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Cardinal: ‘Neither the pope nor…bishops can change dogmas…to their liking’
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<a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-neither-the-pope-norbishops-can-change-dogmasto-their-liking" target="_blank">https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-neither-the-pope-norbishops-can-change-dogmasto-their-liking</a><p><span></span><span></span><span></span><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/tags/tag/married+priests" target="_blank"></a></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">VATICAN CITY, October 11, 2019 (</span><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/catholic" target="_blank">LifeSiteNews</a>)
― A German cardinal asserted in a recent interview that <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>not even the
pope nor “a majority of bishops” can <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">change </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">dogmas of the faith or
divine law</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">to suit their own preferences.</span> </b></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">In an interview with </span>La
Repubblica, published yesterday, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Cardinal Gerhard Müller vigorously
defended the orthodox, traditional, understanding of the celibate Latin
priesthood. </b></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">When
asked about the Synod’s discussion of the possibility of opening the
priesthood to “viri probati”, elderly married men of proven
faithfulness, the former prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of
the Faith (CDF) said it was a “mistake.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“There
are already married deacons,<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>” Müller stated.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>“If we introduce [married
priests], they must respect the custom of the ancient church: they must
live in continence.”</b></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">The
cardinal explained that <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>even in the Orthodox Church, which has a
married priesthood, married priests must refrain from marital relations
in the days that precede the <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">celebration of Mass</span></b></span>. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“Do you not know about the Trullan Synod of 692?” he asked his interviewer. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“There,
thanks to pressure from the emperor, the law of celibacy was dissolved,
but only the Orthodox Church adhered to that. Not the Latin one,”
Müller continued. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“...Whoever wants to insert the practice of married priests into the Latin Church does not know Her history.” </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">Priestly
celibacy, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">he explained,<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> is more than just </span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">an “ecclesiastical law.”</span> It
has “deep roots” in the sacrament of orders, for the priest is the
“representative of Christ the bridegroom.” The celibate priesthood has a
lived spirituality <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">that cannot be changed. </span></span></b></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">The
permission Benedict XVI granted to married Anglican priests who
converted to Catholicism to stay married upon receiving Catholic orders
is, Müller said, “an exception.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“The
apostles left everything to follow Jesus,” he noted. “Christ is the
model for the ministers, the priests. And this cannot be changed by
secular pressure.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Doing away with </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the law of celibacy</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> would, he said, even contradict</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>the Second Vatican Council. </b></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“Presbyterorum Ordonis</span>, number 16, speaks of the bond of fittingness between he who represents Christ the celibate husband and the Church.” </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">Müller rejected the idea that an end to celibacy would cut down on the number of sex abuses.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“It
comes from a false anthropology,” he said. “An abusive act contradicts
chastity. Abuse happens everywhere, not only in the priesthood. And we
must not forget that 80% of the victims aren’t children but teen boys.
That means that many abuses are committed by people who don’t want to
respect the Sixth Commandment.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“Nobody
can be admitted to the priesthood if he doesn’t agree to live according
to the commandments of God and the exhortations of Christ.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">Müller
also discouraged the idea that conservatives desire a schism in the
Church, saying that a schism is against Christ’s will, as well as a
betrayal of his words and of the teaching of the apostles. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25"><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>“No
pope, nor a majority of the bishops, can <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">change</span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> the dogma of the faith
or divine laws</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">according to their own wishes,</span></b></span>” he said. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>“The tradition of the Church </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>is not</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>a toy one can shape at will.” </b></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">The
cardinal also rejected the libel that he is an enemy of Pope Francis,
saying that the true adversaries of the pontificate are those who deny
that the papacy is a divine institution, and who want to change revealed
doctrine without taking into consideration both Vatican Councils.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">“Whoever says these things does great damage to the credibility of the Catholic Church.” </span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>As for women’s ordination</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>, Müller said </b></span>he couldn’t talk about it
because <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>it </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>is “dogmatically impossible</b></span>” to arrive at the concept. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25">A
final question, touching on the John Paul II Institute, led the
cardinal to say it was a “great mistake” to “destroy” the Institute, and
that it was an attack on the intellectual quality of Catholic
theology. </span></p><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>
</b></span><p dir="ltr"><span id="m_-1483965225130046309m_-787010029186482645gmail-docs-internal-guid-f3b7f5ff-7fff-3652-0249-5aaa3510bd25"><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>“Everyone
in the academic world is speechless,” he said. “It is unthinkable</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>to
fire</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> lecturers for their truly orthodox thought</b></span>. Among other things,
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>their thought doesn’t <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">betray</span> doctrine, so one cannot understand <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">why <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">they</span>
were sent away.”</span></b></span></span></p>
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