You Suggest: Retreat in Rome for entrepreneurs with Cardinal Müller

We were proud last year to help promote this fine event. Please consider and make your plans now:

We are honored to invite you to an unique event that StartupWithMax.com initiative is organizing together with the Business Association, a Polish-based Catholic business venture. Entrepreneurs from all over the world will meet in Rome in November to learn from Maximilian Maria Kolbe who, in our opinion, was a great example of a successful entrepreneur and manager. The International Max Retreat will take place for the second time, and this year's keynote speaker will be His Eminence Gerhard Cardinal Müller.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Extensive Interview with Cardinal Müller: "I'm loyal to the Pope, not an adulator"

IL FOGLIO interviews Cardinal Müller: the Church cannot be sustained by the applause of the world

Matteo Matuzzi, the Vatican reporter for Il Foglio, in an exclusive interview with the now former Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith. “I am loyal to the Pope, but not an adulator”, declares the German prelate. He also says what he thinks about the Dubia: “I don’t understand why serene discussion can’t be started on the Dubia.  I’ve only heard insults so far.”

Matteo Matzuzzi

Il Foglio

July 21st 2017

Rome.  The truth about the last audience between the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Pope Francis; the divisions in the Church after the Synod. “The Magisterium  does not have the authority to correct Jesus Christ, if anything it’s the opposite”.

***

Your Eminence, do you have any idea why the Pope decided to remove you as Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith? “No, I don’t know, because the Pope didn’t tell me. He just informed me that my mandate would not be renewed. There have been many speculations in the mass-media recently, and I would say that the nomination of the new Secretary of the Congregation (Monsignor Giacomo Morandi) made public last Tuesday, is a key in understanding these maneuvers. 

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller is serene;  German theologian and Prefect for five years of what was once the Holy Office, nominated by Benedict XVI, confirmed by Francis, who, even so, told him of his decision to release him of his office last June 10^th.  With Il Foglio he retraces once again the stages that led to his removal: from the controversies on the interpretation of the post-Synod Exhortation Amoris laetitia and,  more in general, he reflects on the (bad) state of religion in Europe.  Yet there was talk of his discharge for some time, so much so, that there were even speculations from the media of eventual diocesan relocations for the editor of Joseph Ratzinger’s opera omnia.

For the record: Francis first, always

We bring you, dear readers, this disturbing but not surprising anecdote simply to record it forever on this blog. But let's be honest: This pontificate, since the beginning, has put itself before Christ, before His Church's tradition, before His inerrant Word and, now, before His Mass. 

From the great Marco Tosatti, via First Things:

The first step of Müller’s Calvary was a disconcerting episode in the middle of 2013. The cardinal was celebrating Mass in the church attached to the congregation palace, for a group of German students and scholars. His secretary joined him at the altar: “The pope wants to speak to you.” “Did you tell him I am celebrating Mass?” asked Müller. “Yes,” said the secretary, “but he says he does not mind—he wants to talk to you all the same.” The cardinal went to the sacristy. The pope, in a very bad mood, gave him some orders and a dossier concerning one of his friends, a cardinal. (This is a very delicate matter. I have sought an explanation of this incident from the official channels. Until the explanation comes, if it ever comes, I cannot give further details.) Obviously, Mūller was flabbergasted.

For the record: Cardinal Müller's letter to Bishop Fellay on the necessary conditions for "full re-establishment of communion" with the SSPX

Last weekend, as rumors swirled of Cardinal Müller's imminent dismissal from his post as Prefect of the CDF, the French website Medias-Presse.Info published what it claimed to be an excerpt from an important letter sent by the Cardinal to Bishop Bernard Fellay regarding the conditions for an accord between the Vatican and the SSPX. Today the Remnant published an English translation of this excerpt; we reproduce the entire Remnant article below, followed by a note on the 1988 Professio Fidei mentioned in it.  

Rorate's own sources have confirmed the authenticity of this text. 

De Mattei on the Müller Case: "The moral of this story is that those who do not fight experience defeat"

The Müller Case

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

July 2, 2017

The removal of Cardinal Ludwig Müller signifies a critical moment in the history of Pope Francis’ pontificate. In fact, Müller, named Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith on July 2nd 2012 by Benedict XVI, is only 69 years old. It has never happened that a cardinal with more than 5 years to the canonical age of retirement (75) has not had his position renewed for a further five years.

