Pledge your prayers and fasting for protection of the Church during the Synod on Synodality HERE
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Gerhard Müller has argued about the Synod on Synodality that “false prophets” are looking to transform the Church “into an aid organization for Agenda 2030.”
Müller has already emerged as a vocal critic of the Synod on Synodality, being one of the few prelates in the Church who has issued statements critical of the Pope’s initiative. In a recent interview with Spanish-language outlet InfoVaticana, Müller expanded on his thoughts about the synod’s October 2023 meeting – a meeting which he has in fact been personally invited to by Pope Francis.
Asked whether there is “something to fear” at the synod, Müller replied:
Yes, the false prophets who present themselves as progressives have announced that they will turn the Catholic Church into an aid organization for Agenda 2030.
In the opinion of such individuals, argued Müller, “only a Church without Christ fits in a world without God.”
He made multiple references to the recent World Youth Day in Lisbon – an event marked by aspects of particular controversy, including promotion of the U.N.’s pro-abortion 2030 Agenda – saying how “many young people returned from Lisbon disappointed that the focus was no longer on salvation in Christ, but on a worldly doctrine of salvation.”
“Apparently,” continued Müller, “there are even bishops who no longer believe in God as the origin and end of man and savior of the world, but who, in a pan-naturalistic or pantheistic way, consider the supposed ‘Mother Earth’ to be the beginning of existence and climate neutrality the goal of planet earth.”
Possible changes to Church teaching?
The latest text which is guiding the upcoming month-long meeting of the synod participants in Rome this October is notable for its inclusion and promotion of a number of topics which run in contradiction to Catholic teaching. The working document (Instrumentum laboris) proposes discussion of women’s diaconal “ordination,” married priests, and a need to “welcome… remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ people.”
READ: Cardinal Burke warns Synod is part of ‘revolution’ to ‘radically’ change the Catholic Church
In light of this, many lay Catholic faithful have expressed concerns about attempts being made to alter Church teaching. However, Müller downplayed fears of such actions actually taking place.
“No person on earth can change, add to or take away from the Word of God,” he outlined.
As successors of the apostles, the Pope and the bishops must teach people what the earthly and risen Christ, the only teacher, has commanded them to do. And it is only in this sense that the promise that the army and the head of his body remain always with his disciples (Mt 28:19f) applies.
Müller cited the modern crisis of a “lack of basic theological education even among bishops” as fueling a confusion which had spread through the Church. Without proper formation, people are confusing “the content of the faith and its unsurpassable fullness in Christ with the progressive theological reflection and growth of the Church’s awareness of the faith throughout the ecclesiastical tradition,” he argued.
Indeed, Müller’s words appeared online one day after the current CDF prefect, Cardinal-designate Victor Fernández, argued that Pope Francis has “a living and active gift” equal to the “deposit of faith.” But, as he has done previously, Müller drew from the documents of Vatican II to state how “the Pope and the bishops do not receive a new revelation.”
Synod approving same-sex blessings?
In particular, Müller responded to queries about the synod’s possible approval of same-sex blessings – an event which the new CDF prefect has signaled an openness to on more than one occasion, despite it being in violation of Catholic doctrine.
“Blessing immoral behavior by persons of the same or opposite sex is a direct contradiction of God’s word and will, a gravely sinful blasphemy,” he noted. Referring to such blessings, and the promotion of female deacons, Müller argued that such developments “would be obsolete a priori.”
“Nor could they be implemented in canon law by the entire college of bishops with the Pope, or by the Pope alone,” he said, “because they contradict revelation and the clear confession of the Church.”
He also issued a firm pronouncement against a widely, permissive interpretation of papal authority, carefully outlining that the Pope’s “formal authority… cannot be separated from the substantive connection with Sacred Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and the dogmatic decisions of the Magisterium that preceded him.”
To argue or act otherwise, continued Müller, would be to imitate Martin Luther’s erroneous impressions of the Pontiff as one who puts himself “in the place of God, who is the sole author of his revealed truth, instead of simply testifying faithfully, in the authority of Christ, to the revealed faith in an unabridged and unadulterated manner. and presenting it authentically to the Church.”
Thus presenting a striking scenario, Müller noted that in “such an extreme situation” God “can save us.” He further added how “every ecclesiastical official would have lost his authority and no Catholic is any longer obliged to religiously obey a heretical or schismatic bishop.”
Müller has previously gone on record in calling the synod a “hostile takeover” of the Church that threatens to “end” Catholicism.
Responding to an image published by the synod’s Facebook account that featured a women priest and LGBT “pride” imagery, Müller said last year that, “I think there’s a desire to take over a power which doesn’t exist. They want to be more intelligent than God Himself.”
The month-long event is set to begin on October 4, with synod participants widely expected to be bound under some level of secrecy and the Vatican’s press office to be in charge of controlling the information fed to the outside world about the progress of the various meetings.
Pledge your prayers and fasting for protection of the Church during the Synod on Synodality HERE