of Hell will never prevail against the Catholic Church.
NGO - No God Org
I’m Catholic, struggling as always to be faithful.
Love my current parish, but considering a move to the local SSPX parish. For the Mass of my parents and grandparents n the last several centuries.
what Cardinal Muller is delicately trying to say is that Pope Francis was a “liberation theology” Bishop in Argentina and is a “liberation theology” Vicar of Christ.
You won't regret it. I can vouch for that.
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