BREAKING - EXCLUSIVE IN ENGLISH: Pope dismisses Cardinal Müller from CDF

Cardinal Müller has been dismissed by Pope Francis

Corrispondenza Romana & Rorate Caeli

June 30, 2017

CORRISPONDENZA ROMANA and RORATE CÆLI have just learned that His Eminence Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith since July 2, 2012, has been dismissed by Pope Francis on the exact expiry date of his five-year mandate.

Cardinal Müller is one of the cardinals who sought to interpret Amoris Laetitia along the lines of a hermeneutic of continuity with Church Tradition. This was enough to put him among the critics of the new course imposed by Pope Bergoglio.

NOTE: Please, be sure to mention Rorate Caeli in all references to this exclusive breaking news.

[English text by contributor Francesca Romana]

***

UPDATE (July 1st, 12:00 pm Rome Time):

As we reported first yesterday, the Holy See confirmed moments ago that the Pope has declined to renew the term of Cardinal Müller. He has named as new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith its former Secretary, Spanish Jesuit Luis Maria Ladaria Ferrer.

En attendant GodotTagle to replace Müller as CDF Prefect?

 

Tagle singing at a concert, 2012. 

To the recent reports from other sources that Cardinal Müller has already offered his resignation from CDF, Rorate can now add, from its own very well-placed sources, that there is a plan at the highest levels to replace Müller as Prefect of CDF with no less than the Asian "Pope Francis", the man seen by many as Francis' dauphin, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. 

Müller, appointed Prefect in July 2012, has been effectively marginalized in the past years over the Family Synods and most importantly over Amoris Laetitia. Questions about his future in the Roman Curia have been persistent through the years. It remains to be seen whether he will eventually be sent back to Germany to take the still-vacant see of Mainz (traditionally a red-hat see), or be tossed to a ceremonial position, or whether, like Stanisław Cardinal Ryłko last year, he will simply be retired long before turning 75.

Tagle's own theological oeuvre is very thin and his academic reputation rests mainly on the essays he wrote as part of the Bologna School's History of Vatican II. It is his slick promotion by the mainstream Catholic media, his reliably progressivist views (couched in "moderate" language) coupled with his stint at the International Theological Commission and the patronage he received from Joseph Ratzinger, first as CDF Prefect then as Pope, that have combined to give him an aura of learning far beyond what is supported by his real output. His election as President of both the Catholic Biblical Federation (in 2014) and Caritas International (in 2015) and his designation as one of three Delegate Presidents of the Extraordinary Synod of 2014 further guaranteed his prominence in the universal Church. 

Should this latest plan come to pass, Cardinal Tagle, who will turn 60 in June, will have an enviable "CV" for a conclave frontrunner: a long stint (more than 15 years and counting) as diocesan bishop then archbishop, followed by a stint as head of a Curial dicastery.

In the two previous Februaries Don Pio Pace wrote for Rorate long articles on the growing Tagle candidacy for the next conclave, articles worth reading now more than ever: 

"THE SUCCESSOR" - Rome in Pre-Conclave mood: What will come after the Bergoglio Papacy? (February 2015)

Exclusive Op-Ed: Pio Pace: "Conclave Preparations: Watch Out - Great Editorial Manoeuvres Signal Cardinal Tagle" (Feb. 2016)

Commentary: CDF instruction on cremation - affirming the status quo while opening the door to further concessions.Zenit report: Cardinal Müller clarifies -- "not a mortal sin", "not prohibited" to scatter ashes of the deceased or turn these to mementos

Merely a preference.

The new CDF instruction on burial and cremation, which was released yesterday, is being hailed in the Catholic media as a reaffirmation of the Church's "strong preference" for burial. One finds headlines that speak of the document as putting "restrictions" on cremation, or as instituting "strict conditions" upon it. Unfortunately, after a careful reading of the document and considering the pervasive culture of permissions and exceptions in the Church, we are compelled to come to different conclusions.

