Vatican City, VA - In a largely anticipated but somewhat surprising move, Gerhard Ludwig Müller was named the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith today, replacing William Joseph Levada in that role. Müller had previously occupied the position of bishop of Regensberg and had held important committee positions in both Germay and Rome. A close personal friend of Benedict XVI, Müller had also been entrusted with the task of assisting with the preparation of the complete works of Joseph Ratzinger from ordination up until the present day. To date, twelve volumes of the Opera Omnia have been completed.
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| With the first volume of the Complete Works |
Müller's appointment does not come without controversy however. Among Müller's close friends is Gustavo Gutierrez, one of the founding fathers of the extremist philosophy known as Liberation Theology; Müller is known for making Gutierrez a yearly visit. Müller has also made a number of astonishing claims, directly contradicting several well-known tenets of the Catholic Faith.
In his 900-page work Katholische Dogmatik. Für Studium und Praxis der Theologie (Freiburg. 5th Edition, 2003), Müller denies the dogma of the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary claiming that the doctrine is
“not so much concerned with specific physiological proprieties in the natural process of birth (such as the birth canal not having been opened, the hymen not being broken, or the absence of birth pangs), but with the healing and saving influence of the grace of the Savior on human nature.”
In 2002, Müller published the book Die Messe – Quelle des christlichen Lebens (St. Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg). In this book, he speaks of the Sacrament of the Altar and warns against using the terms “body and blood” in this context. These terms would cause
“misunderstandings”, “when flesh and blood are considered to mean the physical and biological components of the human Jesus. Neither is it simply the transfigured body of the resurrected Lord that is being designated.”
Müller continues:
“In reality, the body and blood of Christ do not mean the material components of the human person of Jesus during his lifetime or in his transfigured corporality. Here, body and blood mean the presence of Christ in the signs of the medium of bread and wine.”
According to Müller, Holy Communion transmits a
“community with Jesus Christ, mediated by eating and drinking the bread and the wine. Even in the merely personal human sphere, something like a letter may represent the friendship between people and, that is to say, show and embody the sympathy of the sender for the receiver.”
Bread and wine thus only become “symbols of his salvific presence”. Müller goes on to "explain" how the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation should actually be understood:
“The essential definition of bread and wine has to be conceived in an anthropological way. The natural essence of these offerings [bread and wine] as the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands, as the unity of natural and cultural products consists in clarifying the nourishment and sustenance of man and the communion of the people in the sign of a common meal [...]. This natural essence of bread and wine is transfigured by God in the sense that the essence of bread and wine is made to consist exclusively in showing and realizing the salvific communion with God.”
On October 11, 2011, during an honorific speech for the protestant bishop Johannes Friedrich of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria on the occasion of Friedrich's reception of an ecumenical award from the Catholic Academy of Bavaria, Müller made the following statements:
“Baptism is the fundamental sign that sacramentally unites us in Christ, and which presents us as the one Church in front of the world. Thus, we as Catholic and Evangelical Christians are already united even in what we call the visible Church. Strictly speaking, there are not several Churches one beside the other — these are rather divisions and separations within the one people and house of God.”
Müller describes the heart of ecumenism as follows:
“We no longer define the relations among us on the basis of existing differences in doctrine, life or in the constitution of the Church, but rather based on what we have in common, that is, on the very foundation on which we stand.”
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Commentary
Fellow Catholics, is this the best man to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith? As our traditional "Act of Faith" reminds us, the truths of the Catholic Faith are not simply a collection of beliefs made up by men over the years, but are actual, real Truths revealed to us by God Himself.
The Act of Faith
O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I believe that the divine Son became man and died for our sins and that He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the holy Catholic Church teaches because THOU hast revealed them, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
As Catholics, we believe that the Holy Ghost has led the Catholic Church from the time of Her divine founding by Jesus Christ our Savior. We believe that the Holy Ghost does not allow the Catholic Church to err in matters of Faith and Morals. And, although there are some questions which the Catholic Church has not yet decided and which She permits Her members to discuss in order to come to know the truth, the Virgin Birth and the doctrine of Transubstantiation are not among the undecided questions! Dear Catholics, the truths here denied by Müller have been held everywhere, always, and by all. To deny a truth of the Catholic Faith is to assert that either a) God does not lead and guide the Catholic Church, or that b) God can deceive or be deceived. Neither one of these denials is desirable in the man appointed to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith!
Good Catholics, Why would the Pope appoint such a man to safeguard the Catholic Faith as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when it is clear to even a layman that Müller, by denying several firmly-held Truths of the Catholic Faith, does not himself hold the Faith of the Catholic Church?
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