Cardinal Müller criticizes Papal decision

Pope Francis wants to give the episcopal conferences more authority over liturgical translations. He receives criticism from one of his former closest associates, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller.

Curial Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller opposes greater powers of the Episcopal Conferences in liturgical matters. In a recent interview, he has criticised the Pope's decision to give more freedom to the national episcopal conferences in translating liturgical texts. The liturgy cannot and should not separate, said the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the Passauer Neuen Presse on Thursday. Thus, in the translation, attention must be paid to accuracy and fidelity of the content as well as to the actual implementation within the spirit and culture of the target language. "The last authority in the case of doubt" could therefore not lie with the episcopal conferences, emphasises Müller.

The Cardinal pointed to several experiences that translators relied by the Bishops often diluted the biblical texts on the pretext of better comprehensibility. If the powers of the Episcopal Conferences were now increased, it was to be feared that the unity of the Catholic Church would be destroyed in faith, confession and prayer, Müller said. Muller cites "highly demanding teachings" such as the vicarious atoning death of Jesus, the birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary, the physical resurrection of Jesus or the gift of his true flesh and blood under the species of bread and wine. In some countries, these and other truths have already broken down into ethical appeals and thus been stripped of their Catholic salvific reality.

The background to the discussion is a dispute between Francis and Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Congregation for the Liturgy. Francis wants to strengthen the Episcopal Conferences with the Pope's decree, "Magnum principium" ("The Important Principle"), giving them more responsibility in translating liturgical texts.

Francis does not shake faith

In the same interview Müller defended Pope Francis from heresy charges . "There can only be a question of heresy if a Catholic persistently denies a revealed truth of faith that the Church has made binding," said the Cardinal. For popes and bishops, this would be the case if they presented to the faithful a doctrine with the highest authority which contradicted the Word of God in Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the dogmatic decisions of ecumenical councils so far. This is undoubtedly not the case in the few controversial passages of the Papal letter "Amoris laetitia", stressed Müller.

Francis never wanted to shake the foundations of the Catholic faith or modernise the teaching of Christ as if it were outdated, the Cardinal said. Rather, it is about how to help in a pastoral way people in very difficult marital and often tragic family circumstances. At the end of this, the full reconciliation with God and the Church in the sacrament of penance and then participation in communion could also take place.

When asked about his own future, Müller said that he hopes to continue to serve the church in word and deed as well as witness and prayer with God's help. When asked if he would stay in Rome, he replied, "Man thinks, God is guiding." But a cardinal who is not yet emeritus or who does not lead a bishopric as a local bishop or otherwise exercises an office in the universal church, has a duty of residence in Rome. This is because he belongs to the closest advisory body of the Pope. In July, Francis had not extended term of office of Muller, who had led the Congregation of the Faith for five years.

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