To put the new instruction in context, we need to revisit the first document by which the Holy See relaxed the traditional ban on cremation on a global scale: the instruction Piam et constantem, issued by the Holy Office in 1963 and published in L' Osservatore Romano and Acta Apostolicae Sedis the following year. (An English translation of this document can be found here.) Written with the customary brevity and clarity of the old Holy Office, it speaks of the various temporal reasons that compelled the Holy Office to "relax somewhat the prescriptions of canon law touching on cremation". Henceforth, cremation was permitted, as long as it was not chosen due to "anti-Christian motives". However, it remained officially discouraged (even if no longer forbidden). This was made abundantly clear in the first and fourth articles of the instruction:

All necessary measures must be taken to preserve the practice of reverently burying the faithful departed. Accordingly, through proper instruction and persuasion Ordinaries are to ensure that the faithful refrain from cremation and not discontinue the practice of burial except when forced to do so by necessity. For the Church has always maintained the practice of burial and consecrated it through liturgical rites.

***

The devout attitude of the faithful toward the ecclesiastical tradition must be kept from being harmed and the Church's adverse attitude toward cremation must be clearly evident. Therefore the rites of ecclesiastical burial and the ensuing suffrages may never be carried out at the place of cremation itself, not even simply to accompany the body as it is being brought there.

Iuvenescit EcclesiaLetter Regarding the Relationship Between Hierarchical and Charismatic Gifts in the Life and the Mission of the Church

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

Letter “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” to the Bishops of the Catholic Church

Regarding the Relationship Between Hierarchical and Charismatic Gifts

in the Life and the Mission of the Church

Introduction

The gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Church in mission

1. The Church rejuvenates in the power of the Gospel and the Spirit continually renews her, builds her up, and guides her “with hierarchical and charismatic gifts”.[1] The Second Vatican Council has repeatedly highlighted the marvelous work of the Holy Spirit that sanctifies the People of God, guides it, adorns it with virtue, and enrichens it with special graces for her edification. As the Fathers love to show, the action of the divine Paraclete in the Church is multiform. John Chrysostom writes: “What gifts that work for our salvation are not given freely by the Holy Spirit? Through Him we are freed from slavery and called to liberty; we are led to adoption as children and, one might say, formed anew, after having laid down the heavy and hateful burden of our sins. Through the Holy Spirit we see assemblies of priests and we possess ranks of doctors; from this source spring forth gifts of revelation, healing graces, and all of the other charisms that adorn the Church of God”.[2] Thanks to the Church’s life itself, to the numerous Magisterial interventions, and to theological research, happily the awareness has grown of the multiform action of the Holy Spirit in the Church, thus arousing a particular attentiveness to the charismatic gifts by which at all times the People of God are enriched in order to carry out their mission.

Breaking News: Cardinal Gerhard Müller Corrects Idea of Allowing Holy Communion for “Remarried” Divorcees

[A guest article courtesy of Maike Hickson.]

On 27 October, shortly after the end of the controversial Synod of Bishops on the Family, I reported on the important role which the German-speaking language group had played in finding a supposed compromise between the Kasper and the Mueller camp, Cardinal Walter Kasper being in favor of the admittance of the “remarried” divorcees to Holy Communion, Cardinal Gerhard Müller – head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – being a defender of the traditional teaching of the Church. The compromise had found its way into the final report of the Synod, namely into paragraph 84-85 which Cardinal Raymond Burke afterwards criticized for its ambiguity. According to Edward Pentin:

Correcting wild expectations for the 2014 Synod? Archbishop Müller's article on communion for divorced and remarried Catholics

L'Osservatore Romano has just simultaneously published in various languages (including English) a long article by Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the topic of divorced and remarried members of the faithful and their relationship to the sacraments.

The full text: The Power of Grace

The article largely reiterates the standing documents of the more recent Magisterium on the question of communion for divorced and 'remarried' Catholics, and refutes some existing arguments given in favor of lifting or softening the existing ban. At the same time it reminds readers that already during the reign of Benedict XVI, the point had been made that "marriages nowadays are probably invalid more often than they were previously".

