CARDINAL MÜLLER SAYS IT WOULD BE “CATASTROPHIC” FOR A CONCLAVE TO ELECT A “HERETIC POPE”
As the conclave approaches, Cardinal Gerhard Müller calls on his fellow electors to reject worldly criteria for the new pope and focus on a man who will uphold the divine mission of St. Peter.
Vatican City — Cardinal Gerhard Müller has warned of the danger of a new pope being a “heretic,” basing his values on “mass media.”
Following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, Müller spoke to The Times about his hopes for the upcoming conclave and the cardinals’ duty to elect a new Roman Pontiff.
The German cardinal—who will be attending his first conclave—urged his fellow members of the College of Cardinals to ignore political labels such as “liberal” and “conservative.” A pope “must be orthodox – neither liberal nor conservative.”
He continued:
“The question is not between conservatives and liberals, but between orthodoxy and heresy.”
“I pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the cardinals, because a heretical pope who changes every day based on what the media says would be catastrophic.”
He also highlighted the acclaim of Francis by the secular media, warning:
“Pope Francis is well regarded by the media, and there is a risk that [the cardinals] will say to themselves, ‘We must continue on this path.'”
Rather than toeing this line, he said, the cardinals “have a responsibility to elect a man capable of unifying the Church in revealed truth.”
A new pope should not seek “applause from the secular world, which sees the Church as a humanitarian organization doing social work,” The Times reported.
“Catholicism does not consist of blindly obeying the Pope without respecting Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and the doctrine of the Church,” he added.
These words echo those he had already addressed to the correspondent a few weeks earlier, calling on the Church to carefully weigh the decision of a new pope.
“I hope that there is a deeper reflection within the College of Cardinals on the state of the faith and the Church in this post-Christian, even anti-Christian, world that is the West.”
The cardinals should not seek a candidate in line with the previous pope, but a man faithful to Saint Peter and the mission entrusted to him by Christ. Müller stated:
“Every pontificate must return to its origins. The origin is found in the office of Saint Peter, and therefore a pope sits on the chair of Peter; not the chair of Francis or Benedict.” They are only the chronological predecessors, but every pope is the successor of Saint Peter.”
He added that the cardinals must put aside criteria such as nationality and focus on what the papacy truly is:
“[The cardinals must understand that] we are not just looking at how the media will react by saying, ‘We need a good communicator pope,’ or secondary criteria like, ‘Now we need an African,’ or ‘We must go back to an Italian,’ all that nonsense. It has nothing to do [with the papacy.]”
“We must look at what Jesus himself said about the service and office of Saint Peter, in the words he addressed to him: You are Peter, and I give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven; you must strengthen your brothers in the faith, and you are the shepherd of the universal Church. »
Aged 77, Müller was created a cardinal by Francis in February 2014 and served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017. After that, Francis did not entrust him with a new mission, although he was only 70 at the time.
In recent years, he has become a prominent critic of several elements of the recently concluded pontificate, particularly the Synod on Synodality.
He will now have the opportunity to express his views directly to his fellow cardinals during pre-conclave meetings.
