WATCH! Cardinal Müller on Synod on Synodality: ‘A Hostile Takeover of the Church of Jesus Christ … We Must Resist’, by Raymond Arroyo

By Raymond Arroyo, EWTN News, October 7, 2022

Raymond Arroyo is host of EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.  An internationally known, award-winning journalist, producer and best-selling author, his interviews have included Presidents Bush and Trump, Pope Benedict XVI, Mother Teresa, Mel Gibson, famed tenor Placido Domingo and comic legend Jerry Lewis.

Editor’s Note: Cardinal Gerhard Müller appeared on EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo on Oct. 6. Please find the interview transcript below, edited for length and clarity.

Your Eminence, thank you for being here. The last two years, the Church has been polling Catholics all over the world, and non-Catholics we might add, about their desires in the Church and from the Church. Now, these national reports have been sent to Rome. Internationally, an average of 1% to 10% of baptized Catholics have really taken part in these synodal discussion groups, for such a small representative group. Do these national surveys mean very much? Do they actually reflect what Catholics are most concerned about?

I think the approach is wrong. … We have to listen to the word of God. And then to put it into practice. …

The concerns of these reports are curious. In England, Ireland, France and others, they cite the need for a more welcoming Church, your Eminence. In particular, the synthesis identifies the “LGBTQ” community, divorced Catholics, women in the Church. Regarding the “LGBTQ“ community, the U.S. report states the following: “The hope for a welcoming Church expressed itself clearly with the desire to accompany, with authenticity, LGBTQ+ persons in their families. In order to be a more welcoming Church, there’s a deep need for ongoing discernment of the whole Church on how to best accompany our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters.” What do you make of this focus on the “LGBTQ” community? And how do you see the evolving synod taking up those concerns? 

The aim of this ideology … was to instrumentalize Catholic Church on the face, for promoting their own ideas. But, in reality, everybody is welcome in the Church; but first he must repent his sins and change his life according to the commandments of God. It’s best for us, human beings, to follow the way of Jesus Christ and to change our life according to his commandments and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. …