by Maike Hickson, from Lifesite News
In a move that is making headlines in Germany, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has said German bishops are leading the Church to a schism.
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller is warning that the tendency of German bishops to divide doctrine from pastoral practice is not unlike the abuses surrounding the Protestant split in 1517. One should “be very vigilant and not forget the lesson of Church history,” he said.
Radical German cardinals, led by Walter Kasper (known as Pope Francis’ “favorite theologian”), are behind a big push to change Church teaching and practice on issues such as allowing “remarried” Catholics to receive the Eucharist, as well as redefining marriage to accept “non-traditional” unions such as those between homosexuals.
In a recent speech at the release of the German version of Cardinal Robert Sarah’s new book God or Nothing in Regensburg, Germany, Cardinal Muller criticized “a climate of the German claim to leadership for the Universal Church.” Muller said that he is frequently asked why German bishops claim to be leaders of the Catholic Church – while flouting teachings on marriage and sexuality – despite dramatic reductions in church attendance, shrinking numbers of seminarians, and a drop in vocations to religious orders.
“He who remains faithful to the teaching of the Church is attacked by the media, and even defamed as an opponent of the pope,” Muller said, “as if the pope and all the bishops in union with him were not witnesses of the revealed truth which has been entrusted to them so that it does not run the risk of being leveled down by men to a human measure.”
“We may not deceive the people, when it comes to the sacramentality of marriage, its indissolubility, its openness toward the child, and the fundamental complementarity of the two sexes,” he firmly stated. “Pastoral case has to keep in view the eternal salvation,” as opposed to a desire to be popular or accepted in the world.
Many German bishops have declared that “life realities” must be taken into account as part of Church teaching and salvation. However, Muller said the goal should not be “about adapting the Revelation to the world, but…about gaining the world for God.” ∎
You need to read the Address Pope Francis made to the Synod Fathers on this past Saturday. He is proposing a ‘Decentralization’ of Papal powers and wants to give the Bishops more ‘Synodal Decision Making’ according to their specific ‘local’ and the needs of their perspective flocks. In other words, he’s washing his hands of this debate in the Synod wants to allow the Bishops to call their own shots. Now by general ‘locals’ we yet to know what he means. Does he mean ‘Countries’ or does he mean ‘Diocese’? Think about the implications of that!!!!! You live in one ‘local’ and the Bishop may be very orthodox and go according to Catholic teaching, but go to another ‘local’ and who knows what they may ‘discern’ to be effective for their ‘flock’. People worried about ‘a’ schism? How about many many ‘schisms’???!!!! There goes ‘ONE, HOLY CATHOLIC’ right out the window.