Saint of the Day for March 23: St. Turibius of Mogrovejo
March 23, 2024Priest: Traditionis Custodes Will Disappear After Pope Francis, but the Latin Mass will Remain Forever
March 23, 2024
By Michael Haynes, LifeSite News, March 22, 2024
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.”
