Theologian Müller: Catholics will no longer be taught by Rome

Catholic theologian Wunibald Müller has reacted with indignation to the latest letter from Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to the German bishops. "Catholics no longer allow themselves to be lectured by Rome about what they are allowed to discuss and what needs to change in the Church so that the Church can continue to be a place for them or once again become a place where they can live their faith together with conviction," Müller told katholisch.de on Sunday. The times in which Rome could believe that it was able to intimidate and bully people with "any kind of letter" are finally over, he said.

Love between same-sex partners - even where it is expressed sexually - is love and remains love. "This love is fundamentally just as much under God's blessing as the love of heterosexual partners. This no longer needs to be discussed," Müller continued. It must be taken for granted in the church and, at least in the German church, this is increasingly the case. "There is no turning back and there will be no turning back, no matter how much some people in the Vatican resist."

Devaluation of women in the church is "the real scandal"

The admission of women to all ordained ministries, on the other hand, is still pending. "This is being discussed and must be discussed, even if Pope John Paul II has forbidden it as far as the admission of women to the priesthood is concerned," emphasised the theologian. If there is no change here, the Church will continue to decline rapidly. "Because the real scandal is the devaluation of women in the Church on which this refusal is based, which is simply unacceptable and which makes it increasingly impossible for women and men to continue to profess their faith in this misogynistic Church."

On Friday, a note from Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin addressed to the Secretary General of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) became known, in which he informed the bishops with regard to the ongoing reform dialogue in Germany that the exclusion of women from ordination to the priesthood and the Church's teaching on homosexuality, which was reaffirmed by John Paul II (1978-2005) in 1994 in the letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis", were not negotiable. The Vatican thus once again opposed central reform plans of the synodal path of the Catholic Church in Germany.

Müller explained that women and men who wanted to continue to belong to the Church should no longer put up with the Vatican's attitude; they should stand up and take responsibility in the Church. "In the knowledge that the real foundation of all teaching in the Church is the community of all baptised persons, men and women." All are of equal worth and equal rights. This can also be seen in the fact that "women and men participate in the power of ordination with the greatest naturalness, from deaconesses and priests to bishops and popes". The Church has not yet reached this point, "but it must get there," said Müller. If there is to be a future for the Church, there is no alternative. Otherwise it would degenerate into a "meaningless organisation".

"... like the last convulsions of a dying institution"

According to Müller, the church is increasingly being experienced locally. "A church is crystallising in which the so-called laymen and laywomen, together with the clergy, are shaping a church in which men and women participate on an equal footing." He believes and hopes that this will create a dynamic that is stronger than the dynamic emanating from Rome, "which seems more like the last convulsions of a dying institution". People need a church in which they can find a spiritual home and experience a sense of security. "They can do without a church that can't provide that."

Müller was director of the Recollectio House in Münsterschwarzach from 1991 to 2016. The Recollectio House is an institution of the Benedictine Abbey of Münsterschwarzach. It is intended to give priests, religious and pastoral workers the opportunity to regroup physically, mentally and spiritually in order to strengthen themselves for their pastoral work. (stz)