Gerhard Cardinal Müller: One Year Without George Pell

By Gerhard Cardinal Müller, First Things, Jan. 19, 2024

This essay was originally delivered as a homily at an anniversary Mass for Cardinal Pell in Rome… Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller is former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Just ten days after the death of Pope Benedict XVI on New Year’s Eve 2022, we were shocked by the news that Cardinal Pell, too, had preceded us into the house of the heavenly father. In the midst of the current battle for the “truth of the Gospel” (Gal. 2:14), the pilgrim church has lost two outstanding representatives of its apostolic doctrine. We grieve for them, but for those of us who believe with St. Augustine “that the Church advances safely on her pilgrimage between the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God,” we thank divine providence for having given us both Pope Benedict and Cardinal Pell as role models of the true faith, and as powerful advocates with the father.

As billions and billions of people come and go over the course of generations, it may seem doubtful whether any individual has lasting importance. Those doubts are easily dispelled when we examine God’s plan of salvation. God wants “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth through the only mediator between God and men: the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:4).  …

Continue reading >>>>>>>>>>