Müller accuses Pope Francis of heresies – that probably went too far

Good news for Pope Francis: he can remain pope for the time being - at least according to Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller. Although Francis has repeatedly spread a number of heresies, the former Vatican top doctrinal official stated in an interview published on Tuesday with the reactionary US platform "LifeSiteNews" that there is no formal heresy that would imply him losing his office. If that's what Müller said. Because even if the harsh criticism of the Pope in a patronising tone matches Müller's appearance: The interview, which is available to katholisch.de in the originally published version, can no longer be found online since Wednesday. It has been removed from the site without comment, and the address only leads to an error message.

The authenticity of the interview is supported by the fact that he regularly provides the portal with exclusive content and grants permission for secondary publications. However, it is possible that the latest interview contained too much explosive material, even by Müller's standards. The Pope is promoting a "heresy of practice" by indirectly supporting and tolerating the blessing of same-sex couples. Why does the Pope appear with LGBT activists and not with a father, a mother and their five children, the cardinal asks. This is typical, Müller says: open heresies are rarely taught outright. Instead, they are introduced via the pastoral way. The Pope is also sending his new prefect of the faith forward: What Cardinal Víctor Fernández said about the communion of remarried divorcees was bordering on formal heresy, at least according to Müller.

The Cardinal doesn't reject the conspiracy myths of an invalid papal election that have been circulating since the election of Pope Francis. His interlocutors bring up the variant of unauthorised alleged collusion among progressive papal voters. Müller puts on record that it is difficult to judge whether the election was valid or not, "but in the end, he was clearly elected bythe majority, and there was, after all, no qualified objection to the procedure," says Müller, who was elevated to cardinal by Pope Francis and was therefore not involved in the 2013 conclave himself. Even if there had been irregularities in the election, these would have now been de facto cured anyway by the fact that Francis is exercising his office as Pope. For Müller, the biggest problem with doubts about the legitimacy of Pope Francis is the chaos that would ensue. Objections would do more harm than good, and the good of the Church must be kept in mind.

Cool relationship with the Pope even as Prefect of the Faith

Since his surprising dismissal as Prefect of the Faith in 2017 at the end of his first five-year term of office, Müller has increasingly positioned himself as an opponent of Pope Francis. However, the relationship between the conservative German and the progressive Argentinian was already cool during his time in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In 2015, Müller stated in an interview that he sees himself as a kind of cleaner of a theologically chaotic pontificate: "Pope Francis is very pastoral, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has the task of structuring a pontificate theologically." This is unlikely to have won him any sympathy from the Pope.

Ecclesiologically, Müller is walking a fine line: as the guardian of orthodoxy, he cannot ignore the papal dogmas of the First Vatican Council. The jurisdictional and doctrinal primacy set strict limits on episcopal criticism of the Pope and his sovereign actions. Statements such as that a pope "cannot do and leave everything as it suits his personal taste" are in tension with the comprehensive dogmatised powers of the Bishop of Rome, as the canon law professor Norbert Lüdecke explained in a guest article for katholisch.de. As a systematic theologian, Müller can defend academic positions like any theologian, criticise as a Catholic like any believer, and give the Pope collegial advice as every bishop and cardinal. But even as Prefect of the Faith Dicastery, he only had a service function for the Pope and no control function – even less so now.

The opposition to the Pope has become more and more intense in recent years. The only church office that Müller currently holds does not seem to fulfil him: in 2021, Pope Francis appointed the dogmatist without qualifications in canon law as a judge at the Apostolic Signature, the highest court of the Church. Since then, the dogmatician has not attracted attention with his contributions to canon law, but with a great sense of mission: the Church cannot do without Cardinal Müller's outstanding theological expertise. At least Cardinal Müller thinks so. In 2019, he published a manifesto of faith "in the face of spreading confusion in the doctrine of faith" - according to Müller, in response to the pleas of many bishops, priests, religious and lay people for a "public witness to the truth of revelation".

The following year, he signed a manifesto by the former US nuncio and archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò which contained all the classic topoi of radical right-wing conspiracy myths: Viganò decried "foreign powers" and "supranational entities", a "policy of drastic population reduction", a "prelude to the creation of a world government". Müller signed. Later he half-heartedly distanced himself and described the paper as an "appeal for reflection", which he had signed because he did not want to harshly reject Viganò, who had been "badly played with". In 2021, however, Müller went one better and said in an interview that the coronavirus pandemic was being used to "bring people into line" and subject them to "total control". Müller's statements were summarised by the Federal Government Commissioner for Anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, and the Central Council of Jews in Germany as anti-Semitic ciphers. The German Bishops' Conference (DBK) also clearly distanced itself. Müller, however, took offence and rejected the criticism. It came from people "who don't even know how to open a Hebrew Bible, let alone read a sentence, who then accuse a veteran theology professor of anti-Semitism and don't actually know anything about the Old Testament", he said.

The Pope ignores and embraces

Pope Francis appears to be continuing his policy of ignoring and embracing: The appointment to the Apostolic Signature was followed this year by the appointment of Müller as a member of the Synod on Synodality. However, Francis was not thanked for including his critic. Müller was the first bishop among the synod members to go public after the start of the World Synod and even expressed cautious optimism. The experiences in his table group had been very good. At the same time, however, he also set the anchor for later criticism: Müller's world view is that all those who do not follow the teachings of the Church and thus his position are controlled by dark circles and papal intrigues. We have to wait and see which direction the synod will take in the end and "which decisions will be made behind the scenes", he said.

Even later, Müller was not so particular about the restraint imposed by the Pope on the synod members in public. The publishing of his statement in the synod assembly hall was contrary to the rules of procedure. He justified the breach of confidentiality by saying that there was no papal secret "for heretics and globalists". Müller spoke out regularly throughout the synod, primarily to warn against a "hostile takeover" of the Church by "LGBT lunacy", but also to speak out in favour wearing cassocks in the synod hall.

Müller seems to lack a resonance chamber in the Vatican. The Pope has so far ignored his appearances. Müller's successor, CDF Prefect Fernández, is sticking to his line, unimpressed by accusations of heresy: His dicastery published answers to critical questions from Müller's circle, another letter was published on Tuesday in which the dicastery clearly emphasised that queer believers can also be considered as godparents and marriage witnesses, and that being transgender itself is no obstacle to receiving baptism. Müller is only echoed in the reactionary bubble of papal opponents with close ties to the US far right and in the circle of other misguided bishops such as Viganò and the Texan Joseph Strickland. Texan Joseph Strickland.

Why the latest interview has now been deleted remains unknown for the time being. A katholisch.de enquiry to the journalist who conducted the interview remained unanswered, as did one to Cardinal Müller himself. Perhaps the deleted interview is now a sign that even Cardinal Müller knows his limits – or has been shown his limits.