Notable as well is Archbishop Müller's frank criticism of the practice of the Orthodox Churches on this matter, given the Pope's comments, widely construed as positive, on the same subject during his press conference on the flight back from Rio. As part of his argument, Müller appeals to the historical example that groups of Eastern Orthodox on becoming Catholic "had to subscribe to an express acknowledgment of the impossibility of second or third marriages", indicating that Rome still does not see this difference as a marginal issue or as pertaining to "legitimate diversity" between Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

More confusion: is Abp. Müller supporting Peru's rebel "Catholic" university?

Another situation that cries out for a clarification.

For the background to this, see the following articles:

-Universidad Ni-Ni: ni Pontificia ni Católica - The non-Pontifical non-Catholic University of Peru.
-Updated: full text of the decree
-New episodes in the Peruvian telenovela "La universidad del diablo"- In historic move, Vatican slams Episcopal Conference

Abp. Müller, current Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the "Pontifical Catholic" University of Peru, already under investigation by Cardinal Cipriani Thorne, on Nov. 28, 2008. 

From Vatican Insider English version (with the translation slightly edited by Rorate):

Müller stands up for Peru’s “rebel” university

 

A letter from the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to Cardinal Cipriani seems to support the University of Peru’s rebellion against the Pope and that of its rector, Marcial Rubio

ANDRÉS BELTRAMO ALVAREZ

VATICAN CITY

Gerhard Ludwig Müller is a Doctor "Honoris Causa" at the former Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he had stayed out of the conflict between the institution’s authorities, the Archbishop of Lima and the Holy See. But a letter of his addressed to Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani was interpreted as an expression of support for the university’s rebellion against the Pope.

In the letter, Müller asks for an explanation regarding the decision not to renew the ecclesiastical permission to teach at the PUCP of some Professors from the university’s Theology Department. The decision to withhold permission was communicated by the archbishop last December and came as a result of the decree issued by the Vatican last June, forbidding the university to use the titles “Pontifical” and “Catholic”.

Although the content is meant to be confidential, Peruvian magazine Caretas revealed some parts of the text. The Prefect apparently wrote that the university can continue to give theology lectures until the Holy See has fully resolved the problem. If this is true, it would come as a huge blow to the archbishop of Lima who is fighting a legal and ecclesiastical battle to drive home the fact that the university belongs to the Church.

In Peru, the sheer fact that this letter exists was an encouragement to rector Marcial Rubio and his collaborators, who on several occasions refused to reform the university’s statutes to bring them in line with the Vatican’s regulations on Catholic universities, the Apostolic Constitution “Ex Corde Ecclesiae”.

According to the counsellor of the Vice Rectorate of the former PUCP, Marco Sifuentes, the letter put Cipriani in his place. He wrote this on Twitter, whilst other users were claiming Müller had allegedly told off the Peruvian cardinal.

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith intervened after Rome received complaints from professors saying they had been forbidden to hold lectures. The professors in question claimed this measure was taken for “doctrinal reasons”.

This seems to be a common feeling among staff at the former PUCP, as is confirmed in an article written by the university’s former rector Salomón Lerner Febres for La República newspaper on 13 January. In the article, Febres calls the removal of professors’ permission to teach as “a decision that is not in line with the evangelical spirit” and is a way to put a stop to the spread of Liberation Theology which Gustavo Gutiérrez developed in the university.”

To demonstrate his theory, Lerner quoted Müller’s words pronounced at a conference in Lima in November 2008, in which he defended Gutiérrez’s Theology as “orthodox”.

But Cipriani decided to revoke professors’ canonical authorization to teach, officially at least, on the basis of one objective fact: a sanction the Holy See imposed on the university via a decree that was signed by order of the Pope. Such an action does not require justification and can be taken by the archbishop of the Peruvian capital.

Gerhard Müller and the PUCP are linked together by a common past. Rome will never forget Müller’s study trips to Lima, as Bishop of Regensburg. He went every year for 18 years, without giving the local bishop any warning. And his Degree “Honoris Causa” was approved without even taking into account Cipriani or other important figures’ recommendations.

In light of this past, suspicions about the potential exploitation of Müller’s intervention in the “rebel” university case may not be completely unfounded.  Fears of this have heightened ahead of the conference that will announce Müller as Doctor “Honoris Causa” at Notre Dame University. In 2009 this university was criticised by the traditionalists for awarding the Degree “Honoris Causa” to Barack Obama.

