Much is being made in the media and in the world of cyberspace of the fact that Pope Francis has replaced Cardinal Muller as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
But much of the reporting is hype and sounds as though the news of more about what is wished than what is actually happening.
It should be kept in mind that, as of July 2, Cardinal Müller reached the end of the five-year term to which he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
Actually, until this story came to light, I and another Priest-brother who is a close Vatican observer were unaware of any term limits attached to Papal appointments of Congregation Prefects.
Yet, if there are indeed such term limits, they can be extended or rescinded at a Pope’s discretion.
The point is that it’s not really as if Müller has been “fired”. If the term of his service was up, the Pope may have decided to simply name someone else.
Furthermore, our more liberally inclined observers need to remember the fact that Muller's successor, the Jesuit Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, also was appointed to the CDF by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and before Pope Francis came on the scene. One might conclude that the Archbishop is not as liberal in his theological leanings as some might want to suggest or even hope.
Along with his fellow Jesuit Karl Becker, who was a key adviser to the CDF under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and later made a Cardinal by him as Pope Benedict, Ladaria has always been seen as representing the Jesuits’ conservative wing.
Even on the contested issue of Communion for the divorced and remarried, it is unclear whether Muller’s replacement represents a dramatic departure from his predecessor’s line of thought.
In 2014, just before the Second Synod on the Family, Ladaria answered a letter from a French Priest asking whether the divorced and civilly remarried could be absolved.
Here’s the key line from his reply: “A remarried divorcee cannot be validly absolved if he does not take the firm resolution of not ‘sinning for the future’ and therefore of abstaining from the acts proper to spouses, by doing in this sense all that is within his power.”
Inevitably, there will be some who view this move to replace Cardinal Muller as purely personal and vindictive. Yet, the Cardinal himself during an interview conducted by a German newspaper stated that Pope Francis assured him that from now on all Vatican heads of departments won’t be renewed after five years, and his was simply the first case to come up.
Whether that is correct or whether the Holy Father is indeed sending a signal to those who resist his efforts to provide accompaniment to those once considered beyond the pastoral care of the Church remains to be seen.
In the days ahead, I am sure that whatever the new Prefect of the CDF has to say about practically anything will be interpreted as confirming one point of view or another.
I just happen to think that all the furor over the replacement of Cardinal Muller is just a media-inspired tempest in a teapot, since Muller's term of office seems to have had little or no impact upon the Church whatsoever.
But, as we Italians are fond of saying: "we shall see".
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