[Grem] Church crisis, sex abuse crisis, episcopal nominations, Amoris Laetitia, homosexuality / Cardinal Müller

[Emoke Greschik]

 Cardinal Müller: Spiritual renewal is the Church's foremost need
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-mller-spiritual-renewal-is-the-churchs-foremost-need-55613
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[image: Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.]
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Rome, Italy, Nov 29, 2018 / 04:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News
<https://www.catholicnewsagency.com>).-* Cardinal Gerhard Müller said in a
recent interview that* *the problem of clerical sex abuse **must be
countered primarily by spiritual renewal, prayer, and penance.*

*The prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
said in a Nov. 28 interview with Vatican Insider
<https://www.lastampa.it/2018/11/28/vaticaninsider/mller-no-one-has-the-right-to-indict-the-pope-U5ezacfKes3LQmANKAzu6N/pagina.html>
that **“We need spiritual renewal, prayer and penance, drawing on the grace
of the sacraments, reading and meditating on the Bible, entering into the
spirit of Jesus Christ*. We must be *priests according to the heart of
Jesus *…* The priest is an alter Christus, not because of his skill or
ability, but because he gives his heart for humankind.* We must bear
witness to this and in so doing restore the credibility of the Church so
that people may encounter faith.”

*He called **canon law “a necessary aid to the Church,” in which “we have
norms of divine law that we cannot change,* *but also norms of human,
ecclesiastical law that we can change and update to better respond to the
needs and circumstances to be faced. **But, we, the Church, are a
sacramental and spiritual reality and *more important *we are the
dimensions of morality and faith: rules, norms, external discipline are not
enough.”*

Acknowledging that procedures “have been established to combat the
phenomenon,” he said, “*spiritual renewal and conversion are more
important. **There are priests who never* *go to spiritual exercises*, *never
approach** the confessional,* *never **pray the breviary. **And when the
spiritual life is empty, how can a priest act** according to Christ? **He
risks becoming a 'mercenary', **as we read in the Gospel of John.”*

*Cardinal Müller called for** the “parties” in* *the Church* *to “**work
together to overcome **this crisis that is hurting** the credibility of the
Church … *We are all united in the revealed faith, and not by the
prejudices of political ideologies. *We are not* *a political entity*,* the
Church was instituted by Jesus Christ.”*

He suggested that the Pope could, to manage the crisis in the US, “appoint
a commission of cardinals he trusts, to study the situation and then, on
the basis of solid information, make some proposals, beyond oppositions,
struggles between factions, mutual suspicions, and propaganda carried out
by media campaigns. *We need a solid base of information: only in this way
decisions can be made for the future.”*

Addressing episcopal accountability, the cardinal said, “We have sufficient
norms in Canon Law, there is the *motu proprio Sacramentorum sanctitatis
tutela
<https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_20020110_sacramentorum-sanctitatis-tutela.html>*
of 2001, there are the already existing norms of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, yet not always all the bishops have collaborated
with our department. They have not informed as it is ought to be done.
First we must do what is already established and indicated as necessary and
obligatory by the existing norms.”

Discussing the thwarted effort of the USCCB to develop a code of conduct
for bishops and to create a lay-led investigatory body, he said that “we
must avoid confrontation and public controversy, and first discuss together
to then arrive at a decision.* We need to talk more before. I thought it
was necessary for the presidency of the American Bishops' Conference to
first consult with our experts at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith.** The Holy Father** is a single person, he cannot deal with
everything. *That is why *there are the departments of the Roman Curia, to
collaborate and arrive at a well-developed proposal to bring to the Pope.”*

*Speaking of **the same-sex nature of much clerical abuse*, *Cardinal
Müller rejected** the “category” of homosexuals,* *and said **that there
are rather “concrete people who have certain tendencies, and there are
temptations.* *Our hearts* *are wounded by the original sin and **we** must
overcome* *temptations** with grace, the new life in Jesus Christ.”*

He called *pedophilia and homosexuality “expressions of psychology that
help *t*he Church in her moral theology.* *But for us, the dimension
remains the moral one: that is whether we act according to the
Commandments, according to the holy will of God**, or not. *This is the
problem for us.”

“*We must collaborate with psychology and sociology,* *b**ut we in the
Church at the level of the Magisterium must not put these disciplines in
the foreground,*” Cardinal Müller stated.

“Instead *we must base ourselves on moral theology*. It is clear that *
according to God's will*, *it is not possible *f*or the lay faithful* *to
have sex outside of* *marriage*, *and for a priest - who has committed
himself to celibacy* -* it is not possible to have sex *… *We must raise
the moral level of the clergy.”*

*He also addressed* *poor episcopal appointments*, saying, “it is possible
that* the Pope may appoint a person who is 'false', who is not suitable for
the role,* for the episcopate.* Jesus Christ himself, even though he knew
everything thanks to his divine intellect, left freedom to the traitor
Judas. *Everyone is then responsible for their sin: we can, through the
process of selection with the Congregations, through all our human
judgments, do everything possible to elect a good candidate.”