Ah, those traditionalists!

Laodicea, Anatolia

Published a few hours ago on CNS: 

Reading Vatican II as break with tradition is heresy, prefect says

By Carol Glatz

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Traditionalist and progressive camps that see the Second Vatican Council as breaking with the truth both espouse a "heretical interpretation" of the council and its aims, said the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

What Pope Benedict XVI has termed "the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in continuity" is the "only possible interpretation according to the principles of Catholic theology," Archbishop Gerhard Muller said in remarks published Nov. 29.

"Outside this sole orthodox interpretation unfortunately exists a heretical interpretation, that is, a hermeneutic of rupture, (found) both on the progressive front and on the traditionalist" side, the archbishop said.

What the two camps have in common, he said, is their rejection of the council: "the progressives in their wanting to leave it behind, as if it were a season to abandon in order to get to another church, and the traditionalists in their not wanting to get there," seeing the council as a Catholic "winter."

"Louis XVI, King of the French - 1793
 Kingdom of the Law - Year 5 of Freedom"

A "council presided over by the successor of Peter as head of the visible church" is the "highest expression" of the Magisterium, he said, to be regarded as part of "an indissoluble whole," along with Scripture and 2,000 years of tradition.

The doctrinal chief's remarks were published in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, to present the seventh volume of "The Complete Works of Joseph Ratzinger." The volume collects both published and unpublished notes, speeches, interviews and texts written or given by the future pope in the period shortly before, during and just after Vatican II.

Archbishop Muller specified that by "continuity" Pope Benedict meant a "permanent correspondence with the origin, not an adaption of whatever has been, which also can lead the wrong way."

Burial site of Alexander Kerensky, Putney Vale Cemetery, London

The term "aggiornamento" or updating -- one of the watchwords of the council -- "does not mean the secularization of the faith, which would lead to its dissolution," but a "making present" of the message of Jesus Christ, he said.

This "making present" is the "reform necessary for every era in constant fidelity to the whole Christ," he said.

"The tradition of apostolic origin continues in the church with help from the Holy Spirit," he said, and leads to greater understanding through contemplation and study, intelligence garnered from a deeper experience of the spiritual, and preaching by those who through the "apostolic succession have received an assured charism of truth."

More from Vatican Insider: The custodian of faith on the “heretical interpretations” of the Council.

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This comes a few days after Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, was quoted as telling traditionalists to "go back to studying Latin", "because they often want masses to be celebrated in Latin, but it is likely they do not know the language that well." (The advice to learn Latin -- a completely unprovoked quip -- is certainly not offensive to traditional Catholics, but the Cardinal's remarks seem to echo the idea that in order to attend the Traditional Latin Mass, the priests and faithful should first know Latin -- a misguided and wrongheaded notion that has been used frequently to deny Catholics access to this Mass. Traditional Catholics are not Latinolaters, otherwise they would be quite satisfied with the 1969 liturgical construct celebrated in Latin...)

Condescending prelates should simply listen to the Pope: "It is true that there have been exaggerations and at times social aspects unduly linked to the attitude of the faithful attached to the ancient Latin liturgical tradition. Your charity and pastoral prudence will be an incentive and guide for improving these." (Letter to Bishops accompanying Summorum Pontificum) Got it?

Fr. Gaudron responds to Msgr. Bux on Abp. Müller

For the background to this exchange: Mgr. Bux on Müller: these complainers are just being "Capernaists"! SSPX German District on Müller

Interview with Fr Gaudron, FSSPX

(Published at pius.info on the 13th of July 2012)

The discussion about the controversial statements of Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller concerning the Virginity (of Our Lady) is increasingly attracting attention. A multitude of internet portals host contributions that are either in favour or against these statements.

The exchange was started by the press release of the SSPX at the news agency DAPD concerning the nomination of Bishop Müller. 

pius.info has checked with Dogmatic Theologian Fr. Gaudron if he still upholds his critique on the statements of Bishop Müller.

pius.info: Fr. Gaudron, several reactions to your comments defend Bp. Müller by stating that the criticized statements (of Bp. Müller) were taken out of context. This is, for example, the opinion of Msgr. Bux, who is a member of the CDF. What do you have to say about this?