German Synod: The Cardinal’s Blitzkrieg

The title of the book announces the character: Wahrheit. Die DNA der Kirche - The Truth. The DNA of the Church. Martin Lohmann, the journalist behind the interview, clarified the subject: “In the last few months, some people have felt they have to search and find the DNA of the Church elsewhere.”

The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith does not mince words when he discusses the excesses of the German synodal process. “What do the regional conferences of the synodal path show? Wishful thinking, open heresy, unrealistic pretensions.”

For Cardinal Müller, the current bankruptcy of the German synod rests on the fact that the bishops of Germany see the Church as a “purely human organization with purely worldly purposes.” From this perspective, “I have difficulty seeing how the synodal path unfolding in Germany could claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit,” explains the high prelate.

According to the man Benedict XVI has chosen to edit his works, the reform process based on dialogue across the Rhine aims, no more and no less, at “a further secularization of the Church. The focus is mostly on topics that are supposed to appeal the most to Western public opinion,” he notes.

The effect of this headlong rush, the cardinal describes bluntly, is: “the straight out loss of faith, because if the Church is a purely human organization, the correct understanding of the offices and the sacraments disappears.”

And Cardinal Müller concludes: “The Christian faith and the Church cannot be changed by any human being.”