The CDF prefect emeritus said it is impossible for human persons “to
formulate an absolute, perfect judgment: we do it according to our limited
possibilities, according to what we are given to know. One must look for
suitable candidates for the episcopate, but *the Pope is not infallible in
the nomination.”*

*Cardinal Müller also said, asked about Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò,*
that “*no one has the right to indict the Pope or ask him to resign! *Clearly
it is possible to have different opinions on the existing problems and on
the ways to resolve them, but we must discuss them according to the roles
of each and in the end,* it is the cardinals, as representatives of the
Church of Rome, who can help the Pope or ask the Pope for some
explanations.* *But this must take place in private, in the proper places,*
and without ever making a public controversy with attacks that end up
questioning the credibility of the Church and her mission.”

*“I am personally convinced that Pope Francis is doing everything possible
to counter the phenomenon of child abuse and to foster a new spirituality
for priests, who must act according to the heart of Christ and do the good
of all people,*”* he said.*

Cardinal Müller also spoke recently to Life Site News, telling Maike
Hickson Nov. 21
<https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/interview-cdl.-mueller-on-abuse-crisis-and-its-link-to-homosexuality-in-pri>
regarding the US crisis that* “we will not succeed with the help of a lynch
law and a general suspicion against the whole episcopacy or of 'Rome*.'* I
do not see* it as a solution that the laymen now take control, just because
the bishops (as some believe) are not capable of doing so with their own
strength. *We cannot overcome shortcomings by turning upside down** the
hierarchical-sacramental constitution of the Church.*”

“It would be important that the U.S. Bishops' Conference assume its
responsibility with independence and autonomy.* The bishops are not
employees of the Pope who are subject to directives nor, as in the
military, generals who owe absolute obedience to the higher command.
Rather, they carry together with the successor of Peter, as shepherds
appointed by Christ Himself, responsibility for the Universal Church,” he
said. *

Cardinal Müller said “*That* *McCarrick, together with his clan and a
homosexual network, was able to wreak havoc in a mafia-like manner in * *the
Church* *is connected with the underestimation of the moral depravity of
homosexual acts among adults.”*

He said *the root of the crisis is “a secularization of the Church and the
reduction of the priest to the role of a functionary …* *According to this
evil spirit, the Revelation concerning Faith and morals is being adapted to
the world without God so that it does not interfere anymore with a life
according to one's own lusts and needs.”*

*Cardinal Müller stated that* “*the primacy of the Pope* *is being
undermined by the sycophants and careerists* *at the papal court …* a*nd
not by those who counsel the Pope in a competent and responsible manner.”*

*The role of a bishop and cardinal is “to represent the teaching of the
Catholic Faith, and not **to justify the different private opinions of **a
Pope*. *His authority is extended over the revealed Faith of the Catholic
Church and not* *over the individual theological opinions of himself or
those of his advisers.*”

Cardinal Müller said his supposed opponents “can perhaps accuse me of
interpreting *Amoris Laetitia* in an orthodox way, but they cannot prove
that I deviate from the Catholic doctrine. Additionally,* it is irritating
that theologically uneducated people are being promoted to the rank of
bishops who, in turn, think that they have to thank the Pope for it by
means of a childish submission.”*

*“The Magisterium of the bishops and of the Pope stand under the Word of
God in Holy Scripture and Tradition and serves Him.* *It is not at all
Catholic* *to say that the Pope as an individual person receives directly
from the Holy Spirit the Revelation and that he may now interpret it
according to his own whims while all the rest are to follow him blindly and
mutely.* *Amoris Laetitia **has to be absolutely in accordance with
Revelation*, and* it is not we who have to be in accord with Amoris
Laetitia, at least not in the interpretation which contradicts, in a
heretical manner, the Word of God. **And it would be an abuse of power to
discipline* *those who insist upon an orthodox interpretation of* *this
encyclical and of all the papal magisterial documents.* *Only he who is in
the state of Grace can also fruitfully receive Holy Communion.* *This
revealed truth **cannot* *be toppled by any power *in the world, and
*no **Catholic
**may ever believe the opposite or be forced to accept the opposite.”*

Cardinal Müller said that while he was CDF prefect “I did not oppose any
innovation or reform. Because reform means renewal in Christ, not
adaptation to the world.”

The cardinal said that* if a priest “calls the blessing of homosexual
relationships the result of a further development of doctrine … it is
nothing but the presence of atheism in Christianity. *He does not
theoretically deny the existence of God, but, rather, he denies Him as the
source of morality *by presenting that which is** before God* *a sin as a
blessing.”*

And Cardinal Müller spoke Nov. 29 to EWTN
<https://de.catholicnewsagency.com/article/interview-mit-kardinal-gerhard-ludwig-muller-0408>,
discussing in part the debate over a purported “gay lobby” in the Church.

*While saying he doesn't know if there are “homosexual networks” in the
Vatican, he affirmed that* *“there are high-level representatives of the
Catholic Church who defend and promote beyond all measure people of this
trend.* But if the contents of the Catholic faith are called into question,
they show themselves broadminded and powerless.”

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