A German cardinal has warned that the Catholic Church faces a split if it fails to replace the late Pope Francis with an “orthodox” candidate.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller previously served as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the body charged with upholding Catholic doctrine. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, who held the position himself until he was elevated to the papacy.
Much like Benedict XVI, Müller is also considered to be a conservative or traditionalist within the Church, although he himself takes issue with such labels.
Speaking to the Times, Cardinal Müller said, “the question is not between conservatives and liberals but between orthodoxy and heresy … I am praying that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the cardinals, because a heretic pope who changes every day depending on what the mass media is saying would be catastrophic.”
Müller has said that the next pope must neither be liberal, nor conservative, but “orthodox”.
Cardinal Müller was replaced as Prefect in 2017 after he expressed his opposition to Pope Francis’ decision to allow communion for divorcees who had subsequently married non-Catholics. Müller was also critical of the late Pope’s decision to allow blessings for homosexual couples.
He told The Times that he would be urging his fellow cardinals at the conclave to remember the importance of clear doctrine, noting that Pope Francis’ more inclusive statements may have won him praise from secular media, but added to uncertainty about the actual beliefs of the Catholic Church.
This view was echoed by Brandon Gallaher, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Exeter, saying Pope Francis “opened up more and more ambiguities to allow those who did not fit in or could not fit in to be embraced and for the ministers of the Church to accompany them on their journey into God".
“He was a sort of Pope for non-Catholics: hence how the Western media adores him. The difficulty with this vision is that it is profoundly messy and even at times anti-institutional," he said.
